The Colorado Avalanche have found a new goaltender. The New York Rangers have traded Alexandar Georgiev to the Avalanche in exchange for a 2022 third-round pick, a 2022 fifth-round pick, and a 2023 third-round pick.
This means that Darcy Kuemper is no longer expected to re-sign in Colorado, as the Avalanche go with a cheaper option to pair with Pavel Francouz. Georgiev, 26, is a pending restricted free agent due a qualifying offer of $2.65MM and is eligible for arbitration. Even if he landed a good settlement, it won’t match what Kuemper will likely be able to command on the open market, especially in a year with such a shallow pool of free agent goaltenders.
Interestingly enough, it appeared as though the Rangers were not going to issue that qualifying offer, which would have made Georgiev a free agent next week. With Igor Shesterkin in place and several free agents to sign, the team was expected to walk away from their backup if they couldn’t find a trade partner. By landing three picks, general manager Chris Drury has squeezed quite a bit of value out of the last few days of Georgiev’s tenure in New York.
In fact, his time there has been incredibly valuable, relative to the cost that the Rangers paid. Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2017, Georgiev played three seasons with the team under an entry-level contract, two more with a cap hit of $2.45MM, and now netted them three draft picks before he walked out the door.
With a .909 save percentage in 131 NHL games, he doesn’t have a huge track record of success but there have been flashes of brilliance from the netminder, skill the Avalanche will hope to nurture in Colorado. The fact that Francouz has shown the ability to perform at a high level can make them a worthwhile tandem, not to mention the fact that the team itself has been able to overcome poor goaltending performances in the past.
For Colorado, with this core, it’s time to push all the chips to the middle and try to repeat. The team now has no draft picks until the sixth round this year, and are already without six future picks as well. Given the relative youth of so many key players they can afford it, though a gap in prospect development like that can be a tough thing to overcome down the road.
Still, this leaves more money open for some of their other free agent negotiations. Nazem Kadri (UFA), Valeri Nichushkin (UFA), and Artturi Lehkonen (RFA) all played huge parts in the team’s Stanley Cup win, and are deserving of big raises this summer. With a goaltending tandem that could very well cost less combined than Kuemper will make on his own, there are a few more dollars to go around.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
So does this mean Kuemper isn’t coming back?
Definitely
So who backs up Shesterkin?
link to capfriendly.com
? Backup
Tyler Wall
Adam Huska
Keith Kinkaid
* Free Agent Goalie
Plenty of options but I bet Wall or Kinkaid
Don’t be surprised if it is Ryan Lindgren’s kid brother. He had a strong year in the minors and I think he is a UFA
Hopefully Kinkaid yells Gotcha Suckas after every save
Georgiev stinks
Georgiev and Francouz will be a good tandem. Neither needs to be overplayed and should put up respectable numbers with a near 50-50 split. Also good assets to get for NYR. They have their horse in net, now they can just sign cheap backups like Tampa has been doing to play weaker teams.
I completely agree. Win/win for both teams. Like you point out on the Rangers side and from a cap perspective on the Avs side
King Georgie V will stink the joint up to the nines. Big mistake signing. If Kuemper is dumb enough to leave one of, if not the best situations for him, then adios with him. If he stays and somebody else is getting pitched overboard, then the previous sentence is automatically retracted, otherwise DK should be asking himself, “How did that work out for Groobie-Doobie-Doo?”
(Sorry to disagree, @JD)
Solid move by both clubs. It also says that Kuemper wanted way to much money.
True, and he’ll get it elsewhere now that he has a ring on his finger. They won the cup with him in the roster but not because of him. The way Francouz was playing in the playoffs it’s likely they’d have had the cup anyway. Win-win-win and everybody walks away content
If Georgiev ends up making more than MAF, this was an iffy move.
He’s not as good as Kuemper.
Is he good enough? Grubauer wasn’t. Is Georgiev better than Grubauer?
I like the move for the Avs. Keeping their forward group mostly intact is more important than paying Kuemper 6 or 7 million a year.
I agree, fellow Preds fan. It’s the kind of move a team can make because flags fly forever, right? At the very least, you preserve cap space and bet on the come. Kuemper has a ring and he can go get paid somewhere else, probably thanks to playing behind a dominant team. I wish the Predators had someone like Sakic making these kinds of decisions, and not you-know-who.
Fully agree with that last sentence. I’m just envisioning the let down I’ll have tonight when the Preds pass over some high end forwards and instead pick a Dman at #17 who won’t be NHL ready until 2026. :/
Gross overpay for a sub-.900 goalie.
According to you and a host of other deep thinkers that infest this site, every trade is an overpay and every free agent contract is an overpay. It’s almost like you know zero about economics, and less about the economics of sports.
I mean logically his statement makes sense. Kuemper got them to a Stanley Cup and they’re letting him go at the expense of getting a guy who didn’t even have a .900 SV% and three picks. That is a little lopsided, no?
Kuemper did NOT “get them to a Stanley Cup.” They got the Cup IN SPITE OF HIM and his soft goals. Great decision by Sakic to not overpay Kuemper and use that money instead to keep his deep group of elite forwards as intact as possible.
I have not called everything an overpay. I though there were a lot of balanced deals at the deadline. The issue is NHL GMs go crazy in the off-season and seem to want to give absurd money to declining players.
As a kings fan I’d love to get Darcy back. A Darcy, quick split is not bad and fits the window.
Trade Quick to Trono for Muzzin + Mikheyev’s rights. Sign Kuemper for $5.75M x 4
Swap quick for Petersen and sure
bo one is taking Petersen at $5M
wait, you mean the turnover machine Muzzin? the dude w/concussion issues? he’s done, and we have better guys making entry-level money… and enuff w/thinking Quick is ever getting traded, he’s retiring a King just like Brownie…
if Kings need ‘another’ netminder, they can package Petersen and retain salary or throw in a prospect when the trade deadline gets here…
Kings are fine where they are and don’t need ANY of those stiffs previously mentioned… #GoKings
Nice pick up for the Avs. While the kid didn’t put up the sexy numbers a championship team would hope for, his issue is that he needed consistent playing time. And when he did, he performed. The sporadic game here and there isn’t helpful, but I can certainly see his numbers improve quite a bit if given the time in net. Quality move by both teams and ex-teammates.
If they waited a week and just Hot him for money, I’d agree. To give up 3 draft picks when you didn’t have to is the real head scratcher. Very questionable move to say the least.
Cost control on that contract is valuable. All it takes is one team in FA to drive price and then you’re left holding the bag in the search for goaltending.
Sakic with another steal. NYR got great value as well. Where was that computer wiz in Tronna?
Sakic and Drury hooking up again like the old days.
EDM should be doing whatever they have to do to sign Kuemper.
He’s not a top goalie, but (as he just proved) he’s good enough to win on a good team that can score.
I think it had more to do with elite defense than offense
Why give up the 3 Draft picks when he was going to be a Free Agent in a week. Bad move by Colorado but smart play by Rangers. And Colorado doesn’t have any picks until the 6th round. Money can’t be that much of a motivator to make this move. Georgiev has some potential but not that much. Head scratcher by the Defending Champions for sure.
They own him now. Next week he’d have his pick of teams and someone would outbid the Avs. This is a guarantee and they can focus on other free agents now
Colorado just has to make him a QO, and he’s there’s. Next week he would be a FA and Colorado would have to compete for him.