Connect with us

Published

on

The Colorado Avalanche, a preseason Stanley Cup favorite now fighting for a wild-card playoff spot as they seek consistency in net, acquired goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood in a trade with the San Jose Sharks on Monday.

The Avs received Blackwood and forward Givani Smith from the Sharks in exchange for goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, rookie forward Nikolai Kovalenko, a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 second-round pick. The Avs also retained $476,000 of Georgiev’s salary.

Blackwood’s arrival is the latest development for a front office that has revamped its goalie tandem over the past 10 days. Colorado swapped backup goaltenders with the Nashville Predators on Nov. 30, picking up Scott Wedgewood in exchange for Justus Annunen.

Wedgewood recorded a 4-0 shutout against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday. He also relieved Georgiev, who gave up four goals on eight shots, as the Avs rallied to a 5-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 3.

Figuring how the Avalanche would address their goaltending became a priority in what has become a trying season at times for the 2022 Stanley Cup champions.

What made the need to solve their goaltending crisis even more vital was the disconnect from their defensive metrics. Natural Stat Trick’s data shows the Avs are in the top 10 in fewest scoring chances allowed per 60 and shots allowed per 60 while having the NHL’s second-lowest team save percentage at 88.8%.

That save percentage was further compounded because the Avalanche had already used four different goalies before the team’s 30th game. Last season, the Avs needed only three goalies to get through an 82-game season.

Although Blackwood has a 6-9-3 record with a 3.00 goals-against average, he does have a .910 save percentage, which ranks 12th among goalies with more than 10 games. He also came into Monday with a 3.9 GSVA (goals saved above expected) that ranked 20th.

Blackwood is also a pending unrestricted free agent in the final season of a two-year deal that sees him earn $2.35 million annually, while Wedgewood has another year left on his contract.

Entering Monday, the Avs (16-13-0) were tied with the Edmonton Oilers on points but held the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The rebuilding Sharks (10-15-6) were seven points behind the Avs and seven points ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks for the NHL’s worst record.

Georgiev, who averaged 39 wins in his first two seasons with the Avs, joins Vitek Vanecek as part of the Sharks’ goaltending tandem. They’re both pending UFAs at the end of the season for a team that also has one of the NHL’s top goalie prospects in Yaroslav Askarov in the AHL.

It now gives the Sharks seven UFAs who could potentially be traded ahead of the NHL trade deadline to attain more draft capital.

Kovalenko, the son of former NHL forward Andrei Kovalenko, is a 25-year-old who came to North America last season after playing the past few years in the KHL in Russia. Kovalenko, who has four goals and eight points in 28 games, will be a pending restricted free agent at the end of the season.

Continue Reading

Sports

Chafin gets minor league deal, returns to Tigers

Published

on

By

Chafin gets minor league deal, returns to Tigers

LAKELAND, Fla. — Free agent reliever Andrew Chafin signed a minor league deal Monday to go to spring training with the Detroit Tigers, the team that traded the left-hander to Texas last summer.

Chafin has pitched in 105 games for the Tigers over two stints — 64 games in 2022 and 41 last year before being dealt to Texas for two minor leaguers in July. It was the fourth time in five seasons he was part of a deadline trade.

Texas in November declined a $6.5 million team option for Chafin, who instead got a $500,000 buyout. He had a 4.19 ERA while pitching 19⅓ innings in 21 appearances for the Rangers, after a 3.16 ERA with 50 strikeouts over 37 innings for the Tigers.

The 34-year-old Chafin has a 3.75 ERA in 601 big league appearances over 11 seasons for six teams. The only team he has pitched more for than Detroit is Arizona, the club that picked him 43rd overall in the 2011 amateur draft. He made 377 relief appearances and started three games for the Diamondbacks over parts of eight seasons.

Chafin made his debut with the Diamondbacks in 2014, and they traded him to the Chicago Cubs in 2020. He returned to Arizona as a free agent in 2023 and was traded that summer to Milwaukee. He also pitched for Oakland during part of the 2021 season.

