San Jose Sharks General Manager (@SanJoseSharks). Mike Grier announced today that the club has acquired a goalkeeper Alexandra Georgiev, Nikolai KovalenkoColorado’s 2026 second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round draft pick in 2025 in exchange for goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, forward Givani Smith and San Jose’s own 2027 fifth-round pick. Under the agreement, Colorado retains 14% of Georgiev’s contract.

*Conditions for Colorado’s 2025 fifth-round pick: Colorado will instead transfer the lower of its 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 date of the trade through the end of the 2024-25 regular season

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

Georgiev, 28, has played 18 games for the Avalanche this year, compiling an 8-7-0 record with a 3.38 goals-against average (GAA) and a .874 save percentage (.874 SV%). From November 9 to November 27, he won six straight starts with a .901 SV% and a 2.57 GAA. He ranked fifth among NHL goaltenders in wins in November.

Over the past two seasons, Georgiev led the league in wins (co-leader in 2022-23 with 40) and posted a record of 78-34-11 with a 2.77 GAA and .908 SV%, along with seven shutouts, who were tied for sixth among NHL goaltenders during that span. He became only the fourth goaltender to lead the NHL in wins in consecutive seasons, and joined Patrick Roy as the only goaltenders to reach 30 wins in a season multiple times. Over the course of his NHL career, he appeared in 272 games and recorded a record of 144-89-22, 2.89 GAA, .907 SV% and 15 shutouts. He appeared in the 2024 NHL All-Star Game.

The 6-foot-1, 178-pound native of Russia, Bulgaria was originally signed by the New York Rangers as a free agent on July 19, 2017.

The 25-year-old Kovalenko has eight points (four goals, four assists) in 28 NHL games as a rookie this season. He currently ranks ninth among first-year players in goals. He scored his first career NHL point on October 18 against Anaheim and scored his first NHL goal on October 27 against Ottawa.

Prior to the 2024–25 season, he played primarily for Nizhny Novgorod in the Continental Hockey League (KHL), scoring 35 points (11 goals, 24 assists) in 42 games before moving to Colorado’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, moved. He made his North American debut with the team on April 16 and collected three points in four AHL games. He was eventually promoted to the NHL club and played his first NHL game on April 28, 2024 in Game 4 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The 6-foot, 180-pound Raleigh, North Carolina native was originally selected by Colorado in the 2018 NHL Draft (sixth round, 171).^st in total).