Blackwood/Vanecek/We Really Need to Move On/Goalie Thread

[HBK27]

Fun fact - Blackwood has given up 2 goals or less in 5 of his past 6 games with the Devils!

 

[Bleedred]

Lindy Ruff 100% trying to get fired after this season

It'll happen before then if we're in danger of missing the playoffs and this slide doesn't end soon. Been saying that a lot lately. As a matter of fact, he's again the odds on favorite to be the first head coach fired this season, since nobody seems to be getting fired this year. And all the coaches that were on the hot seat have since taken themselves off. One really hot week of turning this around probably takes his odds down from 51% to 15% though.

And it might not be his fault, but playing Blackwood more than just as a sparsely used backup is definitely part of the coaches fault. If he knew what was good for him, he would keep him out of the nets as much as he can, no matter who made the call to bring him back up.

Schmid down after his play with us is bullshit. Mac doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt here.

Man, walking into this thread right now, it's really like walking into a room with 10 or 12 Bleedred's.

 

[Devs3cups]

Lindy Ruff 100% trying to get fired after this season

To be honest, that call probably came from upstairs. Mac won’r stay here long if he shits the bed.

 

[glenwo2]

Fun fact - Blackwood has given up 2 goals or less in 5 of his past 6 games with the Devils!

Well that changes everything!!

Let's of course ignore the past several seasons which is a larger sample size of what he actually is...*proceeds to sweep that under the rug*

 

[Bleedred]

Fun fact - Blackwood has given up 2 goals or less in 5 of his past 6 games with the Devils!

Blackwood's last 62 games in the NHL = .892%

Blackwood's 2 game conditioning stint in the AHL = .891%.

It's amazing how remarkably consistent this guy is.

Even with those games sprinkled into there that you referenced, he's still a DREADFUL .880% on the season.

He pretty much has enough bad games (or REALLY BAD GAMES to be more specific) that it washes out the good games.

 

[Bleedred]

Why does he have such a speed impediment this year? Where did that come from? I clearly don't remember that when he first came up to the NHL. I know he was missing some teeth last year, but it appears he's since gotten them replaced.

Pretty soon, someone will be trying to make this out to be some kind of an oral injury and his mouth is in so much pain at all times that he cannot concentrate on the ice without his mouth hurting, thus another reason for poor play.

 

[HBK27]

Blackwood's last 62 games in the NHL = .892%

Blackwood's 2 game conditioning stint in the AHL = .891%.

It's amazing how remarkably consistent this guy is.

Even with those games sprinkled into there that you referenced, he's still a DREADFUL .880% on the season.

He pretty much has enough bad games (or REALLY BAD GAMES to be more specific) that it washes out the good games.

Yeah, two really bad games this season. In the other 5 he's sporting a .920 SV%.

 

[Billdo]

I'm usually fine with most things a GM does but this is asinine.

 

[Bleedred]

This is why I predicted the Devils to miss the playoffs before the year started.

I had more belief in fire breathing dragons than Blackwood this year and knew he would play too many games.

And depending on how many games he plays, it'll start getting uncomfortable, unless he has a hotter streak than he's had since the first 5 games of the 20-21 season.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Ok now THIS is legit something to be worried about. Now is not the time to be experimenting with the guy who hasn’t shown he can maintain a save percentage over .900.

Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll come in hot and be a temporary spark for a team in a rut. But that’s a hell of a risky gamble.

 

[Bleedred]

Yeah, two really bad games this season. In the other 5 he's sporting a .920 SV%.

I can't f***ing believe we're doing this again. People were doing this in past years with Schneider and Kinkaid.

#Cherrypicking

#DataSnooping

This is yet another ''Oh.... If we take out the first 9 games, he's been a .920% in the last 20 games''. It even got to one point where it was like ''Well, if the last goal didn't happen, he would have been a .920% for this game instead of a .900%''.

This is why we have averages. It's not even exclusive to the goaltending position, as people have been pointing it out about Bratt A LOT lately. Bratt is not really a 40 point player or whatever he's on pace for the last 10 or 12 games. Just like Bratt is not really a 100+ point player like he was on pace for before that.

If a goalie has to actually have that good of play in between his terrible starts to be a .920% goaltender.... Well than he ain't a .920% goaltender.

 

[FinnishDevil]

Its quite remarkable that the team somehow managed to go on a heater (that obviously was unsustainable missing your best player) and only 5 game losing streak after missing our starter and team MVP Mackenzie.

This is the start of another heater. Has there ever been a team with two 13 game winning streaks in one season? Well look no further than the NJ Devils of 2022-23. The Captain Blackwood is back to right the ship.

i just hope he proves us all wrong cause im a devils fan and i want us to win games

 

[Bleedred]

I'm usually fine with most things a GM does but this is asinine.

I'm not sure if they're still really high on him and just hoping there's still something there, or if this is more about them being afraid of losing him on waivers and Schmid coming back and not sustaining his level of play to this point.

Which he probably won't, as .930% over a long stretch is very hard.

If they start giving him a bunch of games or close to half the starts, then I think that's pretty evident as to where they (or at least Ruff) stand with him.

 

[HBK27]

I can't f***ing believe we're doing this again. People were doing this in past years with Schneider and Kinkaid.

#Cherrypicking

#DataSnooping

This is yet another ''Oh.... If we take out the first 9 games, he's been a .920% in the last 20 games''. It even got to one point where it was like ''Well, if the last goal didn't happen, he would have been a .920% for this game instead of a .900%''.

