Pucks and Pitchforks
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5 New Jersey Devils Who Can Win Awards This Season

By Nick Villano

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 21: Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers poses with the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award after the 2017 NHL Awards and Expansion Draft at T-Mobile Arena on June 21, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 21: Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers poses with the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award after the 2017 NHL Awards and Expansion Draft at T-Mobile Arena on June 21, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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New Jersey Devils
Mackenzie Blackwood #29 of the New Jersey Devils (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Mackenzie Blackwood – Vezina Trophy

The Devils might play Mackenzie Blackwood 50 games this season with the absence of Corey Crawford. As of this writing, the only goalies behind Blackwood are Gilles Senn, Evan Cormier, Scott Wedgewood, and Jeremy Brodeur. That’s in the entire organization. Only Senn has any NHL games last season, and they were emergency situations.

Blackwood is going to take the brunt of the load in a shortened season. He’s already been building a legacy the last two seasons, but inconsistency has hurt his overall numbers. His .916 save percentage ranked 20th in the league. He was better than a lot of the goalies above him, but his .871 save percentage in a disastrous October tanked his numbers. If Blackwood didn’t play in October, he’s closer to 12th in the league.

Many nights, Blackwood was the only reason the Devils were winning games. In February, he didn’t have a single game where he allowed more than 10 percent of his shots past him. This included two shutouts. He also went 6-0-1 in February, which if you remember was the month the Devils started trading anyone and everyone.

If the Devils are even in remote contention, it’s going to be thanks to Blackwood. He would have to put up numbers similar to Connor Helleybuck. That led to him winning the Vezina for a pretty bad Winnipeg Jets team. Blackwood could get similar respect from voters for carrying an arguably worse Devils team.

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