Multiple NHL teams had interest in Mackenzie Blackwood, particularly after the 6-foot-4 goalie made 51 saves in the San Jose Sharks’ 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers over the weekend.
That’s what a source confirmed Tuesday, one day after the Sharks traded Blackwood, forward Givani Smith, and a 2027 fifth-round draft pick to the Colorado Avalanche for two NHL players and two draft picks.
Sharks television analyst Drew Remenda mentioned Tuesday morning on the team’s “Morning Skate” podcast that “there was more than one team looking for help in net and looking for a guy like Mackenzie: 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, moves like he does, unreal flexibility.
“And after the 50-save performance against the Stanley Cup champions, there were some teams calling. I know for a fact there were four teams that were interested in talking about Mackenzie.”
It’s not clear who those teams were, but there’s little question that Blackwood was going to draw interest, considering the numbers he had amassed this season with the still-rebuilding Sharks.
After his performance Saturday against the Panthers, Blackwood had a 6-9-3 record and a .911 save percentage in 19 games. Among the 50 NHL goalies who played at least 10 games this season, Blackwood, per Money Puck, ranked 19th in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes.
Blackwood’s cap hit was also an economical $2.35 million, making him an attractive player for most contenders needing a goalie. He’s in the final year of a two-year, $4.7 contract he signed with the Sharks on July 1, 2023 — four days after he was acquired from the New Jersey Devils — and is a pending unrestricted free agent.
Sharks general manager Mike Grier said Monday that he wasn’t looking to deal Blackwood right now, not with three months left before the NHL trade deadline. But he felt Colorado’s offer of a second-round pick in 2026, a conditional fifth-rounder in 2025, forward Nikolai Kovalenko, and goalie Alexandar Georgiev was too good to pass up.
The widespread interest likely helped Grier get the return he was looking for in a Blackwood deal.
“I know it’ll be tough for our group,” Grier said. “I think our group really likes (Blackwood) and enjoys playing in front of him, but it’s kind of still in the stages of where we are. We look back historically on returns for goalies in-season, and there are only two guys that have ever gotten a second-round pick, and both of them were coming off excellent seasons, I believe, in (Marc-Andre) Fleury and Robin Lehner.”
In March 2022, the Chicago Blackhawks traded Fleury to the Minnesota Wild for a 2022 second-round draft pick. In Feb. 2020, the Blackhawks traded Lehner to the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2020 second-round draft pick, Stanislav Demin, and Malcolm Subban.
“So it was a return we thought we couldn’t pass up,” Grier said. “It’s probably a little earlier than I would have envisioned doing it, but it’s a good return of two draft picks as we continue to build.”
While Georgiev has struggled with consistency since the start of last season and is a pending UFA, Grier feels Kovalenko fits in with the Sharks’ desired identity of being a harder, in-your-face team to play against. The 5-10 and 180-pound winger plays on the inside and is “built like a refrigerator.”
“We really like the Kovalenko kid. We had talked about him with Colorado last year,” Grier said. “He’s going to come in and play for us right away, give us something a little bit different than what we have as a competitive, north-south player. He’s someone we’re hoping we can grow with.”
The Sharks are 2-2-0 on this road trip and 10-15-5 going into Tuesday’s game with the Hurricanes, as they sat in 14th place in the Western Conference in terms of points percentage (.417). They were seven points back of the Avalanche for the second and final wild-card spot in the West.
Two days before their loss to Florida, the Sharks were hammered 8-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“It’s a tough day for me. I’m sure it’s a tough day for the group, the coaches, everyone,” Grier said. “Blackie’s meant a lot to us. But as you’ve seen these last couple of games, as much as things are better and we’re improving, you guys all see how far we really are away from what the championship standard is in this league, and that’s what we’re trying to get to.
“It’s my job to look at the present but keep an eye on the future as well. So we’ve got to keep building. I wish Blackie nothing but the best. It’s a good team, a good situation. He’s going to have a chance to win, which will be important for his career going forward.”