New Jersey Devils: Mackenzie Blackwood Fights Carter Hart At Worlds
The New Jersey Devils will have another goalie represent them at the IIHF World Championships, this time for Team Canada. However, Mackenzie Blackwood has some serious competition for the net.
The New Jersey Devils’ goalies seemed to be in a rough spot in the first half of the 2018-19 season. Now things are better. Cory Schneider is back healthy, and they seem to have a new guy waiting in the wings in Mackenzie Blackwood. We learned early on Thursday that Schneider will be representing the Devils for Team USA at the IIHF World Championships.
Later on, new Philadelphia Flyers coach Alain Vigneault announced that Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood will be a part of Team Canada’s roster. He will battle with Flyers goalie Carter Hart for the starting job. Most would assume Hart has the edge because his new coach is the coach for Canada at this tournament, but after being the top goalie prospect for the better part of two years, it is nice to see our guy in the same conversation as him. Blackwood will certainly have to opportunity to earn the job just by playing better.
Hockey Canada sees how good Blackwood was for the Devils this season and is rewarding him for his efforts. There is a chance that they add a veteran to the squad as someone might become available after the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but there is a good chance that this is Blackwood vs Hart. This is a duel for Canada’s net that will also be a duel within the Metropolitan Division for a very long time.
Hart will likely face Blackwood in Devils vs Flyers matchups plenty of times. Blackwood and the Devils defeated Hart and the Flyers the only time they ever went head to head by a final score of 3-2.
None of that matters now as they will look to build each other up for the betterment of the team. The fact that these two are being mentioned in the same breath is actually incredible based on their projections at the beginning of the year. There will be some great Hart vs Blackwood moments for years and this is just the beginning.
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The Devils now have both of their goalies going to the tournament hoping to see them gain some confidence and play well. Then they can finish their summers and get back to camp feeling about their games. This Devils team has some exciting things surrounding it right now. They will need their goalies playing well in order to make something of it. This is a great step.