There’s also a significant experience gap in North America that makes Kostin much more of a certainty to be nothing whereas seeing more than one season of Kovalenko is rushing to judgment.
Including the GM of the Colorado Avalanche....
Colorado was in a bad position where they had little wiggle room and as we saw throughout the course of the rest of the trade season, no other established goaltenders were moved. Blackwood had basically the market to himself, whether it was from his play the last couple of seasons, the fact he was on an expiring deal, his age or just the asking price. Colorado also had to move on from Georgie so not only did they need to find a team that had a goaltender they felt fit the team, but they needed a team willing to take on the graveyard of a salary of Georgie knowing how toxic his reputation is with teammates.
The Sharks were also in a bad position because there weren’t a lot of buyers in the market for Blackwood. Blackwood was also not really an established goalie. You overestimate the value of that expiring contract just because you really dislike the player. His rep may be toxic but his contract isn’t.
It had marginal negative value. As in maybe a 3rd round pick at best. Blackwood was worth a 2nd at best. Adding Kovalenko covered the gap for taking on Georgiev.
That is fair although I do disagree on Blackwood’s value seeing as there were no other viable goalies on the market. I don’t think the lack of netminder movement was indicative of the lack of teams looking to upgrade because we all know there are numerous teams with goaltending woes. I think it’s because no other team saw what else was available as an upgrade. I do think there was a sizable market for Blackwood which is why Colorado got ahead of the game.
Tremendous athletic talent and ability, mental makeup of a 5-year-old. Also fundamentally some of the worst rebound control I've ever seen in a goalie in the NHL. Soooooo many shots would just bounce off his glove and weakly in front of him, creating a goalmouth scramble that usually resulted in it ending up in the back of the net. His ceiling is decently high, but the floor is the deepest level of hell.
How was Blackwood more of a viable goalie? Before his heater to start this season with the Sharks, he was a replacement level 1B at best. He was never a dependable starter and never had great numbers. Why would that goalie be worth more than a 2nd? Teams may have had interest but weren’t willing to pay more than what they got. Even teams with goaltending issues didn’t think Blackwood was worth the asking price.
He was actually quite good in NJ before injuries derailed his momentum. He was simply fantastic for the Sharks last year, you can't honestly refute that. Colorado saw a continuation of that high level of play and pulled the plug before a market developed. They got ahead of it and he's basically been a top 5 NHL goalie since the trade.
If this is true then it's a brutal return for Grier considering Blackwood is playing lights out and Kovalenko may not even have a job on the team next year.
Whatever you view as quite good in New Jersey still ended up with him starting 40+ times once and being above the average save percentage for the league twice before coming to San Jose. Saying he was simply fantastic for the Sharks last year is pretty much ignoring the bad games that he did have. At the end of the day, he was under the league average save percentage mark. He was 30th of 65 in goals saved above expected among goalies with 20 games last year. He had 17 games of his 41 starts that were under the .900 save percentage mark. He had some fantastic stretches of play but he also had some terrible ones and you can't just ignore that. Colorado made a reasonable gamble since they knew Georgiev was garbage and didn't have any better options. I can agree that teams are desperate for competent goaltending but it doesn't mean they're as desperate as you believe they ought to be. Just because teams are desperate, doesn't mean they're going to trade a 1st for Blackwood when he has a checkered past of being available and being consistent. We weren't trading an established starter here. The trade value reflected that. You seem to think they should've reset the market but without any evidence to support that.
I think GMs and scouts do a lot more than simply “look at the stats” whenever they’re targeting a player. Anyone that watched enough SJ games last year and then into this year knows that Mac was playing far better than his stats indicated.
