San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) General Manager Mike Grier announced today that the club has acquired goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, Nikolai Kovalenko, Colorado’s 2026 second-round selection, and a conditional fifth-round draft selection in 2025 in exchange for goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, forward Givani Smith, and San Jose’s own 2027 fifth-round pick. As part of the deal, Colorado will retain 14% of Georgiev’s contract.
*Conditions for Colorado’s 2025 fifth-round selection: Colorado will instead transfer the worse of their current fourth-round selections in 2025 (Colorado’s own or Vancouver’s selection) if at least two of the conditions are met:
- Colorado advances to the Third Round of the NHL Playoffs in 2024-25
- Blackwood wins 25 regular season games from the date of the trade to the end of the 2024-25 regular season
- Blackwood starts 30 NHL Regular Season games from the date of the trade to the end of the 2024-25 regular season
Georgiev, 28, has appeared in 18 games this year for the Avalanche, recording an 8-7-0 record with a 3.38 goals-against average (GAA), and a .874 save percentage (.874 SV%). He won six consecutive starts from Nov. 9-27, posting a .901 SV% and a 2.57 GAA. Among NHL goalies in the month of November, he ranked tied for fifth in wins.
Over the previous two seasons, Georgiev led the league in wins (co-led in 2022-23 with 40), amassing a 78-34-11 record with a 2.77 GAA and .908 SV% along with seven shutouts, which was tied for sixth in that span among NHL goalies. He became just the fourth goalie to lead the NHL in wins in consecutive seasons, and joined Patrick Roy as the only two goaltenders to achieve 30 wins in a season multiple times. Over the course of his NHL career, he has appeared in 272 games, recording a 144-89-22 record, 2.89 GAA, .907 SV%, and 15 shutouts. He appeared in the NHL All-Star game in 2024.
The six-foot-one, 178-pound native of Ruse, Bulgaria was originally signed by the New York Rangers as a free agent on July 19, 2017.
Kovalenko, 25, has recorded eight points (four goals, four assists) in 28 NHL games this season as a rookie. He currently ranks ninth among first-year players in goals. He registered his first career NHL point on Oct. 18 vs. Anaheim, and scored his first NHL goal on Oct. 27 vs. Ottawa.
Prior to the 2024-25 season, he primarily played with Nizhny Novgorod in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), recording 35 points (11 goals, 24 assists) in 42 games before joining Colorado’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, Colorado Eagles. He made his North American debut on April 16 with the team and proceeded to collect three points in four AHL games. He eventually was promoted to the NHL club and appeared in his first NHL game on Apr. 28, 2024 in Game 4 of Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The five-foot-10, 180-pound native of Raleigh, NC, was originally selected by Colorado in the 2018 NHL Draft (sixth round, 171st overall).
