10:08 a.m.: The Avalanche are nearing an agreement on a contract extension with pending unrestricted free agent netminder Mackenzie Blackwood, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports Friday.

Blackwood, 28, had rediscovered his game as a legitimate tandem/1A option with the Sharks over the past couple of seasons. He was open to sticking around in San Jose. Still, with the rebuilding club needing to keep their long-term future open for top prospect Yaroslav Askarov, they opted not to engage in extension talks and instead traded him to the Avs earlier this month. Colorado needed a more stable solution between the pipes with both halves of their opening-night tandem in Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen struggling. So far, Blackwood has provided that. Along with veteran trade pickup Scott Wedgewood from Nashville, they’ve put up save percentages north of .930 in their nine combined starts since being acquired.

Those strong early returns, plus a burgeoning track record behind a thin defense in San Jose, make Blackwood a clear fit in Denver past this season. A few years ago, he was one of the more intriguing young netminders in the league, posting a .915 SV% and 2.77 GAA in 43 starts and four relief appearances with the Devils in 2019-20 while finishing sixth in Calder Trophy voting.

He hasn’t posted above-average numbers since but is on pace to do so this season, logging a .913 SV%, 2.83 GAA, and one shutout in 21 starts and two relief appearances split between the Sharks and Avalanche. He’s stopped nine goals above average and 5.9 above expected, per MoneyPuck, squarely positioning him as a top-20 netminder in the league this season. Twelve out of his 21 starts have been quality ones (SV% above league average).

Blackwood has allowed exactly two goals in all four of his starts for Colorado thus far, allowing eight on 116 shots faced over the past couple of weeks. The Avs’ high-powered offense has given him necessary goal support, leading to a 3-1-0 record to begin what now will be a multi-year run in the Central Division. Whatever his new deal is, it’ll come with a significant raise on his current $2.35MM cap hit as afforded by the two-year, $4.7MM pact he signed with the Sharks in 2022.

Keeping Blackwood around became especially important when Colorado traded one of their higher-ceiling young options in Annunen to the Predators in the Wedgewood deal. That’s not to say Colorado’s prospect pool between the pipes is completely barren. There’s 2024 second-round pick Ilya Nabokov, who’s coming off a Gagarin Cup championship in the Kontinental Hockey League with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, and Pavel Lysenkov of Match TV said Thursday that he won’t re-sign in Russia and will ink an entry-level deal with the Avs for next season. There’s also 23-year-old Trent Miner, who has a .901 SV% in 14 AHL games this season and stopped 12 of the 13 shots he faced against the Capitals in his NHL debut last month.

Regardless, Blackwood figures to be the Avs’ Game 1 starter in the playoffs, assuming they stick around for an eighth consecutive postseason berth. Whatever extension he signs will walk him to unrestricted free agency at its conclusion.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

The Sharks didn’t have a similar level of interest, but even with how well Blackwood had played to begin the season, it’s justifiable. San Jose is in no position to make a long-term commitment to a starting or even high-end tandem option between the pipes, with Yaroslav Askarov on the cusp of full-time duties. Both their other veteran options, Vítek Vaněček and short-term Blackwood replacement Alexandar Georgiev, are also due to test the UFA market next summer and shouldn’t be considered likely extension candidates.

But it’s also easy to see why Blackwood would have been comfortable sticking around, even on a rebuilding Sharks squad. San Jose is where the 28-year-old reestablished himself as a legitimate NHL option, a status that was in doubt at the end of his time as a New Jersey Devil. Blackwood, a second-rounder by the Devils in 2015, had allowed 17 goals above average across his final two seasons in New Jersey before they opted to trade his signing rights to the Sharks in the 2023 offseason for a sixth-round pick.

Blackwood landed a two-year, $4.7MM prove-it deal with San Jose. While his overall numbers weren’t pretty at first glance last year, they were strong considering the league-worst Sharks defense he played behind. He posted a .899 SV% and 3.45 GAA in 44 appearances, his highest workload in four years, while saving 2.4 goals above expected.

He took a step forward before the trade in 2024-25, posting a 6-9-3 record with a .909 SV% and 3.00 GAA in 17 starts and two relief appearances. In three starts with the Avs since the trade, he’s allowed only six goals on 97 shots for a .938 SV% and has a 2-1-0 record.