Continue Reading

Sports

Reports: Yanks’ Stanton in N.Y. for medical tests

Published

on

By

Reports: Yanks' Stanton in N.Y. for medical tests

Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton has returned to New York to undergo medical testing, multiple outlets reported Monday.

Stanton, 35, has yet to take part in spring training activities in Tampa, Fla., as he continues to battle tendinitis in both elbows. The New York Post said Monday that it was unclear whether the medical testing was for an evaluation of his elbows.

On Sunday, manager Aaron Boone told reporters that Stanton was undergoing treatment and “nothing imminent” was on tap for the designated hitter, baseball-wise.

The Yankees haven’t been pushing Stanton this spring, giving him time to rest and, hopefully, recover.

The MVP of the 2024 American League Championship Series, Stanton was bothered by deep soreness in his elbows for much of last season. He hit 27 home runs and drove in 72 runs over 114 games in the regular season.

Stanton had seven homers and 16 RBIs in 55 postseason at-bats as the Yankees reached the World Series before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. Stanton went deep twice in the Fall Classic to follow up his four-homer showing against the Cleveland Guardians in the ALCS.

Stanton is entering his 16th major league season — the first eight coming with the Miami Marlins before he was traded to the Yankees prior to the 2018 season. He has 429 homers and 1,103 RBIs along with a .257 average in 1,649 career games.

Stanton is a five-time All-Star and he was the National League MVP in 2017 when he established career highs of 59 homers and 132 RBIs for Miami.

He has three seasons remaining on a 13-year, $325 million deal he signed with the Marlins. The Yankees hold a club option for 2028.

Continue Reading

Sports

Guardians owner Dolan, 94, dies, team announces

Published

on

By

Guardians owner Dolan, 94, dies, team announces

CLEVELAND — Lawrence J. Dolan, owner of Cleveland’s major league baseball team since 2000, has died at age 94.

The Cleveland Guardians put out a statement Monday saying Dolan died Sunday night of natural causes.

“Mr. Dolan invested his entire life in Greater Cleveland and impacted our community on so many levels,” Bob DiBiasio, Guardians senior vice president of public affairs, said in a statement. “From his service to our country as a First Lieutenant in the United States Marines, his many philanthropic acts of kindness, career in law, business, education, and sports, many benefited from his engagement, influence, and passion. Especially in the world of sports.”

Dolan, a Cleveland native, purchased the team from Richard Jacobs in 2000 for $320 million. The Dolan family has a 75% stake in the club and is the longest-tenured owner in Cleveland franchise history.

Guardians chairman and CEO Paul Dolan, Larry Dolan’s son, took over as the team’s primary control person in 2013.

“We are saddened by the loss of our Dad, but lucky to have him as part of our lives as long as we did,” he said in a statement. “He was a loving husband, father and grandfather who was passionate about his family, work, our community and his love of our local sports teams, including owning the Cleveland Guardians.”

The franchise was known as the Cleveland Indians before changing its name to the Guardians after the 2021 season. Over the past 24 seasons, Cleveland has won seven American League Central Division titles, made nine postseason appearances and advanced to the 2016 World Series before losing to the Chicago Cubs in seven games. Cleveland also hosted the 2019 MLB All-Star Game.

“I am saddened by the passing of Cleveland native Larry Dolan, whose family’s quarter-century ownership has made their hometown team a consistent winner and a staple of their community,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “He strongly believed in mentoring young people and using the Guardians as a way to impact Greater Cleveland. Larry also served the industry by bringing his professional expertise to the Major League Executive Council and the Ownership Committee, and he served on two labor negotiating committees.”

Dolan is survived by his wife Eva, six children and 21 grandchildren. His nephew, James Dolan, owns the New York Knicks, New York Rangers and Madison Square Garden.

Continue Reading

Trending