The Colorado Avalanche have their goalie, ink him to three-year deal
Jul 10, 2022, 3:20 PM | Updated: 3:22 pm
The Colorado Avalanche went out and traded for a goalie on Thursday, ending Darcy Kuemper’s time in Denver.
That new goalie, Alexandar Georgiev was inked to a three-year deal for $10.2 million by the Avs, the club announced on Sunday. Georgiev was traded to Colorado from the Rangers, in exchange for two third-round draft picks and a fifth-round draft picks. The 6-foot-1 Russian intentional team netminder was slated to become a restricted free agent on Wednesday.
“When he was a starter, he played really well, and he wanted a bigger opportunity, and he’s got that opportunity,” Avalanche Executive Vice President / General Manager Joe Sakic said Thursday night at the NHL Draft in Montreal. “He was looking forward to the challenge. What I like about it, he played in a big market. He was in New York. He can deal with a lot of that stuff. We’re excited for him.”
Georgiev, 26, posted a 15-10-2 record this past season, including an 8-1-0 run with two shutouts in his last nine starts of the campaign. He earned his 50th career win on Jan. 8 at Anaheim and finished the season with an .898 save percentage and 2.92 goals-against average.
Since signing with the Rangers in the summer of 2017, the goalie is 58-48-11 with a 2.94 goals-against average, .908 save percentage and eight shutouts in 129 career games.
Georgiev twice came in relief of Vezina winner Igor Shesterkin in the postseason. Before Shesterkin, Georgiev was stuck behind another Vezina winner in Henrik Lundqvist.
Georgiev is from Ruse, Bulgaria, and moved to Russia shortly after he was born. He is a dual citizen of both nations and competes for Russia in international hockey events. He represented Russia at the 2019 IIHF World Championship, posting a 2-0-0 record, both shutouts, to backstop his country to a bronze medal. He was the second goaltender in the history of the Russian/Soviet National Team to record a shutout in each of his first two career appearances at the IIHF World Championship. Georgiev also played for Russia at the 2016 World Junior Championship.
Georgiev will likely split duties in the Avs net with Pavel Francouz, the Avs backup this past season. Francouz played in seven playoff games and started four, winning the Western Conference Finals series for the Avs against the Oilers. In the postseason, Francouz was part of some goalie controversy with Kuemper, but the starter kept his net. Francouz posted a .906 save percentage in the playoffs this past year. The Czechoslovakian goalie is entering his fourth season in Colorado.
Between Francouz and Georgiev Colorado will be spending $5.4 million on goalies next season, with Kuemper expecting to make upwards of $6 million per year.
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