While there will be some regression in his numbers with Colorado, he’s re-positioned himself as a legitimate tandem option who can handle a 30-45 start workload with slightly above-average play. His 5.8 goals saved above expected across both teams ranks 15th in the league this season, per MoneyPuck. There’s likely an argument for his $2.35MM AAV to jump to the $4MM or even $5MM range next season, whether on the open market or on an extension with the Avalanche, who don’t have an up-and-comer on the cusp of handling NHL minutes after trading Justus Annunen to the Predators.

This is Miner’s second call-up of the season. His first was a one-day stop with the NHL roster on November 15th, in response to an injury to Georgiev. Miner backed up Justus Annunen for one game, and would end up taking over the crease just one minute into the second period after the latter allowed three goals on six shots. Miner stopped 12 of 13 shots in what was inadvertently his NHL debut – but Colorado couldn’t climb out of the hole Annunen dug, and ultimately lost the game 5-2.

Aside from the spot fill-in, Miner has proven the consistent in a Colorado Eagles goaltending room that also features Kaapo Kahkonen and Kevin Mandolese. Miner leads the team in games played with 11 appearances, but his 5-4-2 record and .895 rank behind Mandolese, who has a 6-2-0 record and .915 in nine games. Miner will likely be headed back to the minors once Blackwood arrives in Colorado, giving him a chance to maintain his spot over Mandolese on Colorado’s call-up list.

Other notes from Denver:

• Blackwood hasn’t arrived in Colorado yet, but the team is apparently already looking forward to his future. They’re hoping to land an extension before Blackwood hits free agency this summer, general manager Chris MacFarland told Max Miller of The Hockey News. Blackwood is near the end of a two-year, $4.7MM contract signed with San Jose on July 1, 2023. It was a sort of ’prove-it’ contract, giving Blackwood a chance at hardy minutes after he lost the starting role in New Jersey. He didn’t start the deal too promising, posting a 10-25-4 record and .899 save percentage through 44 games with the league-worst Sharks last season. But his 2.4 goals-saved-above-expected (GSAx) – a stat that ranked 17th in the league per MoneyPuck – spoke to Blackwood’s hidden upside. He’s started to reveal that this year, with six wins and a .910 save percentage in 19 games so far. Blackwood has also posted 3.9 GSAx – again ranking him 17th in the league among goalies with 10-or-more starts. He’ll look to keep that momentum going behind a much stronger Colorado team, and earn a bit more certainty on his next deal.
• As they’ve done many times before, Colorado has also sent a waiver-exempt player to the minors on their off-day to accrue daily cap space. The target this time is forward Nikita Prishchepov, who hasn’t managed any scoring through 10 NHL games this season. Prishchepov was a seventh-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft and became just the third draftee to make his NHL debut – behind first-round picks Macklin Celebrini and Jett Luchanko. Prishchepov has yet to record his first NHL point, though he’ll enter conversation with just Celebrini if and when he does. He’ll likely be back on the Avlanache roster ahead of their Tuesday matchup, but he’d get a chance to build on six points in 12 AHL games should he stay in the minor leagues.

It’s quite rare to see an NHL organization entirely move out the netminders they started the year with but that’s exactly what the Avalanche did by early December. Colorado began the year with a combination of Georgiev and Justus Annunen but the two have been replaced with Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood.

The Avalanche have had the league’s worst goaltending this season and it’s not particularly close. Colorado sits dead last in the league with a .866 save percentage and 29th in goals against per game with 3.55.

Blackwood should help considerably in that department. He’s managed a 6-9-3 record with the Sharks this year coupled with a .909 SV% and 3.00 GAA. He’s given up 53 goals this year in San Jose but some of that can be attributed to the poor performance in front of him as his xGA is only 39.7 according to Hockey Reference.

Colorado’s defense has been more than capable of only allowing 766 shots on their netminders this season ranking 11th in the league. They’ll also shed some salary in the deal which is another bonus. TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that the Avalanche retained 14% ($476K) of Georgiev’s remaining salary so the organization will save roughly $700K in the swap.

Smith also provides some flexibility for Colorado toward the bottom of the lineup. He cleared waivers earlier today (as per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman) and can be moved between the Avalanche and their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, unencumbered for the next 30 days.

The real surprise in this deal is Georgiev. His inclusion was likely necessary for the Avalanche given their salary cap picture and the lack of desire to carry three netminders on the active roster. Still, it felt like the perfect opportunity for the Sharks to make an opening for prospect Yaroslav Askarov on the NHL roster.

