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Tag: scott wedgewood

  • How Scott Wedgewood’s goalie pad color helped preserve shutout as Avs surge into holiday break

    Enough with green and red. Navy blue is the newest festive color this holiday season in Colorado.

    It might’ve even helped the Avalanche preserve its home winning streak.

    If goaltender Scott Wedgewood wasn’t dressed in dark pads to match his glove, the direction of his shutout bid Tuesday could’ve feasibly changed course. Instead, a dramatic and precarious second-period save held up to replay review, and the Avs went into their holiday break with a 1-0 win over the Utah Mammoth and a five-point cushion in the President’s Trophy race.

    “There’s only one thing you can win in the regular season, and it’s not your main goal,” Wedgewood said, “but with how hard this league is and how hard it is to win, if you can get yourself in the top seed, home ice, every advantage counts.”

    Wedgewood notched his second shutout of the year and his first with 30 or more saves (32). He faced several high-danger scoring chances from the short-handed Mammoth, none more nail-biting than a glove save with 4:45 remaining in the second period in which he was fighting against Clayton Keller’s breakaway and his own backward momentum.

    The Avs had the lead by then, courtesy of a Sam Girard backhander. Wedgewood was sliding into his net as he corralled Keller’s rebound attempt. “Where I caught it, I knew I was close and felt the post,” he said, “and it was just kind of my body weight sliding back. And I had to push my hand forward. It was a little unorthodox.”

    Ruled no goal on the ice, the play went to review — a mechanism still hindered by the NHL’s lack of puck-tracking technology that might discern more definitively whether one crossed the line. In this case, the burden of proof favored Colorado. The most decisive camera angle of the play was from above. Therein lied the problem: Looking down on it, everything blended in. The puck, the trapper, the goalie pads.

    If the glove is blue, you mustn’t disprove.

    “That color helps for sure. Because there’s a good chance that pick was in,” Avs coach Jared Bednar admitted. “But the thing is, you’ve gotta be able to see it in, right? And you need the overhead cam to do that. And it’s pretty hard to see it in if it’s in his glove, unless his whole glove crosses (the goal line) and goes in. So I was pretty confident that it wasn’t gonna count, just because you have to have definitive proof that it crossed the line, and I just think it’s very hard to get that — especially with the dark glove, dark puck.”

    Consider it a stroke of serendipity for a team — and a goalie — that has probably earned it. For the Avalanche (27-2-7), that was the theme of the NHL’s last night of action before the break. Dallas and Minnesota lost in overtime, allowing the Avs to distance themselves from both by another point in the loaded central division.

    They’re the only team to have reached 61 points before Christmas since the league instituted a holiday break in 1972-73. They’re the second-fastest team ever to 60, behind the 1929-30 Bruins. Their goal differential is 27 better than any other team. They’ve won six consecutive games and 13 straight at home. A three-day break is merited.

    “We’ve been able to stay healthy here, first half of the year,” team captain Gabe Landeskog said. “We’ve had some great individual performances, but it also feels like there are different guys stepping up every single night, and that’s what we need.”

    Wedgewood has been one to step up with remarkable consistency. If Christmas marks the unofficial halfway point of the season, then he culminated his first half with a fitting gem of a game, carrying his skaters on a rare night when the Avalanche offense didn’t look so high-powered. Utah kept the game tight in the neutral zone.

    This was only the second time through 36 games that Colorado didn’t score multiple goals. Both have been 1-0 wins — Wedgewood’s only two shutouts so far.

    Bennett Durando

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  • Avalanche sign goaltender Scott Wedgewood to one-year contract extension

    Scott Wedgewood didn’t need a full calendar year to show the Colorado Avalanche why the club should want to keep him around.

    Wedgewood signed a one-year contract extension Thursday morning worth $2.5 million, a source confirmed to the Denver Post. The 33-year-old goaltender is in the final season of a two-year deal he had originally signed with the Nashville Predators, and he would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer.

    Instead, the Avs now have the “Lumber Yard” tandem of Mackenzie Blackwood and Wedgewood in place through the 2026-27 season.

