Avalanche trades Annunen in swap of backup goalies

Ranking 30th in the NHL in goals-against average and dead last at 32nd in save percentage, the Colorado Avalanche had to try something else in net to revive a campaign that has been frustrating, but is far from lost by any definition.

Saturday morning, that “something else” became Scott Wedgewood. He’s in and Justus Annunen, who started nine games and played in 11 as the primary No. 2 netminder behind Alexandar Georgiev, is out.

The Avalanche acquired the 32-year-old Wedgewood for Annunen and a sixth-round pick.

Wedgewood’s work in the small sample size of five games this season doesn’t indicate he’s a cure-all; in fact, his .878 save percentage and 3.69 GAA are below the team-wide figures for the Avalanche so far this season.

But as recently as the 2022-23 campaign, he notched figures of .915 and 2.72 in those categories, respectively, while playing 21 games for the Dallas Stars. His metrics dipped in the following season, when he started 28 games, the second-highest figure of his NHL career behind the 32 starts he posed over a 2021-22 season divided among the Stars, New Jersey Devils and Arizona Coyotes.

Wedgewood signed a 2-year, $3-million contract with the Predators in the offseason.

As for Annunen, his final game with the Avs turned out to be Monday night’s disaster in Tampa that saw him concede 5 goals on just 16 shots.

Annunen does rank slightly better than Georgiev in goals saved over expected data at MoneyPuck.com, at minus-.553 to Georgiev’s minus-.651. But that’s good for 52nd among 66 goalies with at least 5 games played this season; Georgiev is 55th. Both are far off of last season, when each ranked on the positive side of that ledger.

So far this season, Wedgewood is 62nd in that metric at minus-.969. He notched a minus-.315 figure last season.

But Wedgewood possesses far more experience than Annunen, and the Avs hope that will provide some stability for an area of the team that needs it desperately.