Vacation Post: Thoughts on the new goalie tandem in Colorado

Big trade happened earlier this week, here are some thoughts about it.

Good afternoon from Central America, home to everyone’s favorite NHL team, the “Belize Bruins.”

Well at least, that’s the hat I saw yesterday on vacation.

I also effectively turned off the phone and computer for the past three days, so I only learned about this week’s NHL news late last night and as some texts came through, including one friend and reader who messaged me about the goalie swap featuring Alexander Georgiev and Mackenzie Blackwood.

With that deal the Colorado Avalanche have effectively completely reshuffled their horrendous season-starting goalie tandem, shipping out Georgiev and Justus Annunen in exchange for Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood in two separate deals.

It’s an impressive swap for the Avalanche, who have helped solidify the position that was going to hold them back in the highly-competitive Central Division.

Blackwood is one of the most under-rated goalies in the NHL in my view, and I’ve spoken to NHL goalie coaches who have similar thoughts about the former Sharks goalie.

Before the season started, when I was working on a goalie ranking project, multiple goalie coaches mentioned to me they felt that Blackwood could be a top-10 NHL goalie in the right environment. Two goalie coaches in particular were highly impressed with what Blackwood did last season with the league-worst Sharks, and one felt Blackwood somehow added more structure and better save selection to his game after a couple down years with the New Jersey Devils.

Blackwood will also pair extremely well with Wedgewood, who has already helped stabilize Colorado in his four appearances since the trade with Nashville. Wedgewood brings two things to the Avalanche they were lacking before, he’s a battler in net and he’s the ideal goalie partner, one that both pushes his colleague while also has more hidden drive than people realize.

In the long-run, come playoff time, I’m assuming Blackwood will be the starter, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if Wedgewood has also played himself into that starting role.

Colorado isn’t necessarily going to have an edge in goaltending in a playoff series, but they no longer will have a decided disadvantage like they would have before.

I’m also fascinated now to see what happens with the Sharks for the remainder of this season and what happens with Georgiev, who is in the final year of a three-year contract.

Yaroslav Askarov is the future in net for San Jose, and his agent, Dan Milstein, has told me before that the Sharks have informed him that at some point there would be a goalie trade to open up more opportunities for Askarov.

Now trading Blackwood for Georgiev is a goalie trade, but it doesn’t open up more opportunities for Askarov for the rest of this season.

If we assume Georgiev won’t be a Shark next, which seems likely, it seems more likely he might be traded again this season. H’s a depreciated asset right now, he is still an asset that could be moved against this season for another team dealing with an injury or poor play in goal, especially with part of his contract already being retained by Colorado in the San Jose deal.

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Ok, back to vacation for a bit with the family, I’ll check back in here tomorrow or Friday for another post. Then back to full-time coverage on Sunday when I’m back in the United States.

Again, thank you to readers for being so supportive of this site and making this slight time away feasible for me and the family.