3 Avalanche Goalie Trade Targets To Replace Georgiev – Hockey Writers – Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche stumbled out of the gate to start the 2024-25 season and are currently the proud owners of a 1-4-0 record and third-to-last place in the league standings.

The Avalanche's offense has struggled with just 3.4 goals per game (13th in the NHL) given that the Avalanche have finished fourth or better in goals per game over the past five seasons. Injuries have also decimated their roster and may contribute to a weakened immune system. However, it is the play of their pitchers that has caused the most confusion in the Avalanche camp.

Alexander Georgiev still seems to be trending in the wrong direction after a difficult 2023-24 campaign that saw him post an .896 save percentage (SV%) in 74 combined regular season and playoff games. It was a stark contrast from his stellar first season with the Avalanche (.918 SV% in 62 games) and more to go with his disastrous start to the 2024-25 campaign, in which a .811 SV%, 4.99 goals-against average ( GAA), and a minus-8.85 goals-against-average (GSAx) mark a horrendous stat line.

Related: Colorado Avalanche Can Afford Slow Start To 2024-25 NHL Season

Even backup Justus Annunen struggled to get his first game of the season. His numbers aren't great due to replacing Georgiev in relief (.765 SV% and 4.69 GAA in two games) but a .928 SV% in 14 games last season suggests this early decline could be a blip on the radar.

Keep in mind that the season is still early so trading teams may not be willing to part with their goaltender anytime soon. Any trade would have to involve Georgiev doing something else as a salary cap since he's on an expiring contract with a cap hit of $3.4 million and the Avalanche could be looking down the barrel of a cap conundrum. when injured players return. With that context in mind, let's dive into three goaltenders the Avalanche could – and should – target in a trade at some point this season.

Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins

The first target of the trade is 29-year-old Tristan Jarry of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who has a contract with an average annual value of $5.375 million (AAV) for three more seasons after this one. A swap involving Jarry and Georgiev would represent an exchange of rebounding projects and could benefit both underperforming teams (the Penguins are 3-3-0 and 21st in the league in percentage).

Jarry has had a terrible start to his professional career, with a .836 SV% and a 5.47 GAA through three games, both of which rank in the bottom five of all professional goaltenders (minimum of two games played). His SV% has now declined in three straight seasons, and the team has instead turned to rookie goaltender Joel Blomqvist (.908 SV% in four games) more often than the 260-game NHL veteran with a respectable career SV% of . 911 and good GSAx.

It's hard to see the Penguins willing to keep a large portion of Jarry's salary in any deal given the time remaining, even if the expiring Georgiev is part of the return. The Avalanche may also be spooked by his lack of experience (eight games) and subpar play (.891 SV%) in the playoffs, though Colorado's acquisition of Darcy Kuemper before the 2021-22 championship season could be pulled as slack. compatibility and the best possible trade-off.

Jarry is talented as evidenced by his career numbers and four separate seasons with an SV% of .909 or higher. He seems to be in dire need of a change of scenery and Colorado could be the place to regain his confidence and revive his flagging career.

Sam Montembeault, Montreal Canadiens

This trade target is the most likely of the three as the Montreal Canadiens will be hoping to take the next step in their competitive development over the next few seasons, but Sam Montembeault could be the best long-term solution the Avalanche have. I have been wanted since Philipp Grubauer left as a free agent in the summer of 2021.

The Canadiens front office may choose to hang on to him since most of Montreal's top players are in their 20s, so Montembeault won't be too old (he turns 28 at the end of October) when those players first arrive. He's also cheap ($3.15 million AAV until 2026-27), undersized (seventh among all scorers in GSAx from 2022-23) and pegged as a potential dark horse as one of Canada's top three scorers in the 4 Nations Faceoff and 2026 Winter Olympics.

That's all despite abysmal career numbers of .899 SV% and 3.35 GAA over 148 games; high-level stats that don't tell the whole story about a goalkeeper's playing field.

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What would force the Canadiens' hand and start a trade? The first is that the team is also dealing with a number of significant injuries and may be heading for another season spent rebuilding, although expectations were not very high at first. The Canadiens are the most defensive team in the NHL at 5-on-5, allowing the highest rate of shots (SA), scoring chances (SCA), and expected goals (xGA) per 60 minutes. Don't let the 2-3-1 record fool you, this is not a bubble playoff team playing at a sustainable pace for the long term.

If junior Cayden Primeau (three years younger than Montembeault) can repeat his 2023-24 season (.910 SV% and plus-9.2 GSAx in 23 games), general manager (GM) Kent Hughes may be motivated trading for Montembeault comes elsewhere and still retains ownership of the goalie in line with Montreal's timeline. The most likely outcome is for the Quebec native to stay put, but it's a situation to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks

Another familiar name in trade rumors, 31-year-old John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks, has struggled with injuries and inconsistent play since signing his current contract after the 2018-19 season. It carries an AAV of 6.4 million and expires at the end of the 2026-27 season when Gibson is 34 years old. The American goalkeeper has not played a game this season due to an emergency appendectomy, although he is expected to return next month.

Gibson's trade value has steadily declined in recent years as he hasn't posted an SV% above .904 over the past five seasons and has allowed 22 more goals than expected since the start of the 2019-20 season, ranking in the 154 out of 170 that I did at least one during that time. Lukas Dostal, 24, is also poised to take over in net for the Ducks, posting a .927 SV% in his first three games this season and after posting a .903 SV% in 44 games in 2023-24.

The optimistic view is that Gibson's poor performance is mostly a result of the inexperienced defense in front of him (they are last in SA, SCA, and xGA), rather than a lack of skill. The Ducks have one of the most promising pipelines in the league, but developing said prospects is often a tumultuous and volatile process. Gibson has also played more than half of the Ducks' games in every season since the start of the 2016-17 season and posted an SV% of .917 or better in four straight seasons from 2015-19.

At just 31 years old, Gibson's NHL shelf life may be extended in a more competitive and organized environment but his cap (seventh among all goal scorers) will need to be kept on Anaheim's side. They may not be able to agree to such a deal for three more seasons and it would be a gamble on the Avalanche's part. Still, it's the kind of inspired swing that could make or break GM Chris MacFarland's legacy in Colorado and it wouldn't be surprising if it happened.

The Avalanche Don't Have Many Solutions To Their Goalie Problem

As the trade target list shows, there aren't many viable options on the market this early in the season. Even if there were, there's no guarantee that any of them would be a significant improvement over what the Avalanche currently carry.

The Avalanche say Kaapo Kahkonen is off waivers and may be willing to run three until a better replacement is found. Before Jeremy Swayman signed an eight-year contract with the Boston Bruins carrying an AAV of $8.25 million, the unsatisfied American guard could have been a long-term target in the front office. On the contrary, the market is still short on easily available targets and as a result, there may not be an appropriate move to make yet.

The Avalanche's injury situation has weakened the team's defense so it may not be fair to lump the blue goals against the numbers into consideration. At the risk of the season slipping away from them, the game would be to stick with the current triumvirate and hope that one of them finds his game. If the position is not addressed in some way, the 2024-25 campaign could suddenly be a lost season, destroying the backbone of the team.

Data courtesy of Evolving Hockey, Natural Stat Trick, and NHL.