The first third of the NHL season has had an unusually active trade front.

The Avalanche's swap of Alexandar Georgiev for Mackenzie Blackwood represents the ninth trade of the season involving NHL-level players, which could prove potentially game-changing, especially across the Western Conference.

The message from the New York Rangers on Friday, and now Colorado just three days later, is more pointed. Teams that are theoretically playoff contenders but are worried about fatal flaws will not sit around and wait.

The Avalanche have a goaltending problem, and they weren't going to leave it to the trade deadline. This is the second move in net they've made in the past two weeks. They acquired career journeyman Scott Wedgewood from Nashville in late November.

Meanwhile, San Jose continues to look towards the future, trading from its roster to acquire draft allocation, though they may have made a sneaky addition to help out now.

What do these players bring to the table, what does this trade indicate about each team, and how does this move grade out? Let's take a look.

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado wasn't exactly blindsided by their goaltending problems this season. Alexandar Georgiev, 28, had a shaky 2023-24 season and fell apart during the playoffs. Justus Annunen, 24, was a decent enough prospect who had shown well in limited action. That's an unstable tandem to have.

Unfortunately, the Avalanche had massive salary cap problems that forced them to spend little more than the minimum salary to fill out some roster spots. The backup goaltender was the last place the team could afford to make any real investment. The best bet was to hope Georgiev would return to his All-Star form of 2022-23.

It could not have gone worse. Georgiev looked off from opening night. The former Russian international posted a .874 save percentage in 18 games and his -9.4 goals saved above expected ranks 79th in the NHL, according to Moneypuck.com.

Mackenzie Blackwood does not have the upside that Georgiev does, but the Avalanche are hoping for something else: stability. Blackwood was a massive surprise for the rebuilding Sharks last season and has built on that, posting a .910 save percentage behind one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL. Assuming he keeps that up in Colorado, Blackwood will make the saves expected of him and won't melt down after a bad period or game.

The price of doing business borders on cringe-worthy, though. Remember that Blackwood just two years ago was a cap dump by the New Jersey Devils. Low-end starting goaltenders rarely pull in a second-round pick, let alone a roster player.

Maybe most importantly, Blackwood is an unrestricted free agent after the season. This is, essentially a prolonged rental trade. Colorado didn't trade this much because of a bidding war or because of Blackwood's high-end talent. This was a desperate move to try to stop the bleeding now rather than in March, when it may be too late.

Grade: C+

San Jose Sharks

There are some reasons to worry about this move for San Jose.

The Sharks are in a heavy, heavy rebuild. They have some extremely young players on the roster like Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. The defense is mostly made up of replacement-level players. A competent goaltender like Blackwood who can clean up mistakes and make sure the team doesn't get crushed for 5 or 6 goals every night is good for team morale and player development.

Backup goaltender Vitek Vanecek has not been up to the task and all of Georgiev's problems in Colorado could become even worse in San Jose.

In the big picture, Blackwood's future was not in San Jose. The 28-year-old would likely have left in free agency over the summer. Besides, top prospect Yaroslav Askarov, acquired from Nashville in August, is the presumed future starter in San Jose. This trade could expedite that ascension.

This trade could have waited, though until much closer to the March 8 trade deadline. Colorado needed this trade to happen much more urgently than the Sharks did. That is reflected in the price GM Mike Grier wrangled from the Avs. A second-round pick itself would be a great haul for a lower-end rental goaltender.

Don't sleep on Nikolai Kovalenko, either. The 25-year-old was a productive player in the KHL and, as a rookie for Colorado, played well enough to stick in the NHL. He has four goals and four assists in 25 games and has been a very good defensive winger. A restricted free agent next season, Kovalenko could be a nice fit in San Jose's bottom-six forwards for beyond this season.

Grade: A