NHL.com’s fantasy staff continues to cover the latest trends and storylines in the League through the lens of NHL EDGE puck and player tracker stats. Today, we look at the outlook for goalie Mackenzie Blackwood after being traded to the Colorado Avalanche.
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For the second time this season, the Colorado Avalanche have addressed their goaltending with a trade, and the acquisition of Mackenzie Blackwood could be a significant upgrade in terms of advanced metrics.
Per NHL EDGE stats, Blackwood is tied for third in the League in midrange saves (157) behind Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild (169) and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers (163). Blackwood also ranks fifth in high-danger save percentage (.844), far better than both the League average (.806) and former Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev (.719; below 50th percentile), who moves to San Jose as part of the same trade, this season.
Over the past month (since Nov. 9), Blackwood is tied for the third-best save percentage (.923 in 11 games) among qualifiers (minimum 200 shots against) in the NHL behind Gustavsson (.942 in 10 games) and Adin Hill of the Vegas Golden Knights (.927 in nine games). Among goalies with at least 15 games played this season, Blackwood ranks fourth in save percentage when his opponents have been on the power play (.902) behind Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators (.932 in 23 games), Joey Daccord of the Seattle Kraken (.907 in 19 games) and Shesterkin (.907 in 20 games). Georgiev, meanwhile, struggled in those shorthanded situations (.847 power-play save percentage).
The Avalanche, in general, are a Stanley Cup contender when healthy after winning the championship in 2022, and their possession metrics in front of Blackwood are a night-and-day difference compared to the Sharks. Colorado ranks fourth in shot attempts percentage at 5-on-5 (53.6), while San Jose is second worst (45.4) in the category. The Sharks are allowing the most shots on goal per game (32.9), while the Avalanche are allowing the fourth fewest (26.4); their defense is led by the elite top pair of Cale Makar and Devon Toews.
Per NHL EDGE stats, the Avalanche are also leading the League in 20-plus mph speed bursts as a team (905) despite many of their secondary scorers having dealt with injuries in forwards Artturi Lehkonen (limited to 17 of 29 games), Ross Colton (12 games played) and Jonathan Drouin (five games played; still week to week with upper-body injury); wing Valeri Nichushkin made his season debut Nov. 15 (limited to 12 games this season) after being suspended as part of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But, even with the recent upgrade in Scott Wedgewood (two wins, .951 save percentage, one shutout in first three games), who was acquired from Nashville Predators on Nov. 30, the Avalanche still have the worst team save percentage in the NHL (.866) through their first 29 games. Wedgewood could now either be a part of a timeshare with or the backup to Blackwood.
The Avalanche have also struggled on the penalty kill this season, which can be linked to a combination of their personnel absences through the first two months of the season and also their goaltending struggles with Georgiev and previous backup Justus Annunen. The Sharks actually have a much better penalty kill (80.8; 11th best in NHL) than the Avalanche (73.7; seventh worst), a testament to Blackwood’s performance when his team was shorthanded.
The ceiling for Blackwood is extremely high after the trade considering Georgiev led the NHL in wins (38 in 63 games) last season and was tied for the most victories in 2022-23 (40 in 62 games) as Colorado’s clear starter. The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022 with the tandem of Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francouz (.901 team save percentage in 20 games that postseason) and are clearly trying to follow a similar recipe with their goalie moves this season.
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