Devils 2020-21 team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - part VI

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

The Devils’ do need help on defense but you aren’t getting from the draft. Unless, they make a trade using picks. The majority of Defenseman still take a couple years to Develop.

It’s odd: statistically there are far greater picks between rounds 2-7 and therefore more goalies are chosen but what percentage are successful? It would make sense, that more goalies come from later rounds. I guess fans would rather gamble on a forward or defenseman than a goalie.

A bust is a bust..

Vasilevskiy is looking pretty solid and Blackwood hasn’t proven anything.

yeah just not true.

 

[Smitty426]

No. We are not in a position to move one of our defenseman not named Butcher. Subban and Severson are quite literally the only defenseman we have in the entire system who you know are NHL regulars. You can say Butcher is too but if we replaced him with a defense first defenseman I'd do that. Otherwise I am not moving Severson at all unless an equally skilled defenseman is coming back and that would you make you wonder why even bother? Severson is insanely underrated on this board.

How bout Brenden Dillon as a FA signing?

 

[BurntToast]

yeah just not true.

I’m sorry but he has been inconsistent. 4 sub par months of play versus 2 good months, last season. Yessh. I think he has solid potential, but he is not a lock to be a franchise goalie by any means.

Mackenzie Blackwood Splits | StatMuse

TheAHL.com | The American Hockey League

 

[Nicomo Cosca]

I’m sorry but he has been inconsistent. 4 sub par months of play versus 2 good months, last season. Yessh. I think he has solid potential, but he is not a lock to be a franchise goalie by any means.

Mackenzie Blackwood Splits | StatMuse

TheAHL.com | The American Hockey League

Almost identical numbers to Carter Hart. Are people saying the same about him?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

4 subpar months? What?

He had a .908 in November (basically league average)
.920 in December
.926 from January through the end of the year

are we talking about the same player?

 

[Darkauron]

If you think blackwood had been subpar, you don't watch the game let a lone the stats.

 

[NJDevs26]

The gaslighting of Blackwood by some is one of the most bizarre things I've seen here. People keep pumping the tires of guys who haven't done squat yet and waiting for certain players to finally develop despite years of dissapointment, while downplaying Blackwood who actually has shown quite a bit in 70 starts at a young age for a tire fire of a team.

 

[BurntToast]

4 subpar months? What?

He had a .908 in November (basically league average)
.920 in December
.926 from January through the end of the year

are we talking about the same player?

Based on 1 good month. He was actually under .900 in January and March. Also Kinkaids average is .905, just saying. You are trying to manipulate stats. He will get his chance to prove himself but he is far from safe. (Safe until something better comes along)

Oh, I have watched him. He was terrible to start the year, having a good couple months doesn’t wash that away.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

What does Keith Kinkaid have to do with Mackenzie Blackwood

It's okay to be happy about certain players even if the team isn't good.

 

[NJDevs26]

A lot of guys were terrible to start last year, including Blackwood. But he picked it up and was the main reason the Devils were competitive post-Hynes, with defenses that had the likes of Dakota Mermis playing a top four role.

Based on 1 good month. He was actually under .900 in January and March. Also Kinkaids average is .905, just saying.

Blackwood's a .916 for his career, for a bad team. So he's already much better than Kinkaid, which makes the comparison nonexistent. Almost every goalie's going to have some variance from month to month, and I'm not always a big on using wins to show goalie value but the Devils' non-Blackwood record this season should be enough to show what kind of impact he had.

 

[Blackjack]

Based on 1 good month. He was actually under .900 in January and March. Also Kinkaids average is .905, just saying. You are trying to manipulate stats. He will get his chance to prove himself but he is far from safe. (Safe until something better comes along)

Oh, I have watched him. He was terrible to start the year, having a good couple months doesn’t wash that away.

