Come playoff time, Mackenzie Blackwood’s delayed debut may look like a blessing in disguise.
Blackwood played his first game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday in San Jose, stopping 20 of 23 shots in an overtime loss. He was sidelined during training camp and for the first three weeks of the regular season as he recovered from an offseason procedure that addressed a lingering lower-body injury.
In Blackwood’s stead, Scott Wedgewood played well enough to have the Avs believing their tandem is a 1A/1B situation, rather than a traditional starter/backup.
“We’re spoiled that way,” captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “Wedgie’s been great to start the season, and that’s been huge for us. We’ve got tons of confidence in him, and same thing with Blackie. He’s missed a lot of time, and it’s going to take some time to get up to speed, but he’s an elite goaltender as we’ve seen time and time again in the past. We’re excited to have him back.”
Entering Tuesday night’s home game against the Lightning, Wedgewood was tied for second in the league with 11 starts. He has the most wins in the NHL at 7-1-2, and he’s seventh among goalies with at least eight starts with a 2.53 goals against average.
Now Blackwood returns fresh and confident he’s back to full health following an absence that was longer than expected. Avs coach Jared Bednar said the goalie’s rehab was “slow-moving” throughout the summer, and that his timeline for return was pushed back when Blackwood took the ice in early August and felt discomfort.
“I don’t love missing time, but you’ve got to think about longevity and my whole career,” Blackwood said. “I didn’t want to rush myself back. I think (the Avs’ training staff) did a great job of managing it and making sure everything was good to go before I got back out there. I feel great now, and it’s full-steam ahead.”
A month into the season, Colorado is in a much better place with its goalies than it was at the start of 2024-25.
At this time last year, the Avs were splitting starts between Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen. The result was a 7-8 record at the one-month mark, and Colorado soon traded Annunen and a sixth-round pick to Nashville to acquire Wedgewood on Nov. 30. That deal was followed by a trade with San Jose on Dec. 9 in which Georgiev went to the Sharks and Blackwood came to Colorado.
While Wedgewood starts Tuesday against Tampa Bay at Ball Arena, Bednar said this week will be pivotal for Blackwood to continue to get back into game shape ahead of Colorado’s trip to Edmonton and Vancouver this weekend.
“He’s getting there,” Bednar said. “He’s obviously a little bit rusty after missing most of training camp. He’s been working mostly on his own, and he’s lacking team practice time at this point. That’s why I think this week will be really good for him.
“Practice (Monday), gets some work in (Tuesday morning), practicing Wednesday and Friday. It’s the most practices he’s had all season, so I think that will help him get used to some game situations, and then he’ll be ready to go for the weekend again.”
Wedgewood hopes he proved himself enough during Colorado’s 7-1-5 start that he won’t totally take a backseat to Blackwood once the latter gets his legs back.
Wedgewood — a 33-year-old career backup with New Jersey, Arizona, Dallas and Nashville prior to arriving in Colorado — wants to be called upon to “lighten the workload at times to get (Blackwood) to 50 starts and keep him healthier.” Last season, Blackwood was 22-12-3 in 36 starts for the Avs, with a 2.33 goals against and .913 save percentage.
“I’m proud of where I came from, and what I’ve done to get into this position,” Wedgewood said. “… With an opportunity to play a lot early in this season, it’s been a lot of fun, while showing this team and the league that I’m an option every night, and it’s not going to be a ‘backup’ you’re facing when I’m in there. I feel like I’m giving the team an opportunity to win every night.”
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