Scott Wedgewood keeps stacking up strong seasons, and still the recognition never seems to match the production.
That was the latest frustration after NHL Network left the Colorado Avalanche goaltender off its top-10 list of the league’s best netminders. It’s a strange omission for a goalie who just finished fifth in Vezina Trophy voting and picked up two first-place votes, three second-place votes and two third-place votes.
At a certain point, this stops looking like a miss and starts looking like a habit.
There’s at least a defensible case for leaving Mackenzie Blackwood out of the top 10. He finished 23-10-2 with a .904 save percentage and was part of one of the NHL’s better goaltending tandems, but the debate there is about placement - whether he belongs fourth, fifth or eighth - not whether he belongs at all.
Wedgewood’s situation is different. The question isn’t whether he should be top five. It’s how he wound up outside the top 10 entirely.
The Vezina result should have carried real weight. Fifth place in that voting, with those ballots attached, is no small thing, especially when it came ahead of several established goaltenders who usually get far more attention.
But NHL Network wasn’t naming finalists for the trophy. It was simply ranking the 10 best goaltenders in the NHL, which makes the omission even harder to understand.
The Olympic snub added another layer to the story. Wedgewood was also left off Canada’s Olympic roster, and while that decision had its own logic - international hockey is different, experience matters, and roster building is about more than just the best NHL numbers - it was still another sign that his season didn’t get the level of credit it probably earned.
Now the league’s latest list has pushed the same issue back into view.
Wedgewood arrived in Colorado in a trade with the Nashville Predators on Dec. 1, 2024, with Justus Annunen going the other way. From there, he went 13-4-1 with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage in 19 games. That’s the kind of run that should at least make people pause before leaving him off a top-10 list.
Sure, the sample size is part of the conversation. If someone wants to argue he needed more games before getting placed among the game’s elite, that’s fair enough.
But that excuse only stretches so far.
Nobody is saying Wedgewood has to rank ahead of Andrei Vasilevskiy, Connor Hellebuyck, Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin or Jeremy Swayman. Those names belong in the discussion. But once Dan Vladar and Jesper Wallstedt are placed ahead of him, the list starts to lose credibility.
Wallstedt, after all, allowed 16 goals against the Avalanche in Colorado’s second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series, a five-game loss for the Minnesota Wild.
So if the exercise is really about the best goaltenders in the NHL, Wedgewood missing the top 10 is already tough to justify. Putting him behind those names makes it even harder to defend.
Scott Wedgewood deserves better.
In Other News...
Cale Makar Sends A Clear Message About Colorados New-Look Roster
Cale Makar did not spend much time soft-pedaling what went wrong for the Avalanche after a strong regular season gave way to a disappointing playoff exit. He acknowledged the frustrations that came with the ending and the reality that Colorado had to absorb a tough lesson after a year that suggested a deeper run was there for the taking.
Now the focus shifts to a roster that has changed quite a bit since then, with trades and free-agent additions reshaping the group around Makar. Even with the different look, his message was clear: the standard in Colorado has not moved, and neither has the expectation that this team should be in the Stanley Cup conversation again when the season begins. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Face A Painful Roster Debate Around Cale Makar And Depth
The Avalanche are staring at one of those roster questions that can shape everything that follows, because the business side of the next few seasons is starting to press against the hockey side. Artturi Lehkonen and Cale Makar are moving toward contract decisions, and Colorado also has to sort through upcoming free agents such as Nicolas Roy, Brent Burns and Scott Wedgewood while keeping an eye on a cap picture that could tighten quickly.
Makar is the obvious centerpiece of the discussion, but the larger issue is how much room the Avalanche can preserve around him without thinning out the supporting cast that makes the lineup work. It is the kind of debate that can look simple from the outside, keep the star and figure out the rest, but for Colorado it is tied to depth, flexibility and a series of choices that may not all fit neatly together. [Read more 🡒]
Cale Makar And Colorado Are Running Out Of Time On One Decision
Cale Makar and the Avalanche are staring down a contract decision that carries more weight than the usual star extension. With the calendar moving toward the middle of September, Colorado still has a narrow window to lock in an eight-year agreement before the leagues new labor rules shorten the maximum term, turning what is normally a straightforward business item into a real franchise moment.
For the Avalanche, the choice is bigger than just years on a page. An eight-year deal would tie Makar to the organization for the long haul and shape how his place in team history is remembered, while a shorter arrangement would leave more questions about the future and could affect how Colorado manages its roster in the seasons ahead. No agreement has been reported yet, so the clock keeps ticking on one of the teams most important calls. [Read more 🡒]