New Jersey Devils Make Right Move Signing Scott Wedgewood

The New Jersey Devils have a backup goalie problem. They’ve tried for years to fix it within the system, but after buying out Cory Schneider last season, it seemed to finally get fixed when they signed Corey Crawford to a two-year deal. Pairing him with Mackenzie Blackwood gave them an elite duo that could actually have them competing every single night.

Then, Crawford retired before ever officially putting on a Devils jersey.

Luckily, the Devils also signed Scott Wedgewood. Obviously, Wedgewood was not as good as a former two-time Stanley Cup Champion, but he was more than serviceable on a team that just had a landfill’s worth of problems.

Wedgewood had some great performances last season. In his second game of the season, he shut out the New York Islanders. After three straight losses, he put up the best performance of the season stopping all 40 shots against the Boston Bruins. The Devils only scored once on the other side, so it was crucial for Wedgewood to catch every shot.

Wedgewood had a two-game stretch where he stopped 72 of 76 shots against the Islanders and Penguins. Wedgewood showed himself in most of the games, although they weren’t all pretty.

Wedgewood had a few just terrible performances that really sank his overall numbers. When you have two games where you allow four goals on 17 shots or less, that’s going to destroy your overall save percentage.

When looking at his total numbers, a .900 save percentage and a 3.11 goals-against average is nothing to go home about, but the Devils don’t plan to have Wedgewood as their second option. He signed a two-way deal for a reason. Wedgewood will help with Nico Daws and Akira Schmid in Utica while being the first option if the Devils suffer an injury. There was no way Schmid or Daws is close to NHL ready, so an injury would put the Devils in a really vulnerable spot. Wedgewood changes those fortunes.