The San Jose Sharks on Monday traded goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, forward Givani Smith and their own 2027 fifth-round draft pick to the Colorado Avalanche for goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, forward Nikolai Kovalenko, Colorado’s 2026 second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round draft pick Year 2025.

Blackwood has been the Sharks’ best goaltender since being acquired from the New Jersey Devils in June 2023. In 63 games with the Sharks, Blackwood had a 16-34-7 record and a .902 save percentage.

After starting the season with an 0-2-2 record, Blackwood has gone 6-6-1 with a .916 save percentage in his last 14 appearances.

Georgiev is in the final year of a three-year, $10.2 million contract with a $3.4 million cap hit. As part of the deal, Colorado retains 14% of Georgiev’s contract, putting San Jose’s cap hit at $2.924 million.

The conditions for Colorado’s 2025 fifth-round pick are that the Avalanche will instead transfer the worst of their current fourth-round picks in 2025 (Colorado’s own or Vancouver’s pick) if at least two of the conditions are met:

– Colorado advances to the third round of the 2024-25 NHL Playoffs.

– Blackwood wins 25 regular season games from the trade date through the end of the 2024-25 regular season.

– Blackwood will start 30 NHL regular season games from the trade date through the end of the 2024-25 regular season.

Please check back for updates on this developing story.

Originally published: December 9, 2024 at 12:25 PM PST