It was at this time last year that the Avalanche were in the middle of a complete overhaul of their goaltending situation. The promising-looking-though-volatile-in-practice duo of Alexander Georgiev and Justus Annunen had played their way out of Denver, and in return, the Avalanche got Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood. Blackwood was extended for five years shortly after the Avalanche traded for the former Devils netminder. Both performed well for Colorado last season and the thought going into the season was that Blackwood would take the majority of the load.
However, Blackwood was injured in the offseason and has seemingly been slow to recover. With the opportunity, Wedgewood, a career backup, got off to a hot start with the Avalanche while playing on an expiring contract with a $1.5M cap hit. After signing Martin Necas and Gavin Brindley to new deals, the Avalanche have now signed Wedgewood for another year at a $2.5M cap hit. What then does that mean for the the netminders the Avalanche have signed behind their top two?
In The Pipeline
Trent Miner is the Avs current top AHL goaltender and has even played a couple of games for the main club. However, a career .898 sv% in the AHL doesn't make him likely to threaten for any starting or backup position on a contending team like the Avalanche. The former 7th round pick has been with the organization for several years at this point and while neither of his starts this year ended in the win column, he did get the team to overtime in both games averaging a .909 sv%, so he provides depth for the moment.
Some expected the Avalanche's other top goaltender, Ilya Nabokov, to begin his American career this season. Instead, the former KHL Playoffs MVP returned to Metallurg Magnitogorsk and is in something of a down season. Nabokov's save percentage has dipped to .893 through 11 games and he has been playing behind Metallurg's other netminder, Alexander Smolin. He still has plenty of runway this season to get back to his 2023-24 and 2024-25 form, where he had a .923 and .917 save percentages, but another year where his production comes down slightly wouldn't bode well for the future.
Still, the 22-year-old is 8-3 in net and Nabokov is likely to come to the AHL once his season in Russia comes to an end after signing a contract with the Avalanche this offseason. His true audition for the show is still a bit of a ways away, but there appear to be a few more question marks around what exactly the Avalanche have in him now. With Wedgwood's new contract, the Avalanche have a bit more breathing room and some time to let the young netminder get adjusted to the North American game. Hopefully they won't be scrambling to overhaul their system again this time next year.