He’s easily having the worst season of his career and will be limping into unrestricted free agency next summer. He’s produced an 8-7-0 record for the Avalanche this year but has a dismal .874 SV%. Georgiev may find more success with less pressure to win in San Jose but this isn’t the year he’d like to have considering his next contract is at stake.

The real prize in this deal for San Jose is Kovalenko. He was a sixth-round pick by Colorado in the 2018 NHL Draft but didn’t come to North America until last year. He saw his ice time reduced in recent weeks as the Avalanche drift toward a healthy lineup but still carries plenty of pedigree as a prospect.

His final two years in the Kontinental Hockey League were especially good. Kovalenko scored 32 goals and 89 points in 98 games with the KHL’s Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod from 2022 to 2024. He’ll likely push for top-six minutes with the Sharks which was a prohibited pathway in Colorado.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report Blackwood had been traded to Colorado. 

Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now was the first to report Smith and SJ’s 2027 fifth-round were also in the deal. 

Peng was the first to report Georgiev, Kovalenko, and draft capital were headed back to the Sharks. 

The jury is still out on whether Landeskog can return this season but the expectation is that Nichushkin, Wood, and Drouin will return to the lineup over the coming weeks. This would leave Landeskog and Ross Colton as the only formidable top-six talents left on the injured reserve making the deepest rendition of Colorado’s lineup up to this point in the 2024-25 campaign.

Colorado has stayed afloat in the Western Conference thanks to the team’s usual suspects. Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar are all well over a point-per-game production this season, and the Avalanche could start to generate rapid success should the team get closer to fully healthy.

Other Central notes:

• Staying in Colorado — one of the most disappointing factors for the team this season has been its goaltending. Avalanche netminders have combined for a .868 SV% over 15 contests leading many pundits to believe Colorado will trade for a goaltender. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman spoke about the issue in his latest episode of ’32 Thoughts’ and reiterated that the Avalanche have circled back on San Jose Sharks’ netminder Mackenzie Blackwood. Colorado’s interest in Blackwood, which reportedly spanned back to last season, could have been reignited by the netminder’s recent 44-save shutout against his former team last night.
• Senior draft writer of the NHL, Mike G. Morreale, recently surveyed the top rookies in the NHL’s Central Division and it’s no surprise that Logan Stankoven of the Dallas Stars is leading the pack. Stankoven currently leads the 2024-25 rookie class with two goals and 12 points in 13 games while averaging top-six minutes. Morreale quoted Stars head coach Peter DeBoer saying, “Anybody you put him with, he complements. Good players want to play with a guy like that because he’s competitive, he’s on pucks, he recovers pucks, he can make a play.”
• Expect forward Mathieu Joseph to be in the lineup tomorrow night for the St. Louis Blues after missing the team’s last six games (X Link). Joseph, who had been nursing a lower-body injury, hasn’t played since October 26th. In his first year with the Blues organization, Joseph has collected two goals and four points in nine contests while averaging just over 13 minutes of ice time per night.

Reports yesterday indicated that defenseman John Marino was “months” away from returning while Sean Durzi is headed for a similar trajectory. The team is keeping pace with the rest of the Central Division through the first two weeks of the regular season but will face increased difficulty the further they go without a complete blue line. Luckily, if Utah wants to be one of the few teams looking to be aggressive on the trade market early in the season, they have some options.

Shortly before the start of training camp, a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicated the Anaheim Ducks were willing to explore trade options with veteran defenseman Cam Fowler. Utah has plenty of capital to send the other way with the financial flexibility to take on all of Fowler’s $6.5MM salary for the next two years. The hurdle to clear regarding Fowler is the four-team trade list attached to his contract. Fowler would have to waive his protection if Utah isn’t one of the four teams or a trade won’t get done.

A short-term option is David Savard of the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal would be better served by holding on to Savard for the trade deadline in the hope of sparking a bidding war but could be enticed out of Utah’s desperation. Savard doesn’t have any protection attached to his deal and he’s not expected back in Montreal next year thanks to several defensive prospects in the system.

Other Central notes:

• Subpar goaltending has been a major storyline for the Colorado Avalanche early in the 2024-25 NHL season. On his ’32 Thoughts’ podcast, Elliotte Friedman reported the Avalanche had previous interest in San Jose Sharks’ goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and may circle back should their goaltending woes continue. Blackwood has struggled to start the season with a .875 save percentage through three games but is an obvious trade candidate on an expiring contract for a rebuilding organization. There’s no deal expected soon but don’t be surprised to see Colorado make a major push for Blackwood by American Thanksgiving if they can’t get their goaltending straightened out.
• Sticking in Colorado — Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette reports the Avalanche are undecided on returning forward Calum Ritchie to his junior team in Oshawa to save a year on his contract. Ritchie is five games shy of burning the first year of his entry-level contract and has scored one goal on the season. His -7 rating through five games doesn’t invoke positive thoughts but much of that can be laid at the feet of the goaltending with Ritchie managing a +0.7 E+/- according to Hockey Reference. Re-ignite.