    “It’s just a place that my wife and I have felt at home with,” Wedgewood said. “A great hockey team. All those guys in the room, I owe them a lot of beers for putting me in this situation. It’s just been a good fit since I got here.”

    The Avs traded goalie Justus Annunen and a sixth-round draft pick to the Predators on Dec. 1, 2024, for Wedgewood. It was the first of many roster-overhauling deals that general manager Chris MacFarland made last season.

    Wedgewood’s arrival helped stabilize the goaltending position. The Avs were last in the NHL in save percentage before Dec. 1. They added Blackwood 10 days later and had the sixth-best save percentage through the remainder of the 2024-25 season.

    Blackwood missed the first 12 games of this season, rehabbing from an offseason procedure. Wedgewood has filled in as the starter and leads the NHL with 10 wins (10-1-2). His .913 save percentage is fifth among goalies with at least 10 games played, and his 2.26 goals against average is third.

    Wedgewood said the deal was almost completed Wednesday night, but his wife likely found out on social media when it was officially done Thursday morning because it was just before the morning skate at Ball Arena. His parents are also in town to help celebrate.

    “It’s a chance to play 30-plus games, a chance to be on a really good team, a chance of winning (the Stanley Cup),” Wedgewood said. “When you put it in that perspective, it’s probably the best spot in the league to be a 1A and 1B with (Blackwood).”

    The Avs also have Ilya Nabokov, a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL draft, under contract for next season. Nabokov, 22, was the KHL playoff MVP in 2024 and is expected to join the Avs in the spring after his season with Magnitogorsk ends.

    After back-to-back strong seasons as Magnitogorsk’s starter, Nabokov has struggled at times this year.

    “We’ve got Nabokov coming, we’ve got Blackwood locked in (through 2030), but Nabokov’s never played in North America or the NHL,” Bednar said. “(A) good prospect and has some growth that he still needs in his game.

    “When you get a guy (like Wedgewood) who wants to be here and fits in your culture and then performs like this on the ice, I think the natural progression is trying to get him locked up.”

    Nichushkin week-to-week

    When Gavin Brindley signed a contract extension Tuesday, his coach said he believes the 21-year-old can be a top-six forward in this league. Two days later, he is one.

    Valeri Nichushkin will miss at least a handful of games and is week-to-week, Bednar said Thursday morning. The club expects to have a better handle on his timeline early next week.

    “Nothing too serious, which is good, but serious enough that he’s going to miss a handful of games at least,” Bednar said.

    The Avs have had players missing with injuries this season, but the top-nine forwards all played each of the first 17 games.

    In the meantime, Brindley will move up to the second line Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres and play next to Brock Nelson and Ross Colton. Brindley has been an early-season surprise for the Avs, earning more trust from the coaching staff while playing primarily on the fourth line.

    “Gavin Brindley — that’s how we (replace him),” Bednar said. “With Val, it’s power play, it’s penalty kill, it’s top-six minutes, it’s empty net when you need one and empty net when you need to keep the other team off the board. It’s a lot of different duties that we will split up.

    Corey Masisak

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  • Nathan MacKinnon has 2 goals and 2 assists in the Avalanche’s 9-1 romp over the Oilers

    EDMONTON, Alberta — Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and two assists, Cale Makar, Parker Kelly and Jack Drury also scored twice and the Western Conference-leading Colorado Avalanche embarrassed the Edmonton Oilers 9-1 on Saturday night.

    Gavin Brindley also scored, Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves and Devon Toews had three assists. The Avalanche have earned at least a point in six straight games to improve to 9-1-5.

    Connor McDavid scored for Edmonton. The Oilers have dropped three straight to fall to 6-6-4.

    Stuart Skinner allowed four goals on 13 shots before being replaced by Calvin Pickard, who made 17 stops.

    The Associated Press

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  • Avalanche Journal: Five thoughts on Colorado’s fast, drama-free start

    Jared Bednar, an avid angler, likes to compare his hockey team over a long season to a boat.

