Pending UFA goaltender Alexandar Georgiev picked a bad time to post career lows last season. After a December trade, Georgiev spent the end of last season with the San Jose Sharks and concluded a three-year, $10.2MM contract he’d signed with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022. The 29-year-old’s timing could not have been worse from a market perspective, as he went from a goaltender who could have inked a lucrative multi-year deal to a netminder whose future NHL prospects are murky. So, what exactly is Georgiev’s future?
This past season, split between Colorado and San Jose, Georgiev posted the worst numbers of his career with a 15-26-4 record, a .875 SV%, and a 3.71 GAA. His -17.9 goals saved above expected was the second-worst number in the entire NHL (as per MoneyPuck) and is nowhere close to the previous two years in Colorado, where Georgiev had much more success.
In Georgiev’s first season in Colorado (2022-23), he was a workhorse starter and exceeded expectations, registering 21.9 goals saved above expected and a 40-16-6 record with a 2.53 GAA. He appeared to be everything the Avalanche hoped for when they sent three picks to the New York Rangers to acquire him, and Colorado looked poised for a Stanley Cup repeat. Unfortunately for Colorado, they were knocked out of the first round in seven games by the Kraken, through no fault of Georgiev’s, who was solid in that series.
In year two with Colorado, Georgiev showed signs of a potential downfall as his GAA ballooned to 3.02, and his SV% fell to .897. Georgiev remained a workhorse that season, dressing in 62 games, but the warts in his game began to show, eventually leading to the trade this season and a future that isn’t nearly as bright as it once appeared.
The Sharks have already told Georgiev that they will not be offering him an extension, which means he will find a new home for the third time in three years this summer. Now, where that home is and what that role looks like will be revealed in time, but there will be no shortage of options for Georgiev as the free-agent goaltending market is so weak that he might be the best option available.
The ideal scenario for Georgiev would be to find a team that needs a secondary piece in tandem. In a perfect world, that team would be a playoff contender and not a rebuilding club like he found himself last year in San Jose. Georgiev can put up decent numbers, and if he can prove himself to be competent again, he will open the door for multi-year offers next summer.
Georgiev’s history of starting 40-plus games makes him an option of interest for clubs, alongside Jake Allen and Frederik Andersen. Both those men profile as stronger goaltenders at the moment, but Andersen likely shouldn’t play more than 30 games in a season due to injuries, and Allen has been a backup since 2019, although he is an adequate 1B option for a team seeking a tandem. Teams will be interested in Georgiev’s youth compared to other UFAs and his ability to win behind a good team. Georgiev has shown he can get the job done playing behind a strong team, making him a good fit in a place like Carolina or New Jersey should Andersen or Allen depart their respective teams. Many teams need goaltending, meaning Georgiev will likely have multiple offers and options.
Now, what those offers will look like remains to be seen, but given his recent work, it’s safe to say they will come in the form of one-year deals. AFP Analytics is projecting a one-year contract in the range of $2.5MM for Georgiev, which aligns with what Pittsburgh backup Alex Nedeljkovic will also take home next season. AFP used multiple comparables to arrive at that number, with the most recent comp being Ilya Samsonov’s one-year, $1.8MM deal with the Vegas Golden Knights that was signed last summer.
Georgiev probably would have scoffed at a contract offer like that last summer, but this is the unpredictability of the goalie position, and he could be in a very different spot a year from now if he can get back to the form he showed just a few years ago. The NHL is starved for goaltending, and GMs are more than happy to give money to career backups if they can show even a hint of being an average starter. The perfect example is Kevin Lankinen of the Vancouver Canucks, who went from accepting a one-year deal last September for just above the league minimum to signing a five-year extension with the Canucks that will pay him $22.5MM. There are opportunities for Georgiev if he can find a situation that suits his needs and gives him the best chance to re-establish himself as a solid NHL netminder. The future might be murky now, but goaltending is incredibly hard to predict, and lesser goaltenders than Georgiev have gotten back on track after seeing a dip in their play.
Photo by D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
Yzerman will probably sign him to a 3 year deal because we like to block all the young players we have and plus 6 useless goalies is better then 1 good one in his opinion
Great post. I’m going with Georgiev to the Oilers for a year then its off to the KHL
I want to laugh at this, but it is actually an edmonton thing to do
He better not be a Bruin
I’d like to see the Georgie-Dog’s future look very much like the Super Massive Black Hole at the center of the galaxy. If there must be an intermediate stop, let it be the KHL. He is unworthy of an NHL slot, even on the worst team in the league.
KHL is calling.