The Colorado Avalanche last played a game on Monday night, and they won’t take the ice for another game until Friday. On Wednesday, the team got some great news about their goaltender position.
The Avs have removed Mackenzie Blackwood from injured reserve, and sent Trent Miner back down to the Colorado Eagles. It was revealed that Blackwood was recently “dinged up.” He last played on December 31st against the St. Louis Blues, and helped lead the team to a 6-1 victory.
Blackwood owns a 13-1-0-1 record this season along with a goals-against average of 2.07 and a save percentage of .924. Along with Scott Wedgewood (and, heck, Miner as well), the Avalanche would not be where they are today if it weren’t for their goaltending.
The team’s goaltending has been out of this world for the most part this season. Everybody is talking about how phenomenal the Avs are playing at goalie, but I don’t think enough people are talking about Jussi Parkkila, the team’s goaltending coach. Before last season’s two trades to bring in the new goalies, the Avalanche had Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen. I was a big fan of Annunen and thought that he’d fit in well for years to come, but that just wasn’t meant to be.
We all remember how the Georgiev experiment went, especially late in his tenure with the Avs. While he led the league in wins for a goalie in 2022-23 and 2023-24, I think that the team’s goaltending in front of him bailed him out plenty of times. However, it eventually got to a point where he lost confidence in himself and could sense that others around him felt the same way.
With all of that in the past, the Avalanche own the best record in the entire NHL, and with Blackwood back in net, I fully anticipate things to get close to normal. The Avs are still going to be missing Devon Toews and Gabriel Landeskog for several weeks, but having a true goaltender making saves is going to help lessen those blows.
The Avs want to finish the next stretch of games strong prior to the Olympic break. They have 10 more games before then, and have a legitimate chance at extending their lead in the Western Conference. Colorado has 74 points, with the next-closest being the Dallas Stars, who have 63.
Nobody expected the Avs to go an entire season at the pace they were. They have just four regulation losses on the year. Comparitevely, the next-closest team in that category are the Stars and Vegas Golden Knights, who each have 11. That’s how dominant this team is.
The trades the Avalanche made for Blackwood and Wedgewood were imperative. If they didn’t figure something out, who knows where they would be now. Blackwood will soon get back into the crease and help the Avalanche extend their lead in the Central Division as we inch closer to the postseason.