Stat Stories: How Blackwood and Wedgewood transformed the Colorado Avalanche

With all of the big moves that general manager Chris McFarland pulled off last season, none changed the tone of the Avalanche more than completely overhauling the goaltending position by trading away Justus Annunen and Alexander Georgiev for Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood. The Lumberyard provided a breath of fresh air both on and off the ice, a change which can be seen in their numbers and the team stats overall.

Baseline pivot point

A look at the basic goaltending numbers tells a story of two seasons for the Avs. With Colorado, Georgiev had 18 starts, a record of 8-7-0, a 3.38 goals-against average, and a .874 save percentage while Annunen posted a 6-4-0 record, a 3.23 GAA, and a .872 SV% over 9 starts. Extrapolated out over a full 82-game season, the Avs would have had a record of 46-36-0, earned 92 points, placed 5th in Central & 10th in West, and would have missed the playoffs.

Once Wedgewood and Blackwood arrived, it all turned around. On the Avs, Blackwood had 36 starts, posted 22-12-3 record with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage while Wedgewood had a record of 13-4-1 with 1.99 GAA and a .917 SV% over 18 starts. Projected out over a full 82-game season, they would have backstopped the Avs to a 52-24-6 record for 110 points, which would have earned 2nd in the Central Division and the 2nd best record in the Western Conference. That improved record would have given them home ice vs Dallas in Round 1.

Ripple effect

It was not just Blackwood and Wedgewood’s play in net that put the Avalanche back on the right track for the season. It was the confidence that rippled out from them to the rest of the team. According to Natural Stat Trick, before December 9th, when the team acquired Blackwood, the Avs defensively gave up scoring chances that statistically added up to 88.6 expected goals against (3.055/game played), which was 24th in the league. The actual number of goals scored on the Avs during those 29 games was 103 (3.55/GP), which was 30th in the league behind only the Sharks and the Penguins.

After the Blackwood acquisition, the team gave up 149.14 expected goals worth of scoring chances (2.814/GP), which jumped them up to 6th best in the league over that span. But the actual number of goals scored on them during those 53 games was way less with only 128 going in the net (2.415/GP). That figure was the second best in the league. The simple fact of having confidence in their goaltending tandem led the Avs from being one of the weakest teams in the league defensively to one of the strongest.

Don't mess with a good thing

While it would be great to ask more of the Blackwood/Wedgewood tandem, getting a similar result from that duo would go a long way to giving the Avalanche a strong foundation upon which build this coming season. The success of the team this season will be built on establishing a winning process from Day 1 so that they are dictating the pace of the division and not needing to play catch-up. A meat-and-potatoes showing from them game by game is exactly what the Avs need from them. Anything other improvements – from shutouts to highlight reel saves to hot streaks – are all just gravy on top.