Avalanche Trade Alexandar Georgiev to Sharks for Mackenzie ...

The Colorado Avalanche have traded goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, forward Nikolai Kovalenko, a 2025 fifth-round draft pick and a 2026 second-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, forward Givani Smith and a fifth-round draft pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.

Blackwood is 6-9-3 in 17 games started this season with one shutout and a .911 save percentage. He has a career .905% SV and an 81-91-25 record in 215 career games played.

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The 28-year-old netminder was selected 42nd overall in the second round of the 2015 NHL Draft by the New Jersey Devils. He played five seasons with the Devils before he was traded to the San Jose Sharks on June 27, 2023, for a sixth-round pick in that year’s NHL Draft. He signed a two-year, $4.7 million contract July 1, 2023.

Blackwood and newly acquired Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood were teammates in the Devils organization over parts of the 2016-18 and 2020-22 seasons.

Smith was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings 46th overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. In 161 career games, he has earned 22 points between the Red Wings, Florida Panthers and Sharks.

Georgiev, who was acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on July 7, 2022, was 86-41-11 with the Avalanche from 2022-25.

Kovalenko earned eight points in the 28 games of his rookie season this year. He made his NHL debut in Game 4 of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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