Alexandar Georgiev’s time with the San Jose Sharks might be relatively brief.
But for however long he’s with the Sharks, Georgiev will likely get several opportunities to prove he can still be a full-time NHL goalie.
Georgiev will debut with his new team on Thursday night. The Sharks and Georgiev will face the St. Louis Blues at the Enterprise Center to finish a six-game, 13-day road trip.
Georgiev, a pending unrestricted free agent, was acquired from Colorado on Monday as part of the multi-player, multi-draft pick trade that sent fellow goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to the Avalanche. Georgiev made his last start for the Avalanche two days before the trade, as he stopped 29 of 30 shots in Colorado’s 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
In his last 12 appearances for the Avalanche, Georgiev was 7-3-0 with a .897 save percentage. For the season, he has an 8-7-0 record in 18 games with a subpar .874 save percentage.
Undoubtedly, he was under tremendous scrutiny in Colorado, which hopes to make a deep playoff run and challenge for its second Stanley Cup in four years.
But if Georgiev can recapture some of the form he showed earlier in his career, the Sharks might be able to deal him to another team before the March 7 trade deadline. The Avalanche retained 14 percent of Georgiev’s contract, so his cap hit is $2.924 million.
Georgiev put up mostly solid numbers in his first five-plus NHL seasons, going 179-98-64 with a .912 save percentage from 2018 to 2023. The last two seasons have been a struggle, as he’s had a middling .892 save percentage, with less than half of his 81 starts in that time considered quality outings.
Still, acquiring Georgiev gives the Sharks a chance to let 22-year-old Yaroslav Askarov marinate with the Barracuda for at least a while longer.
Askarov has been stellar in the AHL so far this season, as he entered Thursday with an 8-3-1 record and a .946 save percentage in 12 games. Saturday, in the Barracuda’s 1-0 win over the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Askarov made 36 saves for his third shutout this year.
“(The trade) just gives us maybe a little bit more time for (Askarov) to play (in the AHL) and keep building on what he’s doing down there,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said after Monday’s trade.
“(Georgiev’s) a playoff-tested guy. He’s won a lot of games in this league. For him, it’s an opportunity — he’s playing better now — but maybe get his game back to where he wants it, and in a less pressure filled environment. We’ll kind of see what happens here in the next couple of months after that.”
For now, Georgiev will tandem with Vitek Vanecek, another pending UFA, as the Sharks try to turn things around before they return to San Jose to begin a three-game homestand on Saturday against the Utah Hockey Club.
Georgiev and the Sharks are playing a Blues team that is 5-1-1 since firing Drew Bannister as coach on Nov. 24 after a 9-12-1 start to the season. They immediately replaced him with Jim Montgomery, who had been let go by the Boston Bruins five days earlier.
The Sharks are 4-10-4 away from home this season, a record which includes a 3-2 shootout loss in St. Louis on Nov. 21.
Georgiev will try to help the Sharks snap a three-game losing streak in which they’ve been outscored 14-4. After beating Seattle and Washington to start the sojourn, the Sharks were outclassed by Tampa Bay 8-1 and Florida 3-1 last week before losing to Carolina 3-2 on Tuesday on a late third-period goal by Jalen Chatfield.
Originally Published: