Prospect Info: MacKenzie Blackwood -G- (42nd Overall 2015)

[FooteBahl]

I'm not too ashamed of my 4.5 year old post...

Prospect Info: - MacKenzie Blackwood -G- (42nd Overall 2015)

Good post. I know he’s a good athlete, but I never knew he destroyed the combine.

 

[Blackjack]

Traded down from #36 with Minnesota. Minnesota took Gabriel Gagne, who is playing in the ECHL now. They gave us their #42 pick (Blackwood) and their 3rd rounder in 2016, which we used to pick Joey Anderson.

 

[HBK27]

Awful, awful, awful. This is the biggest waste of a pick since Ari Ahonen.

This is bad process, no doubt about it. It could work out for us but there is zero logic behind this pick. We have our starting goalie for the next 7 years. Are we using 2nd round picks on insurance players?

I can't even wrap my head around how mind-numbingly stupid this pick is. I don't care who he is or how good he might become.

Hahaha...ooofff.

Love looking up old threads.

At least there were a few good takes mixed in...

You never know what happens.

In a span of two years, Devils lost Kovalchuk, Parise, and Clarkson. Lou could not have anticipated that. We have no idea what will happen to Schneider.

If you like Blackwood and think he's a great prospect, you take him.

Cory could fall off a cliff by the time he is ready. You don't know which is why you have organizational depth to prepare for whatever happens.

I rather use one pick now then 3+ picks on a trade a few years down the line. Goalie prices are to expensive.

 

[None Shall Pass]

From draft days:

Cory could fall off a cliff by the time he is ready. You don't know which is why you have organizational depth to prepare for whatever happens.

I rather use one pick now then 3+ picks on a trade a few years down the line. Goalie prices are to expensive.

Honestly the cliff starts after Kinky. I have little faith in Wedge at this point.

I swear it's like people think we should have UDFA's as our #2-3-4 goalies. Then if something ever happened to Cory people would complain we had no depth when said UDFA's played like crap.

Tom Gulitti ‏@TGfireandice 4m4 minutes ago
Tom Gulitti retweeted Matt
Remember that in 2 years maybe Kinkaid will be ready to more and want to move on.

Tom Gulitti ‏@TGfireandice 57s57 seconds ago
If Kinkaid moves on in a couple years, maybe Wedgewood is the next backup and Blackwood will still be early in development as a G.

Tom Gulitti ‏@TGfireandice 36s36 seconds ago
You don't just have 1 goalie.

And double for TG

 

[MartyOwns]

Yikes there are some AWFUL takes early on. I made it to page 5 before I had to stop and post this.

Always fun watching know-it-alls get pwnt.

that’s why i bookmarked a bunch of askarov posts!

 

[jkrdevil]

This didnt age to well. We deff needed forwards badly at the time but atleast Blackwood is panning out so far for us.

I fully admit I was wrong. However, I don’t think you could have predicted that Schneider would fall off a cliff and be an AHL goalie at age 33.

 

[Billdo]

I fully admit I was wrong. However, I don’t think you could have predicted that Schneider would fall off a cliff and be an AHL goalie at age 33.

 

[HBK27]

Since December 6th, Blackwood is 6-2-2 with a .931 SV% & 2.10 GAA.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Good post. I know he’s a good athlete, but I never knew he destroyed the combine.

I went back to see if I could find the results:
2015 NHL Scouting Combine: Fitness testing results

Topmost in the notes: section -
"Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood drastically out-performed his counterparts, a rare dominant performance for a goalie"

 

[Devils731]

Blackwood bizarrely has to make sure he doesn’t get in too good of shape. He adds muscle too easily and everyone would prefer he stay lean for quickness.

What kind of genetic freak adds bunches of muscles by accident?

 

[Blackjack]

Blackwood bizarrely has to make sure he doesn’t get in too good of shape. He adds muscle too easily and everyone would prefer he stay lean for quickness.

What kind of genetic freak adds bunches of muscles by accident?

I heard that on the broadcast and let's just say I'm extremely skeptical.

 

[Call Me Al]

i don’t know if you know what this gif is from but if so i’d like to give you a thumbs up and a knowing nod

 

[Devils731]

I heard that on the broadcast and let's just say I'm extremely skeptical.

The long journey that led to Devils breakout star Mackenzie...

“He is not just a really good athlete. Nearly every card-carrying member of the NHL Players’ Association is an above-average athlete. Blackwood is beyond that, the kind that makes other professional athletes stop and say “whoa.”
“If he really trained hard, he’d be 255 pounds of solid muscle,” said Paul Hemsworth, who has worked with the 6-foot-4 Blackwood since his early teenage years. “That would look good if he was an MMA fighter, but as a goalie he needs to control that, right?””

“That special trait — Blackwood building muscle too easily — is something Hemsworth has monitored for years. Combine it with Blackwood being a bit of a gym rat and taking nutrition pretty seriously, and it became an interesting dilemma.”

 

[billingtons ghost]

“That special trait — Blackwood building muscle too easily — is something Hemsworth has monitored for years. Combine it with Blackwood being a bit of a gym rat and taking nutrition pretty seriously, and it became an interesting dilemma.”

There was some catcher on my baseball team in high school that also played football. Came back one season and had lost all of his flexibility because of bulking up over the summer - couldn't throw the ball worth crap. Had to quit.

