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DONE DEAL: The $98M Trade Between Colorado Avalanche And San Jose Sharks Is Done….
Goaltending rumors? Already? That’s the way it goes when your goaltenders have surrendered a combined 21 goals through four games.
On one hand, the idea is floating out there that the Avalanche don’t need to make a change — that they just need Alexandar Georgiev to be better. That was what Frankie Corrado said on TSN on Thursday. On the other hand, Sportsnet’s NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman believes Colorado’s front office has to be looking at other options. Even if they’re only four games into the season.
“There’s no way the Avalanche aren’t looking at this and saying ‘what we can do? How do we fix this and do we have to go elsewhere?,” Friedman said of the Avs’ goalie troubles on the 32 Thoughts podcast. “It doesn’t mean they will. But they have to be looking at it.”
Friedman linked two names to Colorado, albeit it sounded more like speculation than anything else. Granted, the longtime Insider has never been one to throw things out into the hockey world unless they had some semblance of truth to them. Even if just at a surface level. The first name is MacKenzie Blackwood — once the future of the New Jersey Devils’ crease and a Team Canada Olympic hopeful. Now, Blackwood is in San Jose where he’s had to face an incredible amount of high-danger opportunities over the past two seasons.
The second name he mentioned was John Gibson. Anaheim’s veteran goalie has lost his starter’s job to young Lukas Dostal. Gibson won’t even be in the lineup on Friday when the Avs host Anaheim as he is recovering from an appendectomy.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Blackwood is the kind of guy they’re at least saying ‘Okay, if we do decide to go this route, could he solve our problem?’ I find it impossible to believe they’re not at least looking at it, whether or not they actually do it,” Friedman said. “But the other guy I wonder about is Gibson. The thing about Gibson is, he has to stay healthy. Someone asked me if Gibson would be the perfect tonic for what the Avalanche need. And in theory, the answer is yes because he’s a good goalie and could make a difference. But he’s gotta stay healthy. That’s always been the case with him.”
The two goalies offer the Avs completely different kinds of commitment. For Blackwood, the pending unrestricted free agent is in the final year of a contract paying him just $2.35 million per season. It would be the type of move that gives the Avs flexibility heading into the offseason where they were already expecting Georgiev’s contract to expire. But Gibson is in a different boat. He has multiple years remaining on a deal paying him $6.4 million. Putting aside the recent contracts NHL goalies have signed, Gibson is one of the higher-paid netminders in the league.
“The contract you can work out. If you think the player is good enough, you’ll find a way to make the contract work,” Friedman said. “He’s only got two years left, people aren’t going to be too afraid of that term if he could play. I just think that the health thing — he’s gotta prove that he can play.
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