Alexandar Georgiev trade: Who won the Rangers and Avalanche deal?

Avalanche grade: B+

The most interesting part of the Avalanche’s trade isn’t about Georgiev at all, it’s about Stanley Cup winning goaltender Darcy Kuemper. With the acquisition of a goaltender six years his junior, Kuemper will now test the free agent market come July 13.

You don’t often see goaltenders leave the team they just won the Stanley Cup with in free agency, but nothing about this Avalanche team is ordinary in the slightest.

The Avalanche are, however, taking a bit of a risk with Georgiev, who has a career .908 save percentage in 129 games over five seasons. In New York, Georgiev got outplayed handily by this season’s Vezina winning-goaltender Igor Shesterkin and was never able to regain the net because of it.

Georgiev also has not yet been able to recapture his first three seasons of work, where he posted save percentages between .918 and .910 in solid years. In his last two seasons, however, Georgiev has faltered and the 2021-22 year was his worst of all, with a .898 save percentage in 33 games.

If there’s any team that’s well equipped to take on a reclamation project, it’s the Avalanche for sure. There’s some real diamond-in-the-rough potential here with Georgiev, who could very well rebound playing behind Colorado’s dominant defensive structure. The loss of draft picks means nothing to a team coming off a Stanley Cup win, so I applaud Joe Sakic here for taking a pretty low-stakes risk with a high upside.