Sharks trade Blackwood to Avs for two players, two draft picks

Sharks trade Blackwood to Avs for two players, two draft picks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Sharks are moving on from Mackenzie Blackwood.

San Jose is trading its top goalie to the Colorado Avalanche, the team announced Monday. Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the news.

The Sharks also acquired goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, Nikolai Kovalenko, Colorado’s 2026 second-round selection and a conditional fifth-round draft selection in 2025 in exchange for Blackwood, forward Givani Smith and San Jose’s own 2027 fifth-round pick. As part of the deal, Colorado will retain 14 percent of Georgiev’s contract, per the Sharks.

Blackwood was traded to the Sharks as a pending restricted free agent by the New Jersey Devils in June 2023. The 28-year-old goaltender compiled a .899 save percentage during the 2023-24 NHL season with San Jose and so far this season had 529 saves in 581 opportunities.

Instead of its 2025 fifth-round pick, Colorado instead will transfer the worse of its current fourth-round selections in 2025 (Colorado’s own or Vancouver’s selection) if at least two of the following conditions are met: The Avalanche advance to the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs this season; Blackwood wins 25 regular-season games from the date of the trade to the end of the 2024-25 season; Blackwood starts 30 regular-season games from the date of the trade to the end of the 2024-25 regular season.

Georgiev, also 28, has appeared in 18 games this year for the Avalanche, recording an 8-7-0 record with a .874 save percentage. He won six consecutive starts from Nov. 9 to Nov. 27, posting a .901 save percentage. Georgiev ranked fifth among all NHL goalies in wins during the month of November.

Kovalenko, 25, has recorded eight points (four goals, four assists) in 28 NHL games with Colorado this season as a rookie and ranks ninth among first-year players in goals.

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