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Trade: Avalanche acquire Devan Dubnyk from Sharks

Avalanche Trade

SAN JOSE, CA - FEBRUARY 27: Devan Dubnyk #40 of the San Jose Sharks defends the net against the St. Louis Blues at SAP Center on February 27, 2021 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Brandon Magnus/NHLI via Getty Images)

NHLI via Getty Images

If the Colorado Avalanche have had a flaw this season it is goaltending depth behind starter Philipp Grubauer.

They attempted to address that on Saturday by sending defenseman Greg Pateryn and a 2021 fifth-round draft pick to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for goalie Devan Dubnyk.

Dubnyk is in the final year of his contract and has split time this season with Martin Jones in San Jose.

At his peak, Dubnyk was one of the more productive goalies in the league and a very big part of some really good -- and very underrated -- Minnesota Wild teams. But he has struggled the past two years with a sub-.900 save percentage since the start of the 2019-20 season. With Grubauer occupying the top spot the Avalanche will only need Dubnyk to serve as a backup and ideally only start a handful of regular season games down the stretch.

[More: ProHockeyTalk’s 2021 NHL Trade Tracker]

Colorado’s expected backup goalie, Pavel Francouz, has been sidelined since the start of the season which forced the team to open with Hunter Miska as the backup. Following a miserable start to the season for him the Avalanche acquired Jonas Johansson from the Buffalo Sabres in an effort to improve their depth. Johansson has been solid in his brief time with the Avalanche and even recorded his first NHL shutout on Friday. But the Avalanche were clearly not comfortable with him as the top backup with the playoffs around the corner.

The Avalanche had previous acquired Pateryn this season from Minnesota in the trade that sent Ian Cole to the Wild.

With Dubnyk out of the mix in San Jose, it means the Sharks are putting their playoff hopes entirely in the hands of Martin Jones.

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.