The aggregate save percentage of goaltenders not named MacKenzie Blackwood on the Devils last year was .885 (91 goals on 795 shots) Blackwood's .915 is a 30 point spread. It might be too early to say with 100% certainty that he's a cornerstone, but there is no doubt that he was one of the very best goaltenders in the league last year and if he had played behind a better team probably would have been in the running for the Vezina.

 

[Nubmer6]

I'm not comfortable putting the future of this franchise in Blackwood's hands just yet. Maybe another strong year would convince me.

Not saying he's bad, or will be bad. It's just that until I get a bigger sample size, I'd rather hedge my bets. I'm not saying pick Askarov with our 7th, but again, it would be hard for me to pass him over at 20 if he were miraculously still there.

I do like the idea of drafting a goalie in the mid rounds every year and hoping one of them hits. I'm actually still hoping Schmidt and/or Senn hit.

 

[beekay414]

Call me crazy but I don't know how you can watch MacBlack behind THAT defense and then say "yeah, I'm not comfortable with him as my #1." Kid is arguably the only reason we were better than the Red Wings lol. We were a bubble team with him as our #1 and then Detroit Red Wings bad when we played a back-up.

Mackenzie Blackwood is a #1 and I say that with the utmost confidence.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

It is pretty funny how people will label Hart a star goalie and Blackwood meh to mediocre or unknown. Switch the draft positions and the teams and all of a sudden Hart is meh and Blackwood is a star. I'd almost guarantee that's how they would be viewed.

 

[BurntToast]

Blackwood finished out the year nicely. I want Blackwood to do well, because his success is directly related to the Devils success. Let’s see how he does next season as the starter. (If the Devils take Askerov I wont be upset. I am hoping for a trade for a young defenseman on a cap crisis team with one of 18/20. )I guess Schneider will be the backup? He is a great locker room guy.

 

[beekay414]

It is pretty funny how people will label Hart a star goalie and Blackwood meh to mediocre or unknown. Switch the draft positions and the teams and all of a sudden Hart is meh and Blackwood is a star. I'd almost guarantee that's how they would be viewed.

23 year old goalie with a .916 career save percentage behind a defense that bleeds profusely but, sure, he's not a future #1.

 

[TBF1972]

They can't do anything about it now. They are under contract for like 4 more years each

they can still be unhappy campers, asking for trades, playing with less than maximum effort. try to imagine a less physical engaged nylander. tough task.

 

[TBF1972]

It is pretty funny how people will label Hart a star goalie and Blackwood meh to mediocre or unknown. Switch the draft positions and the teams and all of a sudden Hart is meh and Blackwood is a star. I'd almost guarantee that's how they would be viewed.

hart is also 20 month younger than blackwood and hart had a very good showing in the po's. there is no need for bias to look at those two and consider hart the better talent. doesn't mean blackwood is bad or could catch and pass hart down the road. but today, if given the choice, i would pick hart over blackwood. i would also pick hart over shesterkin.

 

[NJDevs26]

It is pretty funny how people will label Hart a star goalie and Blackwood meh to mediocre or unknown. Switch the draft positions and the teams and all of a sudden Hart is meh and Blackwood is a star. I'd almost guarantee that's how they would be viewed.

Hart was actually drafted six spots (and one year) 'after' Blackwood though.

hart is also 20 month younger than blackwood and hart had a very good showing in the po's.

That's part of the issue though...Blackwood's not getting in 'big' games anytime soon through no fault of his own. Just like Cory when he was actually good was never truly going to be thought of as a top goalie outside of NJ because he was playing a lot of meaningless games too.

 

[Guttersniped]

Hart was actually drafted six spots (and one year) 'after' Blackwood though.



That's part of the issue though...Blackwood's not getting in 'big' games anytime soon through no fault of his own. Just like Cory when he was actually good was never truly going to be thought of as a top goalie outside of NJ because he was playing a lot of meaningless games too.

No, a lot of this is about Blackwood’s 2017-18 season because it was very terrible. Blackwood completely fell apart in the AHL in his second pro season (D+3) and was sent down to the ECHL to pull himself together and this considerably hurt his standing as a prospect.

