The New Jersey Devils were bad last year because of three things. The power play was the worst in the league. It was so bad. With the offensive talent this team has and breakout seasons by Jesper Bratt and Yegor Sharangovich, it shouldn’t have been nearly that bad. Yet, it was and it strictly caused the loss of multiple games. Then, there was the coaching. Lindy Ruff has his issues, but his supporting cast was clearly incredibly flawed. This season, he replaced nearly everyone, and that’s going to fix that issue exclusively. Then, there’s the goalie issue.
The Devils used seven goalies last season. Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier were supposed to save the Devils at that position, but they couldn’t stay healthy. Scott Wedgewood was mistakenly put on waivers. Nico Daws and Akira Schmid were way too early in their careers to be thrown to the wolves like that. Andrew Hammond and Jon Gillies were clearly not the answer, and they came too late anyway.
This offseason, many expected the Devils to go big to fix the goalie situation. They were tied to Jack Campbell heavily, but a five-year commitment to that seemed too rich, and he went to the Edmonton Oilers. Darcy Kuemper was a great free agent option, but again, he took a long commitment from the Washington Capitals.
Instead, the Devils decided it was best to give Mackenzie Blackwood one more chance to take the starter’s net, and they are giving the same chance to former Caps goalie Vitek Vanecek. These two are not the players most expected to be the ones getting the chances, but here we are.
The real question now is; did the Devils actually fix the position sufficiently? Obviously, we won’t know that answer until a year from now. Did they at least do the best they could?
The goalie market was weird this offseason. The Toronto Maple Leafs went all in on *checks notes* Matt Murray? Meanwhile, the Vegas Golden Knights are scrambling because they just found out that Robin Lehner is out for the season. The Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup with Darcy Kuemper then replaced him with *again checks notes* Alexander Georgiev? The top teams in the league made some bizarre moves at the position, and the Devils seemed to follow suit.
However, Vanecek seems to be a good bet. He feels like a better bet than Georgiev, Murray, and Logan Thompson. The Devils are just doing what some of the best teams in the league are doing. They are taking a chance on young goalies who have the chance to take a position that has mostly been random over the past 10 years.
This is a delicate situation with Devils fans. We were used to being the best goalie of all time between the crease for the better part of two decades. Now, after Cory Schneider’s short stint as one of the best in the league, fans have seen some of the worst goaltending in the NHL.
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Did the Devils do enough to rectify the situation? Only time will tell, but based on who was available, it seems like they did. A Vanecek-Blackwood pairing with a possible return of Bernier as a third option after he recovers from hip surgery seems better than what some other teams are taking a chance on. It’s still a risk, but unless injuries pile up early like they did last season, it can’t possibly go worse.