It didn’t take long for goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to prove himself as the Colorado Avalanche’s starter for both now and the future after he signed a five-year, $26.25 million contract extension on Friday.
The Avalanche announced the deal, and a person with direct knowledge of the contract confirmed the value to The Associated Press, speaking on the condition of anonymity since the team didn’t disclose the figure, which was first reported by Sportsnet.ca.
This new contract will last through the 2029-30 season and shows that the Avalanche made the right choice in acquiring Blackwood from San Jose on December 9. Since the trade, Blackwood has posted a 3-1 record with a 2.03 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage.
“When we acquired Mackenzie a few weeks ago, we wanted to let him get to Denver, get acclimated to his new team, new city and then in due time we’d reach out to him and his representatives,” general manager Chris MacFarland said in a statement released by the team.
“As I said when we acquired him, we feel like Mackenzie has just gotten better and better every year and he has come in and done a great job with us in his first few starts. He’s a big body, athletic goaltender who is still young and still growing as a goaltender.”
Blackwood impressed in his Avalanche debut, making 37 saves in a 5-2 win over Nashville, becoming only the fourth NHL goalie to stop that many shots in his first game with a team. He has yet to allow more than two goals in any of his four starts with Colorado, improving his season record to 9-10-3.
Blackwood is currently finishing the second year of a two-year contract and is now on his third NHL team after spending his first five seasons with New Jersey. The Devils selected him in the second round of the 2015 draft, making him the second goalie taken that year.
In his career, Blackwood has a record of 84-92-25, with 11 shutouts and a 3.05 goals-against average in 219 games.
The Avalanche have reshuffled their goaltending duo, also acquiring Scott Wedgewood in a trade with Nashville on November 30.
These two new goalies have brought stability to the position for the team, which was allowing 3.71 goals per game in the first 24 games of the season with Alexandar Georgiev and rookie Justus Annunen in net.
Georgiev was traded to San Jose along with a 2026 second-round pick and rookie forward Nikolai Kovalenko to acquire Blackwood. Annunen was traded in the deal with Nashville.
The Avalanche (21-15), who play at Utah on Friday, have gone 8-3 in December, allowing an average of just 2.45 goals per game. They’ve moved up from ninth to sixth place in the Western Conference standings.
