It was all but guaranteed heading into the offseason that the Avalanche were ready to start next season with Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen as their goaltending tandem. Everything else after that was anybody’s guess.
Colorado let go of third-stringer Ivan Prosvetov and let Arvid Holm walk. The team also did not sign prospect netminder Ivan Zhigalov to an entry-level contract and relinquished his rights. Trent Miner, 23, who has been in the system since being drafted 202nd overall in 2019, was retained. He signed a one-year deal in May and will likely become the Colorado Eagles AHL starter. Or at least a tandem goalie.
After a busy draft and a trade earlier this week, here are my thoughts on the Avs’ recent overhaul of goaltenders in the system.
Read previous Avalanche Offseason Thoughts
7/7: Mittelstadt/Drouin deals, depth additions & veteran presence
7/12: Jonathan Drouin won’t “mess” with happy
7/15: Rantanen’s looming extension & contract structure fascination
1: The Avalanche announced on Monday that they’d acquired restricted free agent goalie Kevin Mandolese and a 2026 seventh-round draft pick from the Ottawa Senators for a sixth-round pick. They then signed the 23-year-old the following day to a one-year league-minimum two-way contract. Ultimately, they shifted a handful of spots down the draft in two years to acquire a goalie who seemingly didn’t fit in Ottawa’s system.
But why Mandolese? Do the Avs see something worth developing here? Or more likely, is this just a matter of filling in the depth chart. There’s still a possibility Colorado, as it has in the past, explores the waiver wire for another goalie to help further shore up the depth.
Unlike Miner, Mandolese has three games of NHL experience, all of which came in the 2022-23 season. He was 1-2-0 with a .916 save percentage. But in the AHL, Mandolese finished last season 10-9-2 with a .901 save percentage.
Like I said, I obviously wouldn’t bet on Mandolese being anything more than a depth chart addition.
2: Colorado made selections at the NHL draft, three of which were goalies.
For starters, the draft at the Sphere, which I covered in person, was an incredible event and a homerun by the NHL. I had never previously attended a draft as a reporter or fan but several other reporters who have agreed that this was far and away the best one yet. Kudos to the league.
The Avs’ draft table was right up beside the barricade where media was seated. So it was really cool to see Chris MacFarland and even Joe Sakic work the phones. Leading up to Colorado’s No. 24 pick in the first round, MacFarland’s conversations with with Utah’s GM Bill Armstrong started to ramp up. And eventually, we saw Colorado trade down.
They sent No. 24 to Utah and dropped 14 spots down to No. 38. And for that, received picks No. 71 and a 2025 secod-round draft pick.The Avs used No. 38 to take goalie Ilya Nabokov and traded No. 71 for picks No. 76 and 161. It was clear MacFarland wanted to restock the cupboard and have as many opportunities to draft as he could.
They later drafted two other goalies — Louka Cloutier and Ivan Yunin in the fifth round.
Nabokov is the intriguing name here. He’s already 21 years old and coming off a playoff MVP performance in the KHL — the youngest to ever win the award. He also finished the 2023-24 regular season 23-13-3 and a .930 save percentage for the eventual champs, Metallurg Magnitogorsk.
I think Colorado is trying to finally crack the code on developing its own goaltenders. And by selecting one of the older prospects in the draft, they’re hoping Nabokov is closer to reaching his potential and becoming an NHLer than the other 18-year-olds. My colleague Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now is the KHL guru in the Ball Arena pressbox and recently wrote that Nabokov has just one year remaining on his KHL contract. After that, “all bets are off.”
Like Nikolai Kovalenko last year, I think Nabokov will be worth keeping an eye on all season to see how he does. If all goes well, he could be in the Avalanche’s plans very soon.
3: I’ll make this one quick, but a special shout out to former Avs goalie Pavel Francouz and fellow Stanley Cup champion Andrew Cogliano for both joining the organization.
Cogliano will be working in the front office with MacFarland as a special assistant to the GM. He’ll continue to reside in Denver after announcing his retirement this summer.
And as for Francouz, Colorado’s new goalie scout, you hate to see such a talented goalie have to call it a career at a relatively young age because of injuries. Frankie was always one of the best guys in this era of Avalanche hockey and his play during the 2022 Stanley Cup run will forever live in Avalanche fans memories.
I personally will never forget his performance against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 and how insanely loud Ball Arena was.
