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 goaltender 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 pick and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2025 in exchange for Blackwood, forward Givani Smith and San Jose’s own 2027 fifth-round pick. According to the Sharks will see Colorado retain 14 percent of Georgiev’s contract as part of the deal.

Blackwood was traded to the Sharks from the New Jersey Devils as an impending restricted free agent in June 2023. The 28-year-old goaltender posted a save percentage of .899 during the 2023-24 NHL season with San Jose and has also made 529 saves in 581 opportunities so far this season.

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

Georgiev, also 28, has played 18 games for the Avalanche this year, posting a record of 8-7-0 with a save percentage of .874. From November 9 to 27, he won six straight starts and posted a .901 save percentage. Georgiev ranked fifth among all NHL goaltenders in wins in November.

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

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