Avalanche 24/25 Season Preview: Goalies

A look into the Avs netminders for this upcoming season.

With the season opener just one sleep away, it’s time to look at the goaltenders for the Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Eagles for the 2024-25 season.

The organization is in a much different place in the crease than it was on opening night a year ago. With Pavel Francouz retired to a scouting role with the club, and the departures of Ivan Prospetov and Arvid Holm as depth pieces, the deck has been shuffled just a bit. Justus Annunen and Trent Miner project to see new roles, while Kevin Mandolese joins the organization from the Ottawa Senators.

Meanwhile, this is a massive season for Alexandar Georgiev as he enters his third season in Colorado. Let’s dive into each player’s outlook for this season.

Kevin Mandolese

Mandolese is going to be an interesting player to watch this season. One of three players brought over from the Ottawa Senators this summer along with forward Parker Kelly and now Canucks defenseman Erik Brannstrom, Mandolese is a bit of a mystery.

A 24-year-old 2022 6th-round pick of Ottawa, Mandolese has primarily bounced around the ECHL and AHL thus far in his pro career. He has three games played in the NHL for the Senators, all of which came in the 2022-23 season. He performed well in those appearances, posting a .916 SV% and earning one win.

Mandolese has good size for the NHL position but lacks experience at the NHL level, which is fine. It will be interesting to see how he splits the net with Trent Miner for the Eagles, but I do anticipate Mandolese being the call-up candidate in the case of an injury to Georgiev or Annunen.

Trent Miner

This is a big season for Miner. After again splitting time between the Utah Grizzlies and the Colorado Eagles last season in somewhat of a crowded minor league goalie room, Miner was electric in his AHL opportunity, posting an outstanding .930 SV% to supplement a 2.10 GAA in 18 appearances for the Colorado Eagles. I can’t imagine he’ll be in line for an NHL call-up over Kevin Mandolese to start the season, as I think Bednar will prefer the limited experience Mandolose brings to the crease at the NHL level from his time in Ottawa.

I don’t think NHL minutes should be the goal for Miner this season though. I think the goal Coach Aaron Schneekloth and staff sets out for Miner should involve a sizable workload to see how he holds up, ideally in a 50/50 timeshare role with Mandolese.

The patient approach the organization took towards Justus Annunen has worked out great thus far, with Annunen set for his next big test at the NHL level. For Miner, who was a 2019 7th-round selection of the Avs, his development path has been very encouraging, and there’s no need to rush him into an NHL crease unless absolutely necessary.

Justus Annunen

Perhaps the most exciting name to watch this year will be Justus Annunen. Following years of prospect hype after being selected in the 3rd round of the 2018 NHL entry draft, Annunen finally began to see some real opportunity in the back half of last season. In 14 appearances, Annunen posted a 2.25 GAA and an impressive .928 SV%, in a brief run that saw some fans asking for Annunen to open the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

This season for the first time in his career, he’ll begin the season on the NHL roster, and he figures to play an important role as Georgiev’s backup. It has yet to be determined what his workload will look like this season, but I think it’s safe to say that he’ll be a factor. The club signed him to a very team-friendly two-year $838k contract, which is a one-way deal.

I personally would like to see at least a 50/30 game split between Georgiev and Annunen. I think the more Annunen plays, the better he will get, and hopefully, that will push Georgiev for ice time as much as possible.

Alexandar Georgiev

After a solid start to Georgiev’s tenure as an Av in the 2022-23 campaign, things took a drastic downturn last season. His .897 SV% was a .022 difference from his .917 SV% in 2022-23, and his 38-win season was more a product of the team in front of him, led by a historic MVP season from Nathan MacKinnon. His solid outings felt few and far between, with primary issues including rebound control, vision on shots from the point, and early goals that often saw the Avs playing from behind early in games.

More alarmingly, we saw his issues impact him mentally on the ice, and he seemed to worsen the more goals he allowed. There were a lot of meltdowns and sticks banged off of the posts, showing issues moving on from a goal against. You must give credit where credit’s due though, with a fanbase bearing down on him and pressure mounting, Georgiev faced the media after tough games the same way he would approach wins, but the time is now to return to form on the ice.

Now entering the final year of a 3-year deal he signed after being shipped to Colorado from the New York Rangers in the summer of 2022, this season is make or break for Georgiev in regards to his future in the organization. He has shown what he can do when he’s on top of his game, and if he can give the Avalanche his best, he can amend for last seasons struggles. Any prolonged dips in Georgiev’s game could result in more playing time for Annunen.

This is undoubtedly the most important season of Georgiev’s professional career.