The finances of the goaltending position have become an interesting early-season storyline in the NHL.
Some of the best teams in recent NHL history have won the Stanley Cup without dedicating a lot of salary cap space to goaltenders, including the Avalanche in 2022. But the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers have also won a title recently and are spending quite a bit of money on their Vezina Trophy-winning netminders.
There has been a philosophy in some NHL circles that goalies are a bit like running backs: unpredictable year-to-year performance, often with shorter peaks than players at other positions, but the very best are still worth big bucks. It does appear that more GMs around the NHL have decided to splurge if they believe they’ve found their guy.
John Gibson was the fourth-highest-paid goaltender in the NHL last season with a cap hit of $6.4 million. Gibson is the seventh-most expensive goalie this year. He’ll be no higher than 11th in 2025-26, once Igor Shesterkin signs what could be the largest contract for a goalie in league history.
On a related note, Colorado has had a bit of a goaltending problem to start the 2024-25 season — and starting netminder Alexandar Georgiev is in the final year of his contract.
What are the Avs going to do at the position, not just for the rest of this season but 2025-26 and beyond? Let’s dig into it.
Right now
Georgiev: Here are the save percentages for Georgiev in his first six full seasons in the NHL: .914, .910, .905, .898, .918, .897. His career playoff save percentage is .904.
He’s had 10 quality starts and one really bad one in 18 postseason games with the Avs. Take out Game 1 in Winnipeg and his save percentage in the other 17 is .912. Colorado’s goalies in the 2022 playoffs combined for a .903.
That’s the case for Georgiev. He’s got enough of a track record to get time to figure it out. How much time is debatable, but we’re probably not near the end of his runway yet.
Justus Annunen: He is under contract for next season, but the cap number ($838,000) doesn’t really offer much job security. His .928 save percentage last year was gaudy, but he only made 12 starts and the competition was … advantageous. He made two starts against playoff teams, and one was Edmonton at the end of the season when the Oilers sat a bunch of guys.
It hasn’t been a great start to this season, both during the preseason and in his two relief appearances. It’s a long season, and everything with Annunen is a small sample size. He’s a wild card, but expecting him to be the starter for more than a short period this year or next would be extremely risky.
Kaapo Kahkonen: He has never proven he can be a No. 1 guy for a significant time in the NHL. He’s had a couple of really nice stretches, but the overall body of work is that of a 1B/backup. The Avs are going to get a free look at him, and maybe working with goalie coach Jussi Parkkila can conjure another burst of above-average play.
Trade deadline
If the Avs are looking for another goaltender at any point in this season, it probably means the end for Georgiev in Denver. It doesn’t cost anything against the cap to send Annunen and/or Kahkonen to the minors, but adding a goalie before the deadline could be tricky given the salary cap implications.
Here are the cheap options, all of whom are pending UFAs like Georgiev (and Kahkonen):
Logan Thompson or Charlie Lindgren, Washington: An obvious caveat: The Caps are all-in to make the playoffs this year near the end of Alex Ovechkin’s career. If they fall out of contention, both of those goalies count $1.1 million against the cap or less. Thompson might be one to watch for in the summer if he does hit the open market and the Avs haven’t signed Georgiev by then.
Alex Lyon, Detroit: If he plays well enough for the Avs to want him, it probably means he’s helping the Red Wings make a playoff push. But he’s at $900,000 and has decent numbers in small sample sizes over the past couple of years.
Dan Vladar, Calgary (half retained): The Flames are rebuilding and want Dustin Wolf to be the No. 1 guy in the long run. Vladar, especially at $1.1 million instead of $2.2 million, could be an option if he improves.
Mackenzie Blackwood or Vitek Vanacek, San Jose (half retained): Blackwood was mentioned Friday by Elliotte Friedman on his “32 Thoughts” podcast as someone he believes the Avs have looked at in the past. The ability is in there, but the results over the past few years have been very “meh” in front of mostly bad teams.
The Sharks have used all of their salary retention slots, so to get Blackwood down to $1.18 million or Vanacek down to $1.7 million, the Avs would need to pay a third team to help out.
Karel Vejmelka, Utah (half retained): Utah has Connor Ingram under contract for next season, but maybe the team to be named will check the UFA landscape and decide to stick with Vejmelka. He’s never had great numbers, but the Coyotes were often been a mess in front of him. It’s a massive year for him and his future bank account.
Offseason
Speaking of the UFA market, assuming Shesterkin re-signs with the Rangers, the best goalie on the market could be … Georgiev. Particularly if he rebounds and gets back to his normal self.
There’s only one guy out there who has a strong case to be the No. 1 guy on the market: Adin Hill with Vegas. Both Hill and Georgiev could also price themselves out of Colorado’s budget if they get to July 1.
So let’s say the Avs reach the offseason and Georgiev is not the long-term answer. What could their options be?
Ilya Nabokov: Some fans might already be salivating over this idea. The Avs’ second-round pick in the 2024 draft will be 22 in March and his contract is currently set to expire after this season. Even with another outstanding season in the KHL, it’s hard to believe the Avs would go into next season planning on him being the starter.
Could he sign and compete with Annunen for the spot opposite a more established guy, and eventually win the job? Sure. Don’t rule it out, but don’t expect it, either. Three rookie goaltenders (Jordan Binnington, Matt Murray and Cam Ward) have won the Stanley Cup in the cap era.
Adin Hill, Vegas (UFA, $4.9 million cap hit): Hill went to Vegas, ironically in part because he couldn’t stay healthy in San Jose, and the Sharks traded for … Kahkonen. Availability has been an issue for him — he’s still never played more than 35 games in an NHL season.
That also might keep the price down, if Vegas doesn’t sign him before July 1.
John Gibson, Anaheim ($6.4 million, two more years): Gibson was the other netminder Friedman mentioned while discussing the Avs. He was great early in his career. He hasn’t been in a while. It’s been five straight years with a negative goals saved above average. Would his cap number even fit, or would the Ducks be willing to eat some of it for two seasons?
Lukas Dostal, Anaheim ($813K, RFA): If the Ducks do move Gibson, then Dostal becomes the goalie of the present in Orange County. But if they don’t move Gibson, Dostal could be one of several options similar to where Georgiev was in his career when Colorado traded for him.
Devon Levi, Buffalo ($925K, RFA): The Avs were reportedly one of the teams that tried to get into the Yaroslav Askarov sweepstakes before San Jose landed the prized prospect. Levi isn’t the same level of prospect, but he’s been pretty well thought of and is blocked in Buffalo by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. And the hit rate on highly regarded prospects after they leave Western New York is … pretty high.
Spencer Knight, Florida ($4.5 million, one more year): Here’s a wild card. Knight was an elite prospect who landed a contract before the NHL results. He has one more year, but so does Sergei Bobrovsky, so the Panthers may still view him as their next No. 1 guy.
Joel Hofer, St. Louis ($775K, RFA): Another young-ish guy with intriguing NHL results in a small sample who is blocked by an established No. 1. Hofer would be 25 next year, and Binnington’s under contract for two more years in St. Louis.
There are a couple of other mildly intriguing options, like Petr Mrazek if Chicago feels like someone else is going to be its guy, or maybe one of the goalies in Pittsburgh but the results there have been pretty rough.
If Georgiev rebounds this season, it’s probably going to cost the Avs to keep him. If they want an established goaltender to replace him, it’s also not likely to be cheap.
This management team has eschewed paying up at the position in favor of investing big elsewhere. Could that change? Sure. But it also might be another offseason of looking for a younger, less proven solution in net.
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