The Colorado Avalanche enter this season with one of the league’s better goalie setups, and the early signs point to a clear tilt toward Mackenzie Blackwood getting the first crack at the starter’s crease.
Blackwood is healthy now, and after starting Saturday, he will have opened the season with the first two games. That’s a notable shift from last year, when Scott Wedgewood handled the opening stretch because Blackwood was dealing with injury status. Wedgewood ended up finishing the year with a 31-6-6 record.
There’s also a contractual layer to this situation. Wedgewood is on a one-year, $2.5 million deal, while Blackwood is in the second season of a five-year contract carrying a $5.25 million AAV. That setup makes Blackwood look like the long-term answer in Colorado, and it’s not hard to see why the Avalanche would want to lean that direction.
The sense here is that Colorado is operating with a 1A and 1B arrangement between the pipes, which is exactly the kind of tandem any team would want. But the money tells part of the story, too.
Two goalies making nearly identical salaries would be a tough cap setup, and Blackwood’s current number sits 19th among goaltenders. For Colorado, that could wind up being a bargain if his play keeps trending the way they want over the life of the deal.
Wedgewood still matters plenty in this equation. He’s a capable goalie, and the only reason to keep him from the starter’s crease would be to limit the chance of him playing himself into a much bigger payday. The Avalanche know he has the ability to outperform his contract, and that kind of value can get expensive fast if a player hits free agency in the right spot.
Even so, there’s a path where Wedgewood’s strong play helps both sides. If he turns in another solid season, even in a backup role, Colorado could still bring him back on a cheaper deal. The Avalanche are well aware of what they have in both goalies, and the rest of the league knows it too.
That’s what makes this so interesting. Colorado can roll with two starter-caliber netminders all season, and if the Avalanche end up winning the Stanley Cup, Wedgewood likely would have done his part. The team has already shown in its 2021-22 championship run how valuable that kind of goaltending depth can be.
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