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The Avalanche have locked up their new No. 1 goalie.
Mackenzie Blackwood signed a five-year contract extension on Friday, keeping him with the team through the 2029-30 season. He’ll make $5.25 million per season according to Sportsnet’s NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman.
Blackwood is 3-1-0 in four starts with the Avalanche since being acquired. He’s allowed just two goals in each game and has a sparkling .931 save percentage. Colorado scored just once in his lone loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Avs acquired Blackwood on Dec. 9 in a multi-piece trade with the San Jose Sharks. They sent goalie Alexandar Georgiev and forward Nikolai Kovalenko back the other way. Blackwood was brought in nine days after general manager Chris MacFarland traded for his former tandem teammate Scott Wedgewood from the Nashville Predators. He completely revamped Colorado’s goaltending in short order.
Wedgewood is under contract through 2025-26 carrying a cap hit of $1.5 million. The Avs’ goalies will eat up $6.75 million of their salary cap next season.
Blackwood, 28, was a pending unrestricted free agent and is playing out the tail end of a two-year deal worth $2.35 million per season. MacFarland said at the time of the trade that the team had envisioned Blackwood to be a long-term fit. Colorado has had four starting goalies in less than five full seasons.
This is their first long-term commitment to a goaltender since 2014.
“When we acquired Mackenzie a few weeks ago, we wanted to let him get to Denver, get acclimated to his new team, new city and then in due time we’d reach out to him and his representatives,” MacFarland said in a team press release. “We are thrilled to get this deal done now and have Mackenzie under contract for the next six years.”
The Avs started the season 0-4 and had an inconsistent first six weeks to the season. Their goaltending was at the center of the criticism because of their poor play. Both Justus Annunen and Georgiev struggled and ultimately lost the team’s trust. Colorado was ranked 32nd in October and 31 in November in save percentage.
“As I said when we acquired him, we feel like Mackenzie has just gotten better and better every year and he has come in and done a great job with us in his first few starts. He’s a big body, athletic goaltender who is still young and still growing as a goaltender,” MacFarland said. “Stylistically, he has fit really well with how we play and has been a perfect fit in our dressing room as well.”
Blackwood has not yet made a playoff appearance. He’s 84-92-25 in 204 starts, playing mostly for rebuilding teams outside of the playoff picture.
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