The Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks have gotten together on a big trade regarding their creases. The Avalanche announced they’ve acquired Mackenzie Blackwood, Givani Smith, and a 2027 fifth-round pick from the San Jose Sharks for Alexandar Georgiev, Nikolai Kovalenko, a 2026 second-round pick, and a 2025 fifth-round pick.
It’s quite rare to see an NHL organization entirely move out the netminders they started the year with but that’s exactly what the Avalanche did by early December. Colorado began the year with a combination of Georgiev and Justus Annunen but the two have been replaced with Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood.
The Avalanche have had the league’s worst goaltending this season and it’s not particularly close. Colorado sits dead last in the league with a .866 save percentage and 29th in goals against per game with 3.55.
Blackwood should help considerably in that department. He’s managed a 6-9-3 record with the Sharks this year coupled with a .909 SV% and 3.00 GAA. He’s given up 53 goals this year in San Jose but some of that can be attributed to the poor performance in front of him as his xGA is only 39.7 according to Hockey Reference.
Colorado’s defense has been more than capable of only allowing 766 shots on their netminders this season ranking 11th in the league. They’ll also shed some salary in the deal which is another bonus. TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that the Avalanche retained 14% ($476K) of Georgiev’s remaining salary so the organization will save roughly $700K in the swap.
Smith also provides some flexibility for Colorado toward the bottom of the lineup. He cleared waivers earlier Monday (per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman) and can be moved between the Avalanche and their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, unencumbered for the next 30 days.
The real surprise in this deal is Georgiev. His inclusion was likely necessary for the Avalanche given their salary cap picture and the lack of desire to carry three netminders on the active roster. Still, it felt like the perfect opportunity for the Sharks to make an opening for prospect Yaroslav Askarov on the NHL roster.
He’s easily having the worst season of his career and will be limping into unrestricted free agency next summer. He’s produced an 8-7-0 record for the Avalanche this year but has a dismal .874 SV%. Georgiev may find more success with less pressure to win in San Jose but this isn’t the year he’d like to have considering his next contract is at stake.
The real prize in this deal for San Jose is Kovalenko. He was a sixth-round pick by Colorado in the 2018 NHL Draft but didn’t come to North America until last year. He saw his ice time reduced in recent weeks as the Avalanche drift toward a healthy lineup but still carries plenty of pedigree as a prospect.
His final two years in the Kontinental Hockey League were especially good. Kovalenko scored 32 goals and 89 points in 98 games with the KHL’s Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod from 2022 to 2024. He’ll likely push for top-six minutes with the Sharks which was a prohibited pathway in Colorado.