The San Jose Sharks announced today that they’ve traded goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to the Colorado Avalanche.
Along with Blackwood, the Sharks will also send the Avalanche forward Givani Smith and a 2027 fifth-round pick. In exchange, San Jose receives goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, forward Nikolai Kovalenko, a 2026 second-round pick, and a 2025 fifth-round pick.
Blackwood was originally acquired from the New Jersey Devils in the summer of 2023, and signed a two-year contract. The netminder played in 44 games with San Jose last year, and this season, Blackwood has posted a .910 save percentage across 19 games. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Givani Smith was also signed by the Sharks in the summer of 2023. Smith played in 36 games with the team last season, but suited up for just six games thus far in 2024-25.
Coming to San Jose, Alexander Georgiev is just a couple of years removed from receiving Vezina Trophy votes, back in his first season in Colorado. However, his play has taken a pretty sizeable hit since then, and this season, he posted just an .874 save percentage across 18 games. Georgiev will also be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and Colorado is retaining 14 percent of his salary as part of the deal.
Nikolai Kovalenko is a 25-year-old forward, who’s currently in his first full year of hockey in North America. Kovalenko posted excellent numbers in the KHL over the last couple years before joining the Avalanche, but has been more of a depth scorer this season, with four goals and eight points across 28 games. He’ll be a restricted free agent this offseason.
In terms of an analysis for the trade, the Sharks are pretty clearly capitalizing on Blackwood’s value while it’s at a high. The netminder has been great for the Sharks this season, but given he’s 28 years old and is due for a new contract, the team had a decision to make. With Yaroslov Askarov on the verge of a full-time NHL role, the deal makes way for the young netminder to get a great opportunity over the next couple of seasons.
Of course, it’s going to be a short-term hit for the Sharks. The team has built some momentum after a terrible start, and Blackwood’s play has been a big part of it. Bringing in Georgiev, who’s been almost unusable in Colorado this season, certainly isn’t going to help San Jose keep pucks out of their net.
But the reality is the Sharks are still building towards the future, and this helps them to do so. Given they probably weren’t looking to extend Blackwood to any deal with term (given they have Askarov coming up), the best scenario was to deal him while they could get the best return. Considering they only originally gave up a sixth-round pick to acquire him last summer, flipping him for a second-round pick and a forward in his mid-20s with some upside is a nice move in the grand scheme of things.
So while dealing away Blackwood could have some short-term consequences, it’s probably ultimately the right move, and the Sharks got a pretty decent return.
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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