Avalanche Analysis: GM Chris MacFarland attempts to fix goaltending issues with bold, risky trade

PITTSBURGH — Give Colorado Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland credit for one thing: He wasted very little time identifying and attempting to correct his club’s biggest weakness.

The Avs have completely overhauled the goaltending depth chart in 10 days. MacFarland sent starter Alexandar Georgiev to San Jose for Mackenzie Blackwood on Monday before the other goalie he acquired had time to add a Colorado-themed facemask.

Making one trade involving goaltenders before Christmas is hard to do in the NHL. He’s made two.

In: Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood. Out: Georgiev and Justus Annunen.

“We did not have both deals, like we were not going into it going, ‘We’ve got to make two deals,’” MacFarland said. “We felt we needed an upgrade a few weeks ago and started kicking tires.”

The full details of the Monday transaction: Colorado sent Georgiev, forward Nikolai Kovalenko, a 2026 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round selection to San Jose for Blackwood, forward Givani Smith and a 2027 fifth-round pick. The Avs also reportedly retained 14% of Georgiev’s salary.

“I love it,” said former NHL goalie Cory Schneider, who played with Blackwood in New Jersey. “I think he has as much pure talent (and size) as anybody in the league, to be honest. He just needed to mature his game as he got older.”

The Avs have dealt with the worst injury/availability crisis in the NHL this season. The combination of key players missing and the amount of time they’ve been out has been scale-breakingly bad for anyone who tries to show the impact of injuries with visual data.

That is one huge reason for the club’s underperforming record, but the goaltending has clearly been the other. And on many nights, the poor goaltending has been the biggest problem — the other Avs have often performed admirably despite shorthanded lineups.

“I think it shook us to the core with the rough start,” MacFarland said. “I’m not going to lie. We came out of the gate really slow. It’s not a secret — our goaltending has not been up to standard. … It was inconsistent to start, and we felt we had to make a move so we did.”

Wedgewood has been great in his three appearances, and the Avalanche is still last in the NHL in team save percentage. The Avs have not been able to outscore their problems in net, so MacFarland has continued to do major surgery on the depth chart.

Blackwood has absolutely been a better goaltender than Georgiev this season. It’s not close.

Georgiev has a better track record and has real playoff experience. Blackwood has never played in a Stanley Cup Playoff game. When the Devils made it in 2023, Akira Schmid and Vitek Vanecek split the postseason starts.

“The challenge for (Blackwood) will be going to a good team,” Schneider said. “That sounds weird, but he’s played on the same bad Jersey teams and awful (San Jose) teams with no expectations/pressure.

“Now he has to handle the pressure of taking MacKinnon/Makar/Rantanen to a Cup while they’re in their primes.”

Wedgewood has never started an NHL playoff game, either. His postseason resume includes three relief appearances for Dallas.

So the Avs are choosing Blackwood’s present-day form over Georgiev’s long-term resume. Given that both goaltenders are in the final years of their contracts and can be unrestricted free agents after this season, the potential short-term upgrade might be all that matters.

The Avs are also still firmly in a Cup-or-bust season, even with all of the injuries. Captain Gabe Landeskog’s lingering uncertainty aside, there is a near future where the Avs are healthy and one of the best teams in the NHL. They certainly looked like one Sunday night when they throttled New Jersey at Prudential Center.

If the short-term trust in Georgiev was shaken, and there were concerns about him “finding it” again, then this move makes sense on paper. Whether or not Blackwood can be the No. 1 guy for a deep playoff run, or if this tandem can combine to win 16 postseason games, is very much to be determined.

The cost of this Georgiev-Blackwood swap is also significant. Kovalenko has shown flashes of being a real NHL player. He’s 25 years old and will be a restricted free agent after this season, but there was a future where he’d be a nice depth player for this team at a reasonable cost.

Moving a second-round pick to make this happen is also a significant asset. The Avs are going to be in Cup-or-bust mode for as long as Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar are two of the best players in the world.

Current NHL players who can help them win another championship will continue to be prioritized over draft picks. But Colorado’s war chest of picks is getting pretty empty.

The Avs only have a second-round pick (the Rangers’ selection) in the first three rounds of the 2025 NHL draft. They’ve already traded their second- and third-rounders in 2026, too.

Adding Blackwood doesn’t solve the long-term outlook in goal for the Avs, and if he plays well enough to help them reach expectations it could very well price him out of their budget for next season and beyond.

But that’s next season and beyond. This one can still be a championship-winning year, so the Avs moved swiftly and paid a hefty price to try and fix their greatest problem.

“The good news is Blackwood is used to seeing a lot of chances,” Schneider said. “Now he needs to prove he can win at a high level, which he’s never done or had the chance to do.”

Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.