New Jersey Devils: MacKenzie Blackwood Needs To Turn Career Around
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils demoted goalie prospect MacKenzie Blackwood to the ECHL. His terrible season looks to turnaround after leaving Binghamton.
The New Jersey Devils top goalie prospect MacKenzie Blackwood is having an awful season. With the Binghamton Devils, he posted a 4-10-3-1 record with a .868 save percentage.
This is even more disappoint with how well he ended last season. In 36 games with Albany last season, he drove up his save percentage to .907, and was even better in the short playoff stint with a .928 save percentage in four games.
The B-Devils are terrible in the first season in a new city. They stand in last place in the AHL with a .391 point percentage. Much of what has been wrong with the B-Devils has been in net.
The Devils did what they can to fix some of their issues, trading defenseman Dalton Prout for goalie Eddie Lack. Bringing some NHL experience to the minors could help turn their season around.
As for Blackwood, he’s heading to the Adirondack Thunder. He will look to turn his career around. He’s just 21 years old, so there is still time to make something of the former second-round pick. However, more games where he can’t find his game could kill a goalie’s potential forever.
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Blackwood was the top rated North American goalie prospect in the 2015 draft. He was a great butterfly goalie who showed great promise with the glove and the blocker. At one point, his greatest asset was staying cool in all situations. Now, it seems like he can’t stop shots when it matters most.
This move to the Thunder is the most important of Blackwood’s career. The Devils already have two other goalie prospects in Giles Senn and Evan Cormier. If Blackwood can’t turn it around, it won’t take the Devils long to move on. Losing Blackwood’s ability would be a hard pill to swallow, but with Cory Schneider signed through 2022, it’s not like the Devils need him to develop now. The Devils need Blackwood in the future, but could easily find production elsewhere if it doesn’t work out. This is more about Blackwood than it is about the Devils.