The Colorado Avalanche is preparing to make another point at a very heavy Western Conference in the hope of conquering their fourth Stanley Cup championship. They will have their work cut for them, because teams such as the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas stars are just as talented as everyone else.
Although the avalanche has raised questions, they seem to have a line -up that can compete for another Stanley Cup. As part of our seasonal series, we will break down every position group to see how the avalanche steps. Let’s start with the Goaltdinggroep.
Mackenzie Blackwood
Goal tending was a huge problem during the first quarter of the 2024-25 season. After an agile trade Avalanche management and goal congregation is now a force. The 28-year-old Mackenzie Blackwood was something of an unknown entity when he was taken over, but turned out to be a home run for the avalanche.
Blackwood was on his arrival. In 36 Starts he went 22-12-3 and offered excellent goal convening in the form of a .913 savings percentage and 2.33 goals against average. Although he was a bit rough in the loss of the first round before the stars, the avalanche clearly has their number one goalkeeper.
Blackwood should again get the lion’s share of the starts and come from a career-high 56 games played. As long as he remains healthy, Blackwood has to offer a level of references that the avalanche has not had for a long time. Against the competition in the conference, they need Blackwood to be his best.
Scott Wedgewood
Only 10 days prior to the Blackwood trade, the Avalanche concluded an underrated deal to acquire Scott Wedwood In exchange for promising young justus Annunen. At the time, the move felt confusing in view of the general feeling that Annunen would be the future of Colorado, but it all worked.
The 32-year-old Wedgewood was extremely underestimated during his 19 games with the Avalanche. Although he was the clear backup, he was excellent and went 13-4-1 while he came across a .917 savings percentage and an impressive average of 1.99 goals.
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In Wedgewood, the Avalanche has a stable, experienced presence to relieve Blackwood. In an incredible battle of Avalanche Management, the Dire Straits team under Alexandar Georgiev went to demonstrably one of the best goal convening duos in the entire competition.
Ilya Nabokov
With the top two, Colorado had to set up a third goalkeeper to fill where necessary. Enter 2024 Pick Ilya Nabokov in the second round. Recently signed with an entry -level contract, Nabokov is more than likely to go the season with the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League (AHL).
Although a little substandard on 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, Nabokov shows a very good speed. Nabokov plays in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and has confronted with older competition than most players of his age and has shown the opportunity to stand on their own.
There is a chance that the former KHL MVP can be borrowed for the 2025-26 season to Metallurg Magnitogorsk, which would facilitate the need to promote someone else in third place. In the ideal case, Blackwood and Wedgewood remain healthy and lock the goalten at the NHL level for the season.
Meant a force for the avalanche
Avalanche management cannot be praised enough for what they have done with the targeting situation. It felt like the avalanche drowned at the beginning of the 2024-25 season, with Georgiev’s performance fell off the face of the earth.
Now Blackwood could become a Vezina Trophy candidate, while Wedgewood remains one of the best backups in the competition. In the end, Blackwood will have to raise his game in the play -offs if the avalanche wants to make a deep play -off run for the first time since 2022.
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