New Jersey Devils Potential Value Part One: The Crease
Welcome to New Jersey Devils Potential Value: A Six-Part Series
This series will take a look into the value every single possible NHL roster player can bring to the New Jersey Devils this upcoming season and the future. We have a lot to be excited about in the Garden State with all the additions that our management has made this offseason. Some familiar faces have left and new ones have arrived. After taking some time to wrap our head around the latest move (Go Goose!), it seems as that may be it for this offseason.
Let’s begin this six-part series with the most important position on the ice, goaltender. The one position that the New Jersey Devils did not adjust this offseason on the NHL Roster, although there was turnover in Binghamton and below. The Devils are expected to go into the regular season with a platoon of Cory Schneider and MacKenzie Blackwood as 1A and 1B options respectively. We’ll take a look into the value we can derive from each these players based on factors such as their contract, age, and more.
We are going to set these values on a scale of 1 to 10. Obviously, 1 is the least. Let’s start with Goaltender 1A, Cory Schneider.
Cory Schneider
Value: 6/10
The now 33-year old netminder is coming towards the end of his career as it seems. With three more years on his deal at a $6 Million AAV, he is being paid as an elite goalie, in the same breath as John Gibson, Braden Holtby, and is being paid more than Pekka Rinne and Fredrick Anderson. I just listed arguably 4 of the top 8 goalies in the league.
That is a lot of cap hit to live up to. In the first few years as a Devil, Schneider earned his paycheck, but the past three years have been a different story. Most of his past season was his worst so far as a netminder in the NHL. A save percentage of 0.903 and a GAA of 3.06 will not cut it anymore.
On the flip side, he ended the season strong and played decent at the Men’s World Championships (for a superstar team). He may be able to find his form as he did in the playoffs in 2017-2018 against Tamba Bay (as short-lived as that was). Although, he will not live up to his contract anymore, he may still provide decent value for our team as an above-average netminder and a mentor for our young and exciting 1B, MacKenzie Blackwood.
MacKenzie Blackwood
Value: 9.2/10
The goaltending position has a bright future for the New Jersey Devils. The new MB29 (Brodeur wore it when his career began) put his full potential on display this past season.
As a 22 year old, he put up a 2.61 GAA and a .918 SV%. Those are above average number for a goaltender in their prime. There were also a few games that spiked his numbers such as the nine-goal pounding he received from Calgary.
When you take into account the AHL team he had playing in front of him for most of the season, you can project him to perform even better this season with the development and additions of our back end as well as his development. Don’t be surprised if he is the 1A by the end of the season.
Conclusion
All in all, the present is still murky for the goaltender position on the New Jersey Devils, but the future is bright. The netminders should perform better than last season due to the improvements our magician of a leader, Ray Shero, and our amazing player development team have made and will make to our roster such as PK Subban, Ty Smith, Jack Hughes, Taylor Hall (from injury) to keep the puck in the offensive end.
Next. Should Devils Go After Kevin Shattenkirk?. dark
It will be a fun season to watch and make sure to pay a close eye to the developments in the crease. That’s it for Part One. Make sure to keep an eye out over the weekend for Part 2 of the series where we will look at the left side of our defense corps.