Are the Colorado Avalanche Rolling the Dice with Mackenzie Blackwood?
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With the NHL returning from its holiday break, the Colorado Avalanche announced they have signed goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to a five-year contract extension that carries an AAV of $5.25 million.

Recall, the Avalanche just traded for Blackwood on December 9th as GM Chris MacFarland overhauled his team’s goaltending. He first traded for Scott Wedgewood from the Nashville Predators. Then he traded Alexandar Georgiev to San Jose for Blackwood.

NHL Trade: Colorado Avalanche Acquire Mackenzie Blackwood from San Jose

As NHLRumors.com has documented, the Avalanche have been eyeing Blackwood since the start of the season. Blackwood was set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and now has found a permanent home with the Avalanche.

After the trade at the beginning of December, MarFarland stated that this was not a rental.

“We want the player to get settled in here. Focus on the hockey, and then, when the time is right, we’ll certainly see if there’s something that can make sense,” MacFarland said. “I’d be lying if I said we’re acquiring him for four months of hockey.”

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Well, after four games with the Avalanche, MacFarland is committing a total of six years to Blackwood. In those four games, he has a record of 3-1 with 2.03 GAA and .931 save percentage (he won last night and now has 1.82 GAA and .940 SV%). This season Blackwood now has a record of 10-10 with a 2.75 GAA and .917 save percentage.

As MacFarland said in his press release, he wanted Blackwood to adjust to his climate, not sure four games is quite enough, but MacFarland felt that he fits the style the Avalanche want to play.

“When we acquired Mackenzie a few weeks ago, we wanted to let him get to Denver, get acclimated to his new team, new city and then in due time we’d reach out to him and his representatives,” Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said. “We are thrilled to get this deal done now and have Mackenzie under contract for the next six years.

“As I said when we acquired him, we feel like Mackenzie has just gotten better and better every year and he has come in and done a great job with us in his first few starts. He’s a big body, athletic goaltender who is still young and still growing as a goaltender. Stylistically, he has fit really well with how we play and has been a perfect fit in our dressing room as well.”

This might be a cautionary tale for the Avalanche. Remember the Avalanche traded for the New York Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev after they won the Stanley Cup in 2022. Colorado moved on from Darcy Kuemper and went with an unproven goaltender.

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That did not work out that well for the Avalanche and Georgiev. Yes, Georgiev led the league with 38 wins, but he could not help the Avalanche achieve success in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was the reason the Seattle Kraken beat Colorado in 2023, and though he found his form, the soft goal hurt the Avalanche against the Dallas Stars in 2024.

This season did not go well for Georgiev and thus MacFarland needed to find alternative options. Thus, he went and got Mackenzie Blackwood from San Jose. Again, committing many years and dollars to a goalie who has yet to play a playoff game is a bit risky.

Blackwood has the talent to be an elite goaltender, but his numbers look great on bad teams. He could have been the starting goaltender with the New Jersey Devils, but toward the end, he had a falling out with them. Then in San Jose, Blackwood showed the potential to grow with a young team.

Once San Jose acquired Yaroslav Askarov from the Nashville Predators, one of Blackwood or Vitek Vanecek became expendable. Blackwood is in a situation he likes with Colorado but will be out to prove he can get it done with a playoff caliber team.

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Blackwood’s numbers look great when he faces a lot of shots. He won’t give up as many bad goals as Georgiev, but he gives up his fair share of them. Again, every GM has their own way of doing things, but history has proven these five-year at $5 million AAV goalie contracts do not age well.

Mackenzie Blackwood is out to prove the naysayers wrong and change the cycle in Colorado. Chris MacFarland is taking a huge gamble on Blackwood for five years with his injury history, let’s see if the risk is worth the reward.

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