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3 Avalanche players who must bring their A-Game to regain their edge

The Colorado Avalanche have fallen behind the Dallas Stars lately, and there are a few players whose respective A-Games must shine starting now.

By Todd Matthews

Feb 6, 2024; Newark, New Jersey, USA; Colorado Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) celebrates
Feb 6, 2024; Newark, New Jersey, USA; Colorado Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) celebrates / Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
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Time for Alexandar Georgiev to give the Avs Vezina-like run

Alexandar Georgiev was a Vezina contender last season, finishing seventh overall following an impeccable season that included a league-leading 40 wins, a 0.918 save percentage, and a GAA of 2.53. Coming into 2023-24, it was easy to speculate that Georgiev would be a shoo-in contender for the Vezina once again, but that hasn’t happened through mid-February. 

While he’s seen a lot of time in the net - 44 games as of February 11th - Georgiev hasn’t been the same Vezina-like player. He has a quality starts percentage of just 0.465, an 0.898 save percentage, and a 2.94 GAA to go with a league-leading 126 goals allowed. For context, he allowed just 156 last season, so this has been a noticeable drop-off for the 27-year-old.

To make matters worse for Georgiev, he’s facing slightly fewer shots on goal this season at 28 per game as opposed to the 30.7 he saw last season. Overall, his game has dropped, and it must return to at least resemble the Vezina-like levels of the recent past for Colorado to rebound. 

Acquiring a goaltender like Kaapo Kahkonen would be great, but until he gets some help, defending the net consistently is Georgiev’s responsibility. 

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