    He sees it like this: The team builds its identity and what it wants to be over the first part of the season, and then there are aspects that just break during the grind of 82 games — kind of like a well-used fishing vessel. How quickly the club fixes the issues and regains its optimal performance is a big part of a successful campaign.

    The Colorado Avalanche left the dock with a major leak last season. Fixing the boat on the fly was an all-hands-on-deck situation, from the coaching staff to the front office.

    The start of the 2025-26 season has been a complete 180. The Avs were 4-0-1 heading into a Saturday night contest at Ball Arena with the Boston Bruins, and the one blemish might have been the best overall performance considering the foe.

    Colorado’s NHL team is relatively healthy, stable and off to a strong start. The Avs allowed eight goals in the season opener last year. They’ve allowed eight total in the first five contests.

    “Overall, a pretty good start, being able to win hockey games without really having played our best as a team,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said. “If you can figure out your game as a team while winning, and kind of go through some of those growing pains at the start of the season while racking up some points, I think that’s a positive thing.

    “And I think we are only scratching the surface.”

    Here are some observations from the first five-game segment of this Stanley Cup-or-bust season in Denver.

    1. Nathan MacKinnon is already in Hart Trophy finalist form

    Natural Stat Trick had MacKinnon on the ice for 17 scoring chances in Buffalo. He took 17 shifts in the game. The 2024 league MVP has been on the ice for 49 scoring chances at 5-on-5, which is tied for third among forwards. The two players ahead of him and the one who is even are all on the two-time defending champs, the Florida Panthers, who have also played an extra game.

    The Avs have outscored the opposition 7-0 at even strength with MacKinnon on the ice, 10-0 overall. Those are just some numbers in a small sample size.

    Corey Masisak

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  • Grading The Week: Ex-Broncos RBs Audric Estime, Javonte Williams would love to have J.K. Dobbins’ problems right now

    Where there’s a Williams, there’s a whoa.

    As in former Broncos running back Javonte Williams, the Dallas Cowboy who somehow managed to have a rougher week than his successor, J.K. Dobbins, did in London.

    For the first time since Week 1, the Javonte Train finally went off the rails. Despite what the fantasy experts on the Grading The Week team saw as a (makes finger quotes in the air) “favorable” matchup at Carolina last Sunday, the ex-Bronco was held to a season-low 29 rushing yards on 13 carries and 5 receiving yards on five grabs.

    Context: Despite a banged-up, messed-up offensive line in front of him across the pond, Dobbins still managed more rushing yards (40) and more total yards (also 40) on far fewer touches (14).

    Life of an ex-Broncos RB — D

    And yet Williams’ statistical stumble was cupcakes and rainbows compared to the week of his former teammate — and backfield mate — Audric Estime.

    Estime, the Broncos’ fifth-round pick out of Notre Dame in the 2024 NFL draft, was waived by Denver this past August after falling behind Tyler Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin on the depth chart. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Estime a few days later and stuck him on their practice squad.

    On Tuesday, our man Audric became unstuck. The Eagles released him.

    The ex-Irish runner remained inactive for all six games with the Birds, including the Broncos’ 21-17 win at Philly back on Oct. 5.

    Burning through two franchises over your first 18 months in the league makes for something of an auspicious NFL start for Estime, no question. But there’s one thing on the dude’s side: Time. He just turned 22 this past Sept. 6. If Estime can land on his feet, with head, heart and hands all pointing the same direction, he’s got time to re-write his narrative.

    Wedgewood’s start for Avs — A

    When the kids at the GTW offices can’t trust our eyes, we trust the math. After its first five games a year ago, the Avalanche had given up 28 goals (5.6 GAA) and had lost four times. After five games this fall to open the 2025-26 season, the burgundy and blue had surrendered just nine goals (1.8 GAA) while winning four of those five contests. Avs faithful may not know what a good power play looks like, but they know what it’s like to have a grown-up — Scott Wedgewood — keeping watch between the pipes.

    Meanwhile, our old pal Alexandar Georgiev — the man in net here to start last season — just cleared waivers in Buffalo and was spotted in recent days practicing with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.

    Sean Keeler

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