He also has better stats than the guy they're paying 8.25M a year to.
Confirmed Trade: [COL/SJS] Mackenzie Blackwood, Givani Smith, 2027 5th for Alexandar Georgiev (14% ret.), Nikolai Kovalenko, 2026 2nd, cond. 2025 4th
- Thread starter Koivu11
- Start date
KeithIsActuallyBad
SPEEN!
I'll give the Avs credit for being active. Time will tell how this plays out but I'd rather a proactive GM rather than the dipsticks that have GMed this team for the past 18 years.
For the goalie market, a 2nd does seem to be a high price. A lot of goalies just aren't valued very much at all and it's been a while since a rental got a true haul. This is probably the closest someone like Blackwood was going to get to a haul. He's a solid 1B type goalie. He's been pretty consistent with the Sharks. He'll have a few to a handful of solid performances giving your team a chance to win and then lay an egg but then he responds with good games when that happens when a lot of guys, especially in this era of hockey, will let it snowball.
I don't think waiting makes sense for the Sharks when for goalies, that desperation typically just isn't there. I do think Kovalenko was a tipping point for them but that 2nd rounder was a must to put Blackwood on the table.
bleedgreen
Registered User
This trade was as much about addition through subtraction as anything else. Finding someone to take Georgiev was big, I feel like his performance was an unwanted distraction that wasn’t helping the team. To move him out and get any half decent goalie back was a good choice. If Blackwood plays well maybe they’ll keep him. Sucks they had to give assets up to make it happen, but it felt like it had to happen.
Patty Ice
Mighty Luca
I do hope Blackwood performs well with the Avs and earns a nice contract with them. I think he can be much more than he has shown in his career provided he stays healthy.
He wouldn't be the first goalie to achieve higher at his age.
Dotter
THE ATHLETIC IS GARBAGE
The better question is why you think a goaltender’s performance from 2021-2022 is more relevant than their performance in 2022-2024?
Blackwood had a .899 sv % last year behind a historically bad Sharks team and a .911 sv % so far this year behind a team that’s bottom 3 in the league.
The Avs were getting .87x sv % before they made the goalie trades. Wedgewood put up a .951 in 3 games. But you think Blackwood will be just as bad as Georgiev because uh….New Jersey?
- Oct 24, 2008
- 24,738
- 38,709
Colorado traded statistically one of the worst goaltenders in the expansion era for an improvement in Blackwood.
It cost them a 2nd round pick and a 25 year old 3rd line forward.
Jixer19
Registered User
East coast fans don't really watch west coast games (especially California teams) I have to imagine. So all they have is when they last saw them play, even if it was years ago and has nothing to do with how they are now, shrug
Dotter
THE ATHLETIC IS GARBAGE
Red Wings need to make Cam Talbot available if that's the kind of return he can get.
Blackwood is good but he could go down at any time with an injury, and looking at his history, it's a big possibility. He's been playing good in San Jose and deserves a chance to play for a team that can compete today, which is why I have him as the biggest winner in this trade, if he has a good run for the rest of this season he is looking at a very nice new contract next year. Grier got good value, but it will be interesting how this plays out for the goaltending situation in SJ.
IWantSakicAsMyGM
Registered User
You might need to find a way to make him 10 years younger if you want that kind of return. He'd probably still get a 2nd, but I'm assuming the Avs added Kovalenko to the 2nd because the intention is to extend Blackwood and give him a chance at the starter job for the next couple of years. I don't think many GMs are looking at a 37 year old Talbot and formulating the same plan.
Patty Ice
Mighty Luca
From who's POV?
For the Sharks, they get a 2nd and a young winger that they've had their eye on for a goalie they wanted to extend but priced himself out with his play. Georgiev hopefully brings the goaltending down to another lottery pick.
For the Avs, they move on from the disaster that is Georgiev and upgrade in net with a guy who has the potential to be even more. If not, he's an UFA end of the year and they move on without spending an arm and a leg.
For the rest of the Western Conference, they now have to worry about a stronger Avs team.
Born and raised in Edmonton, went to Post-Secondary in Vancouver, worked in LA for 2 years.
I moved to Montreal in 2006, and I'm floored at how impossible it is to follow West Coast teams out here.
Games start at 11pm, and they're all blacked out or behind a paywall.
Dotter
THE ATHLETIC IS GARBAGE
okay, so Blackwood is not a rental? I was looking at this from a rental perspective.
Squirrel in the Hole
Be the best squirrel in the hole
IWantSakicAsMyGM
Registered User
I'm guessing he's going to get a 3 year extension, probably before the TDL. Seems like a safer bet than trying to find someone in UFA, and smarter than spending more assets trading for someone else.
Jixer19
Registered User
Oh for sure, I meant nothing by it for the most part. Games starting that late, let alone another 2-3 hours for the actual game is sometimes near impossible for the average person. It's just when people throw in opinions on a player they haven't seen since X days and/or years and think it is the same player is something entirely else lol
McFlyingV
Registered User
Pretty good gamble for the Avs. I wanted the Oilers to go after Blackwood as insurance if Skinner goes back into his early season funk. Maybe a bit more than I would have wanted to pay from an Oilers perspective, but the Avs really needed a goalie as there's no signs of Georgiev ever turning it around. He's been completely dreadful the past 2 years.
Not watching games is understandable given the challenges you explained, having a firm opinion on a player that a poster has not watched or followed for 2+ seasons isn’t.
Goalies are totally voodoo.
I'm not convinced Blackwood is better than Skinner.
Soup was supposed to be better than Skinner, and he put up much better numbers in Toronto before shitting the bed in Edmonton.
Ullmark won the Vezina a year ago on Boston, and on Ottawa he looks as bad as Skinner.
We also shot our shot with Campbell. That was it. Any goalie we bring in needs to be definitively better than Skinner at a similar $2m salary.
ninetyeight
Registered User
My assessment on Blackwood is that he's great when he faces a lot of shots. He's big and has quick reflexes, good with close high danger chances. Definitely showed similar level of play with the Devils, pretty good numbers for few years and couple of those 30+ save shutouts.
But he also showed some inconsistancy. First you make 30sv, next game you let 5 out of 20. Makes huge reactionary saves up close, but then lets in direct no mask flowter shots. I think he's the kinda goalie that thrives the more action and high danger chances against he gets and for that reason I don't think he'll do as good with the Avs as he's done with the Sharks.
I think this is a great trade for SJ, and I can see them revitalizing Georgiev and flipping him for some extra value at the deadline.
But he also showed some inconsistancy. First you make 30sv, next game you let 5 out of 20. Makes huge reactionary saves up close, but then lets in direct no mask flowter shots. I think he's the kinda goalie that thrives the more action and high danger chances against he gets and for that reason I don't think he'll do as good with the Avs as he's done with the Sharks.
I think this is a great trade for SJ, and I can see them revitalizing Georgiev and flipping him for some extra value at the deadline.
