Blackwood vs. the Colorado way: Avalanche’s goalie battle begins on Day One of camp

Colorado opens training camp with a familiar question that has become anything but routine in recent seasons: who is the Avalanche’s everyday NHL goalie? The immediate answer will not come from a preseason depth chart. It will come from how quickly Mackenzie Blackwood establishes himself when the team’s real competition begins to show on the ice, starting from the first day of camp.

The urgency around Blackwood is driven by what happened last season. Scott Wedgewood, a goalie who received an unexpected opportunity, turned it into what was described as the best run of his career. His performance helped create one of the NHL’s more surprising storylines, built around “The Lumberyard,” Colorado’s reputation for developing and pushing the next layer of talent into meaningful roles.

In that context, Blackwood’s return to the forefront reads as a “prove it” moment, not a ceremonial handoff. If Wedgewood’s stretch established Colorado’s short-term winning identity, Blackwood now has to determine whether he can restore a more traditional ownership of the crease, or whether the team’s recent success was a sign that the goalie situation is more resilient and less dependent on a single name than outsiders might assume.

Colorado’s approach to camp likely reflects that internal mindset. Instead of treating the starting job as something Blackwood inherits, the organization will be able to measure more than simple stopping percentage in the early phases. Practices and early scrimmage looks offer coaches a view of how a goalie communicates with defenders, handles the pace of play, and adapts when the shot profile changes. The goalie battle on “Day One” is about daily execution, because that is the only thing the staff can control.

The battle is also more than a roster-management storyline. A credible top-of-the-crease answer can influence how a defense pairs for the season, how aggressively Colorado plays in the middle of the ice, and how confident the team feels when protecting leads late. If the Avalanche’s recent run was powered by a goalie who thrived under opportunity, the club’s task now is to keep that standard high while still giving Blackwood a clear runway to win the role.

At the same time, Colorado’s past “surprise” success suggests the club may not be locked into a single goalie narrative. Even if Blackwood starts the process as the most obvious option, the presence of a proven performer like Wedgewood serves as a reminder that one season can reshape expectations fast in the NHL. Camp becomes the next chapter, where the organization decides which version of its identity it wants to lean on when games begin.

What to watch next is simple but specific. Pay attention to how Blackwood performs in higher-tempo situations early in camp, how often he is tested with traffic and second-chance shots, and whether his play stabilizes the defensive group. Just as importantly, watch whether Colorado’s coaches continue to treat the crease as a competition rather than a formality, because that will report how the Avalanche intends to carry this battle through the preseason and into the regular season. Until then, the clearest storyline is that Blackwood’s path back into the crease starts immediately, and it begins with day-one competition.

If you want a snapshot of the stakes: Wedgewood’s opportunity turned into Colorado’s best season-type story, and Blackwood’s next challenge is to turn “earning it” into ownership. The Avalanche’s training camp will reveal whether this is a reshuffling of the same standard, or a true handover to a goalie who can take control when the crease is on the line.