New Jersey Devils: 3 Options At Goaltender Behind Mackenzie Blackwood
By Nick Villano
3. Nico Daws/Gilles Senn
Accelerating goalies is never a good look, but Blackwood showed that it’s not the end all be all on development. Blackwood was not good in his first year in the AHL, but he bounced back to be a legit starting goalie in the NHL just one year later. The Devils selected overage goalie Nico Daws in the 3rd round of the NHL Draft last year. He was one of the best goalies in juniors, and he has a lot of talent to bring to the table.
The Devils haven’t signed Daws to his entry-level contract yet, but that’s coming. Daws usually wouldn’t be able to play for the Binghamton/Newark Devils this season, but this is not a normal season.
Daws signed a contract with ERC Ingolstadt of the German league while he waits out what’s happening in the OHL. There’s a chance that the league will allow players to sign with their NHL teams and play in the NHL, which hasn’t been allowed in seasons prior.
Daws might want to play out his season in Germany, the country where Daws was born. It might be a cool experience he never gets again before playing the rest of his career in North America. However, if the Devils come calling with a legit NHL/AHL contract, that will be hard for him to ignore. The Devils are desperate, so they could look to Daws to come start in the AHL and they could bring up Gilles Senn to play backup to Blackwood.
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The Devils are in a bad position in terms of their roster with the absence of Corey Crawford. None of these moves would be as good as getting him back in the fold. However, the situation is not as dire as it appears on the surface. The Devils have options and some that could be decent in helping them actually win games this season.