Of the seven players listed, four will go to unrestricted free agency, one will go to restricted free agency, and two are signed into next year. Realistically, Labanc, Hoffman, and Barabanov will all head towards greener pastures, while the team may opt to keep MacDonald as a depth piece for the 2024-25 NHL season.

Even though Zadina will become a potential non-tender candidate this offseason, he may not find any interest outside of the Bay Area. Producing moderately well with 13 goals and 23 points in 72 games for the Sharks this season, Zadina’s defensive metrics from this year may be too ghastly for other teams to overlook, indicating that if he does play outside of San Jose, it will likely be in the AHL.

After acquiring Devin Cooley and Vitek Vanecek at this year’s trade deadline, Blackwood could be an interesting trade candidate this summer. In 41 starts for the Sharks this season, Blackwood has produced a 10-25-4 record, with 24 of those measuring as Quality Starts according to Hockey Reference. Certainly not playing himself into a starting role with his efforts this year, Blackwood could become a serviceable backup option for a contending team next year.

Nevertheless, it is not necessarily a negative that most of these players will be moving out of San Jose this offseason. With the Sharks hitting rock bottom over the past two years, it is now time to thin out a very saturated roster as much as possible to create space and playing time for San Jose’s up-and-coming prospects.

Chrona has been on the San Jose roster for the last three weeks, except for a brief return to the minors on trade deadline day to make him eligible to play in the AHL down the stretch. The Sharks recalled him under emergency conditions on Feb. 28 when Blackwood landed on IR with what was later revealed to be a groin injury. After getting shelled in his first two NHL appearances earlier this season, Chrona improved over the last few weeks, posting a .891 SV% and a 1-4-1 record in six starts this month. However, his emergency recall meant he must be returned to the minors (or converted to a standard recall) upon Blackwood’s return.

The Sharks will likely keep Chrona in the minors down the stretch while 26-year-old rookie Devin Cooley, picked up from the Sabres in one of the final trades before the March 8 deadline, serves as Blackwood’s backup. Chrona, 23, was initially a fifth-round pick of the Lightning in 2018 but saw his signing rights traded to San Jose in April 2021 for minor-league defenseman Fredrik Claesson. He’s in his first professional season after four seasons with the University of Denver, posting a .892 SV% and 3.51 GAA in 24 games with AHL San Jose and a .940 SV% and 2.94 GAA in two showings with ECHL Wichita. The Swede has one season remaining on his entry-level contract and will be an RFA in 2025.

Blackwood returns after his groin injury sidelined him for all of March to date. He’s had a solid rebound season after the Sharks picked up his signing rights from the Devils in a trade last summer, leading San Jose with 32 starts, a 9-18-3 record, .899 SV%, and 3.48 GAA. He’s also saved 2.6 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck, his first season above expected since his standout rookie season in 2019-20. He signed a two-year, $4.7MM deal with the Sharks just after they failed to issue him a qualifying offer and, like Chrona, will be an RFA in 2025.

Alexander Kerfoot has slotted into the team’s top-line center role in Keller’s absence, scoring two points in his last three games. That brings Kerfoot’s totals up to 35 points in 60 games – the second-most he’s scored in the last five years. But it pales in comparison to Keller, who leads the Coyotes in scoring by nine points, with 22 goals and 52 points in 56 games. He and winger Matias Maccelli are the team’s only players to break 40 points so far this season, through Arizona’s first 60 games.

Keller’s upgrade to a day-to-day designation is exciting progression for a Coyotes team that’s lost 16 of their last 19 games, getting outscored 49-to-76. Keller continues to be a major piece of Arizona’s offense, averaging over 19 minutes of ice time this season, and will likely slot immediately back into their top forward role when he’s healthy.

