The bigger of the two saw the one-time Devils goaltender of the future end his future with the Devils as Mackenzie Blackwood was traded to the San Jose Sharks for a sixth-round pick in the upcoming draft.
New Jersey used their second-round draft pick in 2015 (forty-second overall) on Blackwood, who was the second goaltender drafted and the first North American netminder selected.
Blackwood played in twenty-two games for the Devils last season, finishing 10-6-2 with a GAA of 3.20 and a save percentage of .893.
This past season was the third season in a row that Blackwood allowed over three goals a game as Blackwood authored a disappointing end to a tenure that started well in New Jersey.
Blackwood's first two seasons were strong ones for a bad team with an even worse defense in front of him, as he won thirty-two games over those seasons, finishing at .500 in his rookie year and 22-14-8 in the second season, finishing both years with a GAA under three and save percentages of over ninety-one percent.
But Blackwood never seemed to recover following the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown as his game fell into a decline that he was unable to reverse.
Blackwood suffered from illness, injury, and battles over the Covid-19 vaccine as Blackwood first refused to take the vaccine, and after taking it, playing even worse.
Blackwood was a restricted free agent and when you consider that the Devils were unlikely to make a qualifying offer of over four million dollars for a third goaltender that has struggled for years, Tom Fitzgerald did well in getting a sixth-rounder, which isn't anything to leap into the air about but it is literally better than nothing.
New Jersey also made a minor trade with the Boston Bruins as the Devils added forward Shane Bowers from Boston for defenseman Reilly Walsh.
The best part of this trade is the two teams swapped two players from the 2017 draft and the two have each played one game in the NHL.
Bowers was the first-round pick of Ottawa in 2017 and played his only NHL game for Colorado last season.
Bowers spent the rest of the season playing in the American Hockey League for fifty-seven games split between Colorado and Providence, where he combined for eight goals and seventeen assists between the two teams.
Walsh was taken by New Jersey in the third round in 2017, and played his lone game for New Jersey in 2020-21, finishing with an assist.
Walsh played last season for the Utica Comets in the AHL, finishing with nine goals and thirty-two assists in seventy-one games.
Both players are likely to play for their teams' respective AHL affiliates with a possible emergency callup.
2 comments:
With his diminishing returns, numerous injuries and with Vitek/Akira holding down the net, it made no sense throw another $3M at him. He started out well, but never got any better. Basically his salary and Yegor's salary got us Toffoli. which if you are following the money, means Gravy is gone, Tatar and/or Wood would have to take a team friendly salary. I personally think it means Foote, Nemec, Clarke or Holtz make the team next season.
I agree.
Throwing millions of dollars at a player that hasn't played well for over three seasons wasn't going to happen, nor should it have happened.
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