Pitchers and goalies are like that too - I remember when they were talking about David Robertson being able to step as far as Kershaw despite being 5'11" and that being the source of his power. I'm sure if this dude bulked up he'd lose speed on his glove and blocker.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Blackwood bizarrely has to make sure he doesn’t get in too good of shape. He adds muscle too easily and everyone would prefer he stay lean for quickness.

What kind of genetic freak adds bunches of muscles by accident?

The long journey that led to Devils breakout star Mackenzie...

“He is not just a really good athlete. Nearly every card-carrying member of the NHL Players’ Association is an above-average athlete. Blackwood is beyond that, the kind that makes other professional athletes stop and say “whoa.”
“If he really trained hard, he’d be 255 pounds of solid muscle,” said Paul Hemsworth, who has worked with the 6-foot-4 Blackwood since his early teenage years. “That would look good if he was an MMA fighter, but as a goalie he needs to control that, right?””

“That special trait — Blackwood building muscle too easily — is something Hemsworth has monitored for years. Combine it with Blackwood being a bit of a gym rat and taking nutrition pretty seriously, and it became an interesting dilemma.”

I feel your pain Blackwood.

 

[NJDevs26]

I mean nobody could have seen Cory fall off a cliff in 2015, by 2019...but the lack of goalie depth after him was definitely obvious. I never saw the big deal about using a second round pick on Blackwood as if it was a top ten pick though, the hand-wringing over using pick 42 on him was the craziest part of the ripping the pick got.

 

[johnny pierogi]

Anyone looking for a local example of an athlete that got too bulky for his own good need not look further than Noah Syndergaard...coming into 2017 he was absolutely gigantic and ended up tearing his lat. Of course, the Mets weren't monitoring his offseason program because, well, Mets

 

[billingtons ghost]

I feel your pain Blackwood.

lol. Nice man.

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[None Shall Pass]

Risk management 101 is plan for your what-ifs.

In 2015, we had Cory and Kinky to look forward to. Then reality happened.

 

[Blackjack]

The long journey that led to Devils breakout star Mackenzie...

“He is not just a really good athlete. Nearly every card-carrying member of the NHL Players’ Association is an above-average athlete. Blackwood is beyond that, the kind that makes other professional athletes stop and say “whoa.”
“If he really trained hard, he’d be 255 pounds of solid muscle,” said Paul Hemsworth, who has worked with the 6-foot-4 Blackwood since his early teenage years. “That would look good if he was an MMA fighter, but as a goalie he needs to control that, right?””

“That special trait — Blackwood building muscle too easily — is something Hemsworth has monitored for years. Combine it with Blackwood being a bit of a gym rat and taking nutrition pretty seriously, and it became an interesting dilemma.”

Right. Take the bolded for example. Arnold Schwartzenegger, one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time, weighed around 240 pounds. That's elite bodybuilding genetics, eating tremendous amounts of food, using steroids, etc. etc.

Is it possible that MacKenzie Blackwood could be 255 pounds of solid muscle if he trained hard? Sure, I suppose. But that's significantly beyond a world famous body builder. I have the same kind of skepticism that I would have if Paul told me that Blackwood is really fast, and if he trained hard he could run the 100 yard dash in under 9 seconds.

 

[The Devil In I]

Right. Take the bolded for example. Arnold Schwartzenegger, one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time, weighed around 240 pounds. That's elite bodybuilding genetics, eating tremendous amounts of food, using steroids, etc. etc.

Is it possible that MacKenzie Blackwood could be 255 pounds of solid muscle if he trained hard? Sure, I suppose. But that's significantly beyond a world famous body builder. I have the same kind of skepticism that I would have if Paul told me that Blackwood is really fast, and if he trained hard he could run the 100 yard dash in under 9 seconds.

There might be some hyperbole in the 255lb number, but...

Arnold: 6'1 and was prob in the area of 6-7% body fat.

Blackwood: 6'4 and likely in the typical hockey athlete range of around 12-14%?

At the same weight the 6% guy would have 15lbs more muscle than the 12% guy, which is an enormous amount.

They did mention in the broadcast last night that at one point Blackwood was up near 240.

 

[Bleedred]

The fact that Scott Wedgewood was still looked at as having any kind of potential at the time Blackwood was drafted is the funniest part about looking back on this.

Wedgewood hasn’t even had a good pro season by the time we drafted Blackwood. He was awful.

He has since put together a couple of good AHL seasons since, but his only extended NHL run was horrible.

 

[Blackjack]

There might be some hyperbole in the 255lb number, but...

Arnold: 6'1 and was prob in the area of 6-7% body fat.

Blackwood: 6'4 and likely in the typical hockey athlete range of around 12-14%?

At the same weight the 6% guy would have 15lbs more muscle than the 12% guy, which is an enormous amount.

They did mention in the broadcast last night that at one point Blackwood was up near 240.

right. I don’t doubt that he is a strong guy and has some genetics that let him get bigger and stronger than most. I’m skeptical about the way some of it was described.

The fact that Scott Wedgewood was still looked at as having any kind of potential at the time Blackwood was drafted is the funniest part about looking back on this.

Wedgewood hasn’t even had a good pro season by the time we drafted Blackwood. He was awful.

He has since put together a couple of good AHL seasons since, but his only extended NHL run was horrible.

how many other teams do you think Arizona called before they gave us a 5th round pick for him?

 

[Billdo]

i don’t know if you know what this gif is from but if so i’d like to give you a thumbs up and a knowing nod

I know it's 90 Day Fiance, but fill me in, I'm drawing a blank.