New Jersey Devils: How Goaltending Became Lou Lamoriello’s Lasting Footprint

Despite being the architect behind the New Jersey Devils’ golden age, former General Manager Lou Lamoriello is equally responsible for the organization’s demise to becoming a non-perennial playoff contender since their 2012 postseason run. Between a slew of unsuccessful drafts, core players leaving via free agency or “retirement,” along with ineffective player acquisitions, Lamoriello set the organization back to the point where his successor Ray Shero inherited a sparse foundation to build upon.

Despite the team’s struggles this season, Shero has established a new identity to build the organization around that derived from his commitment to a youth movement and notable player acquisitions like Kyle Palmieri, Taylor Hall and Sami Vatanen. Many of Shero’s moves saw Lamoriello-era players thought to be long-term mainstays in the organization depart via trade, free agency or buyout. While Shero seems to have the organization on the right path, echoes from the Lamoriello era still prevail on the roster with veterans like Travis Zajac and Andy Greene, along with youngsters Blake Coleman, Miles Wood and Damon Severson. Although Lamoriello’s footprint is slowly fading, one part of the roster whose impacts on the team can be attributed to his doing—and likely will be for years to come—goaltending.

Yes, this is a particular section of the roster that has stifled the team’s success this season, with inconsistent play from Keith Kinkaid and the well-documented struggles of Cory Schneider.

New Jersey’s misfortunes in net and faulty health of Schneider prompted the organization to delve into their depth and call upon 2015 second-round pick Mackenzie Blackwood, who made his NHL debut this season. After getting his first NHL win on Thursday night, Blackwood has four starts this season, during which he’s gone 1-1-0, brandishing a 2.16 GAA and .939 save percentage.

Despite being a small sample, Blackwood’s NHL play has been refreshing and generated a lot of excitement among Devils fans, especially after his 40-save performance against a formidable Boston Bruins team on Thursday. While his AHL numbers (6-7-0, 2.69 GAA, .911 SV%) aren’t necessarily indicative of his overall playing quality, many Devils fans are hopeful (with some already proclaiming) Blackwood is poised to become the organization’s next established starter between the pipes.

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The former Barrie Colts net minder is set to start his second consecutive game this afternoon and while I won’t even entertain the notion of considering Blackwood a mainstay with the organization just yet, his acquisition and upbringing can be traced back to Lou Lamoriello.

Although Shero was the general manager who drafted Blackwood in 2015, he still worked with then-Director of Scouting David Conte, while Lamoriello was still team president at the time. Shero was hired that offseason early in May and had roughly six weeks to prepare for the draft, during which he more than likely used Conte’s scouting reports to determine his picks. While Shero ultimately had the final say, he was largely influenced by the Lamoriello-era scouting to make his selections that year such as Mackenzie Blackwood, with 2016 being the first draft where Shero’s picks had no ties to Lamoriello-era scouting.

In addition to Blackwood’s upbringing being one of Lamoriello’s lasting influences on the Devils organization, let’s also not forget it was Lou who also traded for Cory Schneider in 2013 before awarding him a seven-year extension the following summer, along with signing Keith Kinkaid as an undrafted free agent in 2011.

Kinkaid is an unrestricted free agent this summer whose future remains uncertain with the organization, while Schneider’s faulty play and health makes the prospect of a trade or buyout more conceivable, despite being under contract until 2021. Regardless of what happens moving forward, New Jersey’s current and long-term options in net were put in place by Lamoriello. Considering how goaltending was always a mainstay during his time in New Jersey (despite it primarily revolving around one player), it seems especially fitting that one of the ways Lamoriello set his former team up prior to his departure was to leave them with long-term options in net.