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New Jersey Devils: Mackenzie Blackwood Ruins The Tank

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - FEBRUARY 16: Mackenzie Blackwood #29 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates the win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Prudential Center on February 16, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey.The New Jersey Devils defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 in a shootout. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - FEBRUARY 16: Mackenzie Blackwood #29 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates the win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Prudential Center on February 16, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey.The New Jersey Devils defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 in a shootout. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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New Jersey Devils goaltender MackenzieBlackwood has been playing out of his mind as of late, winning his last five games in a row. He’s going to be the reason the team watches their draft pick fall, and that’s okay.

This stat has been making it’s round on New Jersey Devils social media, because it’s literally preposterous. Starting goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood is 20-12-7 on the season when he starts. The rest of the Devils goaltenders are 3-15-3. Yeah, the Devils have lost 18 of 21 games with the group of Cory Schneider, Louis Domingue and Gilles Senn.

Blackwood is playing at a playoff place, especially as of late. He stopped 36 of 37 shots against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night, and his save percentage somehow went down. He’s allowed five goals on 201 shots. This is an insane heater that Blackwood is on.

The Devils offense has been all about the tank. Of course, they are not actually trying to lose, but they’ve been quite bad. They went four straight periods without one high danger chance according to naturalstattrick.com. The Devils, on the other hand, allowed 12 total high-danger chances against.

Blackwood is by far the best thing about the Devils right now. It’s top of mind with the NHL Trade Deadline coming up that we decide who’s not going anywhere. Some disagree on the supporting pieces, but the three names that are consensus are Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes and Mackenzie Blackwood. Blackwood is now untouchable after proving he’s a legit NHL goalie. He may have an off game here and there, but he’s out of his mind right now.

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The latest performance by Blackwood puts him officially in the top 20 in save percentage on the season. His insane past five games, where again he’s stopped basically 39 out of every 40 shots, have rocketed him up the list. He now has a .915 save percentage, putting him in the same place as players like the Colorado Avalanche’s Philip Grubaeur and the Washington Capitals Ilya Samsonov.

Blackwood is winning a lot of these games by himself. Sure, the Devils did need goals from Jesper Bratt (coming off an inexplicable healthy scratch) and P.K. Subban, but Blackwood stopped chance after chance after chance. Without him, the Devils might lose this game 6-2.

This feels a lot like those Devils teams from Cory Schneider’s prime, where he would carry garbage can rosters to within like five points of the playoffs, but still not close enough for the Devils to ever make a discernible move at the trade deadline, whether to add or to sell. At least here, it’s clear the Devils are selling the farm and all the animals too.

This time, Blackwood is only going to impact one draft pick, albeit a very important one. The Devils don’t have their own 2nd- and 3rd-round pick. So, their 1st-round pick is all that is really getting impacted. However, throwing a few wins under the belt of Blackwood could have a major impact on this player far beyond this season.

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