Earlier today, it was announced that the Colorado Avalanche were involved in the first goalie trade of the season, sending Justus Annunen and their fifth round pick in the 2025 NHL draft to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Scott Wedgewood.
Scott Wedgewood is a veteran backup goaltender, and has played 135 games since the 2015-16 season. He has a career .905 SV%, and 3.01 GAA. He signed a two year, $1.5 million per contract with Nashville this offseason, but is having a rough start to the season. He’s played in five games, and has a .878 SV% and a 3.69 GAA.
In contrast, Justus Annunen has played in just 29 games at the NHL level. He has a career .902 SV%, and 2.81 GAA. He’s struggled so far this season, and has a .872 SV% and a 3.23 GAA through 11 games played.
Here are my grades for how each team fared in this trade:
Nashville’s Grade: B
For Nashville, this makes a fair bit of sense. When a team is underperforming the way Nashville is, this type of trade isn’t uncommon. This isn’t a blockbuster, but it isn’t bad for Nashville. They swapped a struggling Wedgewood for a younger, cheaper Annunen, and received a fifth round pick for their troubles.
In the grand scheme of things, however, you have to wonder what Nashville is doing. On August 23rd, they traded star goaltending prospect Yaroslav Askarov to San Jose because they couldn’t guarantee him NHL playing time. I know hindsight is 20/20, but it’s very unfortunate that an opportunity arises just over three months after shipping Askarov off.
Colorado’s Grade: C
There are two ways to look at this trade. On the surface level, this is a fine trade, I suppose. Wedgewood is a veteran goaltender who fully embraces his role as a backup.
On a deeper level, Colorado’s goaltenders have struggled mightily this season, and they have the worst team save percentage in the league. But this doesn’t look like an attempt to solve that problem. Wedgewood is a fine backup, but that’s all he is: a backup. Their issues run way deeper than that. If the Avalanche want to be contenders this season, they need to figure out their starting goaltender problems, because Wedgewood just doesn’t really move the needle.
