Around the NHL 2024-25 regular season Part II

[theoptimist]

Politics/Vax saga should be a non-factor really.

People who hope he fails because of his views are miserable.

Vaccines are apolitical, really. Athletes were ineligible to play across many major leagues if they were unvaccinated. Glad the NHL followed suit. I wish Blackwood well.

 

[Hisch13r]

Yes, but we are also playing much much better defensively and he isn't getting tested as much relative to other goaltenders. Markstrom isn't suddenly a .950 goaltender. His career average is about 0.910%, right now he's playing at a much better rate and this should be attributed mostly to the team playing in front of him.


Politics/Vax saga should be a non-factor really.

People who hope he fails because of his views are miserable.

Nah f*** that guy.

 

[Saugus]

Good for Blackwood, but I have no idea how that ages well for the Avs. He’s a head case, can never stay healthy, and is wildly inconsistent even when he is playing.

Here’s how the contract breaks down: $5 M for his torso and appendages, and about 20 cents for his head.

 

[JimEIV]

You'll see Blackwood's numbers be the highest in his career with Colorado.

I'm still not sure why people pretend goaltender numbers are individual and not totally team dependent, which they are

Every single situation a goaltender sees is the direct result of the skaters in front of him. People are going to make believe that blackwood got "better" when his wins and save percentage go through the roof. When the reality will be only the players in front of him got better

 

[NJDfan86]

Yes, Colorado is famous for turning goaltenders into legit studs recently. Can’t wait to see Blackwood join the list of the rehabilitated.

Needed to add /s i suppose

 

[MadDevil]

The Avs won a Cup with Darcy Kuemper, so if, and it's a major if, Blackwood stays healthy they'll probably be okay.

 

[Bleedred]

HOLY f*** AT THAT CONTRACT! WHAT THE f***?

I can't believe Colorado would sign him to a 5 year deal or for that type of money. Maybe one or the other.

And he only got there a minute ago. Maybe the Daccord thing started a domino effect. He just got a similar contract after only playing one full year in the league, which came when he was like 27 years old? Blackwood could have been like ''I've had more good seasons in the league (because he's been in the league quite a bit longer) than Daccord has, so gimme something like he got!''.

Now the Oilers are probably gonna f*** themselves paying humpty ass bum Skinner a similar extension.

 

[AZviaNJ]

This seems egregiously high

Especially the term.

 

[Goptor]

Blackwood was good here the few times he was fully healthy. Hopefully he can remain healthy and have a long career.

He's out in the west now. Nothing he does will have much effect on NJ.

 

[Bleedred]

Yes, Colorado is famous for turning goaltenders into legit studs recently. Can’t wait to see Blackwood join the list of the rehabilitated.

Eh, that's really not true.

I used to think it might have been true, maybe it is to an extent, but it only lasted for one year for Georgiev. He had that career year there before he went back to being the Georgiev we all saw with the Rangers, who wasn't very good.

And remember, Grubauer was fine before he got to Colorado. It's not like they turned him into a good goaltender. He just sucked after he left and fell off a cliff at a fairly young age.

 

[Hisch13r]

Yzerman got shit for the Walman move but I really don’t think he got nearly enough. On principle it’s one of the dumbest moves we’ve seen in a while

 

[JimEIV]

Blackwood was good here the few times he was fully healthy. Hopefully he can remain healthy and have a long career.

He's out in the west now. Nothing he does will have much effect on NJ.

Unless we see him in the finals

 

[Hisch13r]

Eh, that's really not true.

I used to think it might have been true, maybe it is to an extent, but it only lasted for one year for Georgiev. He had that career year there before he went back to being the Georgiev we all saw with the Rangers, who wasn't very good.

And remember, Grubauer was fine before he got to Colorado. It's not like they turned him into a good goaltender. He just sucked after he left and fell off a cliff at a fairly young age.

Kuemper was also great in Arizona before he got to Colorado

 

[Bleedred]

I don't care about the vax stuff. I didn't get any vaccinations for covid or flu shots or really anything. So I'm in absolutely no position to judge on that. It wasn't for political reasons. At the time the vaccines became available, I was completely and utterly depressed and was lucky to be able to feed my dog, take a shower and brush my teeth twice a day. Sometimes I probably wouldn't take a shower every day and brush only once, but it's really hard to skip a day of showering in Florida for about 8-9 months of the year. So I definitely wasn't going to a doctor's office or pharmacy to get it done at that point. I probably wouldn't have gone to the doctor if I was shitting blood at that point, I didn't give a f*** about much back then. By the time the depression got lifted we were kind of coming out the pandemic stage. I may have gotten the first two shots, but wouldn't have gotten boosters or annual shots.

So nothing political for me. He was just pretty terrible after the first two years here. And it wasn't just in the NHL, he stunk in the AHL too.

He's having a good season this year (he was just merely okay last year), which would be his first since 19-20. It's probably easier to play behind the Avs than it was for us when he was here, and it's certainly easier to play behind them than the Sharks. So I think he'll finish the season well, but I don't think he's gonna become anything particularly good or be consistently good year in and year out. But the goalie coach effect could come into play. He played well here for the NHL team when there was a good goalie coach, but he didn't play well in the AHL.

I'm very grateful he blew up in that Washington game that was the season finale in 22-23. Because we're not winning that Rangers series with the Vitek/Blackwood combo. No way in hell. And if he didn't blow up in that game then Schmid wouldn't have been on the playoff roster.

