The Colorado Avalanche still have the look of a contender, but the spotlight in Denver is starting to shift in goal. Mackenzie Blackwood is the name attached to that pressure now, and this season feels like the one that will say plenty about where his place in the Avalanche crease really stands.
Blackwood’s arrival from the San Jose Sharks in December 2024 looked like a clean win for Colorado. The Avalanche sent a couple of draft picks and prospect Nikolai Kovalenko the other way, and Blackwood stepped into a rough situation and immediately gave them real answers.
In 37 games with Colorado in 2024-25, he posted a 22-12-3 record with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. He also flashed the athleticism that made the move feel so promising from the start.
Then came 2025-26, and the picture changed. Colorado entered the season with what looked like a true tandem, with Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood expected to share the net while Blackwood carried the No. 1 label.
Instead, Wedgewood took over. He played in 39 games and delivered the best season of his long career, with some even calling him the “best goaltender in the league.”
Blackwood’s season went the other direction. Injuries slowed him down, and inconsistency kept showing up at the worst times.
He had stretches where he looked sharp, but he also gave up soft goals that made it hard to keep the job in any real debate. By the end of the year, Wedgewood had clearly seized control of the crease.
That’s what makes this such a big year for Blackwood. Colorado isn’t in a rush to move him, especially with his contract running through 2030 at $5.25 million per season.
At 30 during this season, he still gives the Avalanche team control at a manageable number in a rising salary cap world. The issue isn’t that he’s been bad.
It’s that he hasn’t been steady enough, and he hasn’t stayed on the ice enough.
If Blackwood can recapture the version of himself Colorado saw when he first arrived from San Jose, it would go a long way toward settling the Avalanche’s goaltending picture. That matters because Wedgewood is already in the back half of his career, and expecting a repeat of last season from him would be a heavy ask. Colorado needs Blackwood to be the guy moving forward.
The long view makes the stakes even clearer. Wedgewood is set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season at 35, and prospect Ilya Nabokov will also be looking for a role. If Blackwood doesn’t rebound, the Avalanche could be staring at a very different situation in net heading into 2027-28.
For now, though, the path is still open. Blackwood has already shown he can deliver the talent and production. The next step is staying healthy, staying consistent, and finally grabbing hold of the crease.
In Other News...
Scott Wedgewood Just Got Hit With Another Brutal Snub
Scott Wedgewoods season was strong enough to put him fifth in Vezina Trophy voting, which is why his absence from NHL Networks latest top-10 goaltender ranking stands out so sharply. For the Avalanche, it is another reminder that his work in net has not always earned the outside respect it probably should, even with the kind of year that usually forces people to take notice.
The snub lands alongside the bigger question of why Wedgewood also came up empty on Canadas Olympic roster. When a goalie can stack up that sort of individual recognition and still be left off lists like these, it invites a second look at what evaluators are valuing, and whether the players getting the nod ahead of him are actually bringing more to the table. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Fans May Not Love This Denver Stadium Speculation
The Broncos announcement that Burnham Yard is their preferred site for a new stadium has already stirred up plenty of attention in Denver, and it comes with a ripple effect that reaches well beyond football. For Avalanche fans, the bigger question is what it could mean for Ball Arena, where the team has called home since 2000-01 and where its current agreement runs through 2050.
Speculation has already started about whether the Avalanche could someday look at a move of their own, perhaps near whatever grows up around the Broncos new home. Nothing official has been announced, and there is no indication the Avalanche are planning anything now, but the mere possibility is enough to get people talking about the citys long-term sports map. [Read more 🡒]