Hart had two more years in juniors after being drafted instead of one like MBW but his rise has been much smoother, faster and more impressive with his first pro season being the 2018-19 season split between the AHL and the pros.

I never and still don’t actually care at all about the Hart comparisons but it took me awhile to get over how bad 2017-18 went for Blackwood. It was real bad. I didn’t completely write him off but I assumed he would a long term project at best and didn’t have the highest hopes for him as a starter. He has since won me over to Team Blackwood.

I’m not sure I get how people can still have the “he’s proved nothing” stance. I mean I wouldn’t give him 8 year deal but I’m pretty optimistic about him next season. I would be happy to have Askarov too, who knows what kind of career longevity is in the cards for Blackwood.

 

[Guttersniped]

Based on 1 good month. He was actually under .900 in January and March. Also Kinkaids average is .905, just saying. You are trying to manipulate stats. He will get his chance to prove himself but he is far from safe. (Safe until something better comes along)

Oh, I have watched him. He was terrible to start the year, having a good couple months doesn’t wash that away.

.905 was literally league average for 2019-20, I’m not sure what Kinkaid has to do with that.

October 6 GP 2-2-2 1 SO .871
November 12 GP 6-5-1 .908
December 12 GP 5-3-2 .920
January 7 GP 2-2-2 .891 (teeth loss/head injury at some point here)
February 6 GP 6-0-1 2 SO .967
March 3 GP 1-2 .889

Is your “one good month” February? Then yes, Blackwood can never sustain that level of play (and become the greatest NHL goalie of all time). He had a rocky start but bad teams tend to get bent over and he had some games where he got shelled. If you look at the record there’s no point where Blackwood isn’t winning some games despite NJ being 26th in GF and **gestures at various terribleness**.

Blackwood has 1) proven himself 2) is safe (?) (what ever that means). We need to jettison Schneider and for sure get another functional NHL goalie and we don’t stop drafting goalies because that’s not how team building works.

 

[Billdo]

How bout Brenden Dillon as a FA signing?

I'm 100% on board with this. I've been in that camp since his name started surfacing. He wouldn't cost any assets besides money and term so I'd give him a 4-5 year deal for sure although I know there are plenty here will say he's too old.

 

[NJDevs26]

No, a lot of this is about Blackwood’s 2017-18 season because it was very terrible. Blackwood completely fell apart in the AHL in his second pro season (D+3) and was sent down to the ECHL to pull himself together and this considerably hurt his standing as a prospect.

Hart had two more years in juniors after being drafted instead of one like MBW but his rise has been much smoother, faster and more impressive with his first pro season being the 2018-19 season split between the AHL and the pros.

I never and still don’t actually care at all about the Hart comparisons but it took me awhile to get over how bad 2017-18 went for Blackwood. It was real bad. I didn’t completely write him off but I assumed he would a long term project at best and didn’t have the highest hopes for him as a starter. He has since won me over to Team Blackwood.

No I get why Blackwood’s prospect standing took a hit though we also have to take into account his lack of experience actually playing the position since he got into goaltending later on than most. I wasn’t addressing the actual comparison between the two as much as the general skepticism of MB29, especially in comparison to other prospects we give more of a break to.

 

[Nubmer6]

Call me crazy but I don't know how you can watch MacBlack behind THAT defense and then say "yeah, I'm not comfortable with him as my #1." Kid is arguably the only reason we were better than the Red Wings lol. We were a bubble team with him as our #1 and then Detroit Red Wings bad when we played a back-up.

Mackenzie Blackwood is a #1 and I say that with the utmost confidence.

It's not just about ability. Consistency plays a huge part too. That part isn't proven to me yet.

 

[glenwo2]

Unicorn sighting, holy shit

I was sure he was going to trip like 5 times in that video

Who do you think Jesper is? David Clarkson?