The Colorado Avalanche have acquired goalie Devan Dubnyk from the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Greg Pateryn and a fifth-round pick in 2021.

Even with Jonas Johansson's 28-save shutout on Friday, the Avalanche weren't sold on him or their other backup goaltending options after Philipp Grubauer. Johansson has only 17 games of NHL experience and struggled with an .884 SV% in 10 games with Buffalo this season. Pavel Francouz probably won't be returning at all this season. Hunter Miska could not provide NHL-level goaltending when he was the backup. As a result, Grubauer leads the league with 33 starts. If the Avalanche want to make a deep Stanley Cup run, a well-rested Grubauer will be key. They found that out the hard way last season when both Grubauer and Francouz were sidelined and they were forced to start Michael Hutchinson for a Game 7 against Dallas.

Dubnyk's value obviously jumps with the move to Colorado. The Sharks allow the fifth-highest shot total of any team (32.2 SA/GP), a full seven shots higher than the Avalanche, who allow the fewest shots per game in the league. Martin Jones' recent hot play had already sent Dubnyk to the bench, as he had started only twice in the Sharks' past 11 games. With the Avs bolstering their backup goaltending to give Grubauer some much-needed rest with a playoff spot a near certainty, there's a possibility that Dubnyk could start more games for Colorado than he would have in San Jose.

The Dubnyk trade signals that the Sharks seem confident in Jones to carry the mail, as least in the short term. Josef Korenar is currently the goalie on the Sharks' taxi squad, however it's possible that popular Frozen Tools search Alexei Melnichuk could backup Jones. Both goalies have a sub-.900 SV% and plus-3.00 GAA in the AHL, so it doesn't appear that either goalie is really ready to make the jump and supplant Jones, unless Jones suddenly regresses again. The Sharks' AHL squad is the San Jose Barracuda, so sending these goalies from the NHL to the AHL or vice-versa can be done very easily.

Pateryn has played in 11 games this season and shouldn't be a factor fantasy-wise.

Players this helps, in order:

Dubnyk

Jones

Grubauer

Melnichuk

Players this hurts, in order:

Johansson

Miska