McKenna’s Blue Paint: Is Alexandar Georgiev ready to be a No. 1?
We got another segment of McKenna’s Blue Paint on today’s Daily Faceoff Show, where he talked about some of the goaltenders that have caught his eye recently, including Alexandar Georgiev, who could potentially be moved at the trade deadline.
Frank Seravalli: “Speaking of a goaltender that has lots of self confidence, that would be Alexandar Georgiev, who is No. 10 on our trade targets board. He sort of made it no secret internally with the New York Rangers organization that he would like a fresh start, he would like an opportunity to be a starting netminder elsewhere, but he’s also struggled lately.
Do you think he has what it takes? Has he shown you that he has what it takes to be a No. 1 in the NHL?”
Mike McKenna: “If this was four seasons ago, I’d say absolutely, you make a deal for Georgiev, you slot him in, he’s your guy, but I’m not sure that that’s the case any longer. Now that Igor Shesterkin has come onto the scene with the Rangers, he’s taken over the crease, and that’s limited the playing time of Alexandar Georgiev.
His numbers, his save percentage, have fallen every year that he has been in the NHL, he is now at a sub 90 percent, and he’s lost his last four games in the league, and he’s allowed 16 goals over that time.
Georgiev plays much better when he’s eating minutes, when he has that game feel. Right now he’s struggling mightily with traffic, and that’s indicative of somebody who hasn’t played a lot. You lose your game feel, you lose how to find pucks. I like the technical base of what Georgiev has, but at this stage, I’m not sure how damaged he is from not getting to play a lot, and when he does play, he has not played great.
So, I think if a team trades for him, you’re getting a real wild card here. He’s somebody who could take off if he gets to play a lot, but I’m not sure that the confidence is there right now in his game itself. He says he’s ready for it, but is the game there?”
Frank Seravalli: “It’s just interesting the way you frame it though, because if the idea is that he’s struggling because he hasn’t played enough, does that mean that the solution is simply just to get him on a run of playing somewhere else, and he’ll bounce back to the spot that he was at? I think that’s got to be a question some teams are asking themselves at the moment that would be interested in Georgiev.”
Mike McKenna: “It is, and that’s why I think he’ll be a roll of the dice. I don’t think you really know what you’re getting if you trade for Alexandar Georgiev, but unfortunately, that’s a lot of goaltenders.”
You can watch the full episode here…