Other notes from around the league:

• San Jose Sharks goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood traveled with the team to face the Minnesota Wild and is trending towards making a return this week, per Sheng Peng with NBC Sports. Blackwood has been facing an undisclosed injury since the team’s Tuesday night loss to the New Jersey Devils, missing San Jose’s last two games. The injury earned Blackwood a spot on injured reserve on Wednesday, making San Jose’s upcoming Tuesday matchup against the Dallas Stars the earliest that he could return. He’s faced a string of injuries this season but has still operated as San Jose’s starter, recording nine wins and a .899 save percentage in 35 games.
• Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin has a head injury, according to head coach Sheldon Keefe, after receiving a hit to the head from New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe. Keefe had some choice words for Rempe’s hit, slamming the rookie winger for leaving his feet and taking a player out of the game. There is currently no timetable for Lyubushkin’s return. He was in his first game with the Leafs this season, after joining the team via trade from the Anaheim Ducks earlier in the week.

12:48 p.m.: Before tomorrow’s game against the Ducks, the Sharks placed goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. Magnus Chrona was called up from AHL San Jose in a corresponding move to give starter Kaapo Kähkönen his backup for the next few games.

Blackwood will not be available for the Sharks’ weekend back-to-back against the Wild and Stars. He can be activated before Tuesday’s game against Dallas at the earliest, although it’s unclear how much time he’ll miss. He left yesterday’s loss to the Devils in the first period after catching a shot in the midsection from a New Jersey player (video link).

In his first season with the Sharks, Blackwood has posted a 9-18-3 record with one shutout over 32 starts and three relief appearances, recording a .899 SV%. It’s been a nice bounceback season for the 27-year-old, who signed a two-year, $4.7MM deal with the Sharks last summer after they acquired his signing rights from the Devils for a 2023 sixth-round pick.

The 2015 second-round pick has saved 2.6 goals above expected in all situations, per MoneyPuck, his first season in the black since he finished sixth in Calder voting with New Jersey in 2019-20. He’s done so while facing 34.5 shots per 60 minutes, the most of any starter in the league.

Despite starting eight fewer games, Kähkönen has put up slightly better numbers with a .901 SV% and 4.1 goals saved above expected in 28 appearances. Slated for UFA status this summer and carrying a reasonable $2.75MM cap hit, he could be on the move at the deadline as an attractive option for teams looking for more affordable goalie help. If Blackwood will miss extended time past his minimum seven-day IR stint, however, that could dissuade the Sharks from moving Kähkönen unless they can get an NHL-capable goalie to carry them down the stretch.

That’s because the 23-year-old Chrona has struggled in his limited NHL minutes this season, conceding eight goals on just 29 shots across one start and one relief appearance. While still a promising prospect, he’s not ready for the major-league level, and the Sharks would prefer to keep him in the AHL as much as possible.

This lawsuit details the breakdown between Kim and the Kraken organization over the course of 24 pages, claiming that the logo, colors, and pattern used by the Kraken were ”virtually identical” to the Metropolitans jersey, going as far as featuring “1917” on the collar in reference to the Metropolitans’ 1917 Stanley Cup Win. Seattle Metropolitans Hockey LLC claims they’ve lost an estimated $2.5MM from the release of the Kraken’s Winter Classic jerseys. Seattle will still wear the contentious jerseys in Monday’s Winter Classic, with the lawsuit coming too close to the event to alter the team’s course. The decision made in this lawsuit could help define the future relationship that the NHL’s newest franchise can have with its predecessor.

Other Pacific Notes:

• The Anaheim Ducks have moved Leo Carlsson to injured reserve. The prolific rookie suffered a scary knee injury last Thursday, ending up with a sprained right knee ligament that’s expected to hold him out for four to six weeks. The 19-year-old had managed eight goals and 15 points through his first 23 NHL games.
• The San Jose Sharks have announced a string of injury updates – sharing that goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood is trending in the right direction to play on Sunday, while Ty Emberson and Logan Couture are doubtful for the matchup. San Jose will be looking to snap a seven-game losing streak when they face the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. The Sharks have been outscored 33-to-10 over their long-term skid.
• The flu bug is continuing to spread around the NHL, with Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson missing the team’s Friday practice with illness. The team did not share any updates about Andersson’s availability for their Sunday night matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers. Andersson has appeared in 31 games this season, leading Flames defenders in scoring with 18 points.

