The New Jersey Devils announced that goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood sprained his MCL when he went cross-crease to finish a save against the Edmonton Oilers. It looked like it could have been any lower-body injury, but it turns out he hurt his left knee. After last year’s spout with injuries, it’s not exactly positive that Blackwood is back on the shelf.
However, the Devils avoided the worst-case scenario. Blackwood could have torn his ACL or completely torn his MCL. That likely costs him his season. Instead, the Devils are looking at upwards of a month or more without their opening night starter.
MacKenzie Blackwood just left the game after this awkward moment as he slided to make a save #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/KqursD6GJ1
— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) November 4, 2022
In Blackwood’s absence, the Devils will lean heavily on Vitek Vanecek. He’s been quite good as of late, helping the Devils stave off the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames in back-to-back matchups. In seven games this season, Vanecek only has one loss. His .908 save percentage is nothing to go home about, but if you take out his first game in a Devils uniform, where he allowed five to Detroit, he would have a .933 save percentage.
So, the Devils are in pretty good shape with Vanecek for now. The backup position is another issue. The Devils called up Akira Schmid to replace Blackwood. He’s been good in the AHL, with a .918 save percentage in four games for the Utica Comets. That’s all well and good, but Schmid was terrible in the NHL last season. So, until we see something different, it’s hard to put too much faith in him.
The Devils have a pretty simple schedule for the next two weeks. They play on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday each week. There is no back-to-back. Neither week has four games. Each week has both Sunday and Monday off. The week after is American Thanksgiving, which throws the schedule off a little. They have a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday. After that, the Devils go another two weeks before their next back-to-back situation.
By then, there’s a wild card scenario. Jonathan Bernier might be back in the fold. The Devils can slow-play Blackwood’s return if Bernier returns right after Thanksgiving. This allows them to take their time if Schmid isn’t ready and Nico Daws isn’t an option.
This is why we won’t see Blackwood throughout the holiday season. They needed him to be healthy literally right now. Unfortunately, he’s not healthy. He got hurt again, and now the Devils must figure it out for a few weeks. A sprained MCL takes a minimum of four weeks to heel. To full heel, it’s probably closer to six to eight weeks. The Devils need to let Blackwood fully heel. He is more important to them in the second half of the season than he will be at the beginning of December. Blackwood will miss the holidays, but the best possible present is a healthy knee for January and beyond.
To be clear, this isn’t a news post. This is a prediction. It’s very possible that the Devils bring Blackwood back the second his body allows. That might be before Cyber Monday, depending on the severity of the injury.