The Colorado Avalanche have traded for New York Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.
The Colorado Avalanche and goaltender Darcy Kuemper appear to have not been able to reach an agreement.
The team announced that they have sent their third and fifth-round selections from this year’s NHL Draft, as well as a fifth-round pick from next year’s draft to the New York Rangers in exchange for goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.
Last season, Georgiev started 27 games for the Rangers, finishing 15-10-2. He played in 33 games during the season, but apparently not enough during many of those games to record a win or loss.
He started one of two games against the Avalanche last season, allowing four goals. The Avalanche won the game 4-2.
For his career, Georgiev has started 117 regular season games and has gone 58-48 in that time. He has a .908 save percentage, with 3,405 saves on 3,748 shots against during the regular season.
Kuemper had a save percentage of .921 for the Colorado Avalanche last season. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, his save percentage was .902 as he allowed 38 goals and saved 348 shots.
In February, ProHockeyWriters.com listed the Colorado Avalanche as a team that the Rangers could potentially send Georgiev to.
Kuemper will now look to cash in with a new team, as he was likely going to be too expensive for the Avalanche to re-sign. The Avalanche have other players they will look to extend or re-sign in the near future.
Colorado Avalanche will have to explore extension with Alexandar Georgiev.
Alexander Georgiev’s current contract only runs through the 2022-23 season, so the Colorado Avalanche are going to look to make a move to extend him, which obviously makes the most sense.
The Avalanche have to re-sign center Nathan Mackinnon soon, as well as decide whether or not they want to hold onto Nazem Kadri and/or Andre Burakovsky. Valeri Nichushkin and is also scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency, but he will be a top priority when it comes time to negotiate.
The Avalanche also have Pavel Francouz on the roster.