 

[Bleedred]

It is funny that the Avs have now given out two pretty questionable contracts to former Devils in the last 1.5 years.

The Miles Wood contract really raised a lot of eyebrows when that came out. It still wasn't the worst contract of 2023 UFA. That went to Korpisalo for 5 years and $4 million from Dorion.

I feel like this Blackwood contract is kind of similar to that one. A goalie getting paid after the first good year in so many years. Korpisalo had more bad years than Blackwood, but he's been playing in the league a lot longer than Blackwood has.

The Avs of 21-22 could have potentially blown through the league with a Blackwood caliber goalie. The Kuemper/Francouz combo in the 2022 playoffs was even worse than the 2009 Fleury run or the 2010 Niemi run that often gets talked about as weakest goalie play for a cup winning team.

Kuemper was good in the regular season that year though. And he was good from the time he got to Arizona up until last year, but he's old and an injury case now, which he was a injury case even before he got to Colorado, but he was good when he was on the ice.

First reply to this on the mainboard thread was a comparison to the extension the Oilers gave Koskinen during his first year lol. The one Chiarelli gave like a day or two before he was fired. Other than Koskinen being like 30 years old and virtually having no NHL experience prior to that year other than a cup of coffee almost 10 years before that, it does seem a little similar. Koskinen only got 3 years I think to Blackwood's 5.

 

[Bleedred]

Yzerman got shit for the Walman move but I really don’t think he got nearly enough. On principle it’s one of the dumbest moves we’ve seen in a while

Yzerman and dumb seem to be two things that go hand in hand.

But I heard if you say that in certain parts of Canada or Detroit, it's punishable by firing squad or at the very least a night in the drunk tank, with fines and a later court date.

 

[IDEKWTM]

Being injured doesn't matter. If he is injured, his cap won't count.

We have seen teams get rid of bad contracts all the time.

 

[Devils731]

Being injured doesn't matter. If he is injured, his cap won't count.

We have seen teams get rid of bad contracts all the time.

To quibble, the cap does continue counting, you can just exceed your cap by the amount your LTIR injury relief provides.

I know it’s a quibble but it can be an important one when it comes to a cap situation.

 

[NJDfan86]

Eh, that's really not true.

I used to think it might have been true, maybe it is to an extent, but it only lasted for one year for Georgiev. He had that career year there before he went back to being the Georgiev we all saw with the Rangers, who wasn't very good.

And remember, Grubauer was fine before he got to Colorado. It's not like they turned him into a good goaltender. He just sucked after he left and fell off a cliff at a fairly young age.

I was joking

Being injured doesn't matter. If he is injured, his cap won't count.

We have seen teams get rid of bad contracts all the time.

Except - they need to replace an injured player, both on the ice and from cap hits. His injury history is hugely relevant to how this contract works out.

 

[NjDevsRR]

HOLY f*** AT THAT CONTRACT! WHAT THE f***?

I can't believe Colorado would sign him to a 5 year deal or for that type of money. Maybe one or the other.

And he only got there a minute ago. Maybe the Daccord thing started a domino effect. He just got a similar contract after only playing one full year in the league, which came when he was like 27 years old? Blackwood could have been like ''I've had more good seasons in the league (because he's been in the league quite a bit longer) than Daccord has, so gimme something like he got!''.

Now the Oilers are probably gonna f*** themselves paying humpty ass bum Skinner a similar extension.

When healthy hes an average goalie. At his age, thats an appropriate contract . Just the reality of todays NHL goaltending

 

[Guttersniped]

Blackwood was good here the few times he was fully healthy. Hopefully he can remain healthy and have a long career.

He's out in the west now. Nothing he does will have much effect on NJ.

Yeah, this contract is solid if MBW mostly stays healthy.

Blackwood’s string of injuries were comically lengthy in NJ but he never had a one particular, recurring issue pop up over and over. So that helps.

He’s been concussed a couple times but he’s far from Matt Murray territory as of now. (Murray’s concussion history is hair-raising.)

 

[Bleedred]

When healthy hes an average goalie. At his age, thats an appropriate contract . Just the reality of todays NHL goaltending

I don't think it's appropriate at all. Not enough enough good years, at least not recently to get that kind of contract.

Same thing with Korpisalo and same thing with Daccord.

Very high risk.

Though Korpisalo was UFA. Blackwood and Daccord were not.

If Blackwood is worth this contract, goalies might not be affordable at all. I supposed it will correct itself soon enough, but this and Daccord will be inflating goalie prices at least in the short term.

 

[Guttersniped]

Being injured doesn't matter. If he is injured, his cap won't count.

We have seen teams get rid of bad contracts all the time.

The cap is more complicated than that plus someone has to play goal every game.

It’s bad when a goalie both misses a sizable number of games and plays worse due to injury. You need a back-up who can be a spot starter and 3rd goalie who can play in the NHL.

They’re counting on him being healthier, like he was in SJ. Limited options available at starting goalie.

 

[MasterofGrond]

“If X does this thing he’s never done, it’s a fair deal” is not a thing you say about good deals.

I’ll eat crow on this one if the need arises, and he manages it, but I just don’t understand the thought process. What has he done to justify 5x5.25? Who else is putting that on the table even if he ends the year strong? Why do you need to lock up a guy who is a career jobber 4 games into his tenure with your team?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Being injured doesn't matter. If he is injured, his cap won't count.

We have seen teams get rid of bad contracts all the time.

talking about getting out of a contract before that contract even starts sure is a vote of confidence in said player!