More from the Pacific:

• Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard is one of the top remaining restricted free agents and with Edmonton’s salary cap situation, a two-year bridge deal appears to be a foregone conclusion. To that end, Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal posits that Edmonton may wind up needing to back-load the contract, a move that will result in a higher qualifying offer.  However, with the 23-year-old having two straight seasons of at least 40 points under his belt and an expectation of more upside to come, a higher qualifying offer would basically be a moot point anyway as his next contract, one that would carry arbitration rights as well, would almost certainly cost more than the qualifier.
• In a recent piece for NBC Sports Bay Area, Sheng Peng takes a look at San Jose’s acquisition of Mackenzie Blackwood earlier this offseason. Even strength save percentage was a significant issue for the Sharks last season and that was a strong point for Blackwood earlier in his career.  If he’s able to rediscover some of his earlier form, the 26-year-old will be a worthwhile pickup for the Sharks, a team that seems likely to allow a lot of shots per game once again next season.

As has been the case with several players that have re-signed already today, the Sharks didn’t want to run the risk of Blackwood filing for salary arbitration and going to a hearing.  As a result, they opted to not tender him the $3.36MM qualifying offer and are now getting him for an amount that’s considerably lower.

Things have not gone well for Blackwood in recent seasons as he has consistently battled injury issues and has battled inconsistency when he has been in the lineup.  He has started just 79 games in the three seasons, posting just a .897 SV% and a 3.19 GAA.  Last season, he wound up losing his backup spot to Akira Schmid late in the year and wasn’t dressing for their playoff games, a clear sign that he wouldn’t be back for 2023-24.

Blackwood will now form a tandem with returning netminder Kaapo Kahkonen, a duo that will be among the cheaper duos in the NHL with a combined cap hit of just $5.25MM.  It will also be one of the younger duos as both goalies are just 26.  For a San Jose team that doesn’t have a true goalie of the future in the system, this coming season should serve as a tryout for both of them to prove that they’re worthy of a long-term look with the Sharks or elsewhere.  It’s a tandem with some upside if both play to their perceived potential but if recent struggles repeat themselves, it could be a tough year for an already rebuilding San Jose franchise.

The Devils moved on from Blackwood with better options available internally. He was due a rather rich qualifying offer of $3.36MM, a number he won’t come close to on the open market after his performance last season. The Sharks would surely like to keep him – after all, they do have a vacant spot in their goalie tandem with James Reimer not returning – but it doesn’t seem they’re prepared to pay over market value to keep him around and would rather have just thrown away the draft pick.

Some other Western Conference tidbits as free agency looms:

• As expected, Minnesota Wild enforcer Ryan Reaves will hit the free agent market tomorrow, as confirmed by his agent, Kevin Epp. With essentially no cap space to speak of, Minnesota doesn’t have the luxury of spending on a player who’s main impact is felt in the locker room and before trips to the penalty box. Reaves did record a respectable five goals and 15 points last season, though, his most in three seasons. He’s expected to command some interest – namely from the Toronto Maple Leafs, says The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta.
• Another player who won’t be re-signing in Minnesota, at least for now, is forward Mason Shaw, who was also not issued a qualifying offer today. Shaw suffered the fourth ACL tear of his career this season, putting his long-term playing future in extreme jeopardy, and The Athletic’s Michael Russo notes the team won’t be making the decision to re-sign him until he’s completed his rehab. The team would like to extend a contract offer to him in the meantime, but with their limited cap flexibility, it’s not a feasible gesture. He is free to sign if another NHL team comes calling before he completes his recovery.

Once a highly-regarded up-and-comer, things have gone spectacularly off the rails for Blackwood in recent seasons, mainly due to injury troubles. Selected 42nd overall in 2015, Blackwood posted a 22-14-8 record in 43 starts during his rookie season in 2019-20 and finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting. He’s started just 79 games in the three seasons since then, achieving just a .897 save percentage and a 33-33-10 record. For a team looking to contend for the Cup next season, it’s simply not good enough – especially for the $3.36MM qualifying offer he was due as a pending restricted free agent.

The Sharks, who are in desperate need of a netminder, get their fix with another reclamation project. They’ll have no issue accommodating whatever they’ll end up signing Blackwood to, entering the offseason with over $14MM in projected cap space (CapFriendly).

For now, he’ll form a tandem in the Bay Area with Kaapo Kahkonen, who’s under contract at a $2.75MM cap hit in 2023-24 and posted similarly poor numbers this past season. Both are 26 years old, and the Sharks will need to work with both closely to restore their career trajectories.

Blackwood’s still a netminder with plenty of NHL experience, though, and a sixth-round pick is certainly worth the gamble on the netminder. With his play sharply declining, though, there didn’t seem to be a ton of interest on the trade market, so New Jersey had to settle.