This is why we have averages. It's not even exclusive to the goaltending position, as people have been pointing it out about Bratt A LOT lately. Bratt is not really a 40 point player or whatever he's on pace for the last 10 or 12 games. Just like Bratt is not really a 100+ point player like he was on pace for before that.

If a goalie has to actually have that good of play in between his terrible starts to be a .920% goaltender.... Well than he ain't a .920% goaltender.

LOL...I'm just having some fun. Not making any proclamations on how Blackwood is going to perform once he's back in the crease. Though seeing those stats, even as small as the sample size is, maybe there's a little bit of overreaction going on here.

Anyway, I'll be rooting like hell for the guy just like everyone else with a Devils jersey on. Not getting my expectations up or anything, but hoping he can at least provide competent goaltending. Having half the board melt down if he does well is just an added bonus!

 

[Devs3cups]

2022-2023:

Schmid: 8 GP, 5W, 3L, 1.96 GAA, .932 sv%

Mac: 7 GP, 4W, 2L, 2.79 GAA, .880 sv%

 

[Call Me Al]

one thing has nothing to do with the other.

no they don’t and i didn’t say they did. but they also have to manage assets. i don’t think the team has long term plans for blackwood, but they need to figure out what they’re doing this season. he may well be the spare part but if he’s competent they can get something in return and they need to figure that out.

if he doesn’t click right away, they are not going to keep him around because the goal is to make the playoffs not develop or help him - that wasn’t the case in previous seasons.

 

[Jets012]

No seriously am I missing something here? Why would we do this? There has to be something with their contracts or something. This decision could not seriously be made at this moment thinking it helps this team win.

 

[NJDevs26]

No seriously am I missing something here? Why would we do this? There has to be something with their contracts or something. This decision could not seriously be made at this moment thinking it helps this team win.

One guy is getting paid $3 million and eligible for waivers, the other is on a two way deal and ineligible for waivers, it really isn’t more complicated than that. Schmid has time and will get more playing time in Utica.

The real travesty will be if they immediately go back to a platoon or making Blackwood the 1A after Vitek’s next meh game. The fact that Blackwood got to play through a three game winning streak while Vitek sat two games in a row after his first three game winning streak was bad enough.

 

[Bleedred]

One guy is getting paid $3 million and eligible for waivers, the other is on a two way deal and ineligible for waivers, it really isn’t more complicated than that. Schmid has time and will get more playing time in Utica.

The real travesty will be if they immediately go back to a platoon or making Blackwood the 1A after Vitek’s next meh game. The fact that Blackwood got to play through a three game winning streak while Vitek sat two games in a row after his first three game winning streak was bad enough.

I’m not convinced that the organization (neither in management nor the coaching staff) is yet aware that Blackwood is not the best goalie in the organization, let alone that he’s probably the worst goalie in the NHL. That’s the scary part.

 

[HBK27]

No seriously am I missing something here? Why would we do this? There has to be something with their contracts or something. This decision could not seriously be made at this moment thinking it helps this team win.

We went thru 7 goalies last season. I don't think they want to risk losing Blackwood on waivers just yet, especially with Daws struggling this season and Schmid starting to come back down to earth.

I also don't think the team necessarily views Blackwood's season being as bad as many on this board do. Again, small sample size and I know his prior 2 seasons haven't been good, but I don't think it's a clear cut decision to just waive him now.

I imagine they'll have a short leash, but I think he still deserves a game or two before any rash decisions like waiving him are made.

 

[HBK27]

I’m not convinced that the organization (neither in management nor the coaching staff) is yet aware that Blackwood is not the best goalie in the organization, let alone that he’s probably the worst goalie in the NHL. That’s the scary part.

And what would be your theory as to why these supposed experts throughout the organization are so blind to this?

 

[JrFischer54]

2022-2023:

Schmid: 8 GP, 5W, 3L, 1.96 GAA, .932 sv%

Mac: 7 GP, 4W, 2L, 2.79 GAA, .880 sv%

View attachment 623928

same thing happened with clemmer when marty went down

 

[Bleedred]

I'm sure he will play in some of the games, because nobody is bad EVERY game or even every stretch of games

And I'm sure his good games will buy him more starts and benefit of the doubt when he starts sucking.

Just like the aforementioned 3 game winning streak when Vanecek had to sit and Blackwood getting the very next game after that Vancouver game as well.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I'd do what the team is doing. I fully expect he'll get blown up at some point and the team will decide it's time to move on but until that happens, let him try to establish he can handle being an NHL backup.

 

[Bleedred]

And what would be your theory as to why these supposed experts throughout the organization are so blind to this?

Because of his hot 3 months in 19-20, the fact that he's a homegrown pick and they probably feel he has some sort of a ceiling, but that's really diminished in his last 2 years of play.

Like I mentioned on one of these pages the other night, Blackwood's last two years in the AHL he was a combined .890% over 52 games in the AHL. That was long before last year's injuries or covid or any of that.

Right in the middle, he had like 70+ games of .916% or .918% goaltending at the NHL level, before plummeting these last 62 games.

Is it possible that maybe he's just much closer to his last 2 years in the AHL and his last two years in the NHL than those two years where he was good at the NHL level? Isn't that possible?

It's really looking like that.

His play in 18-19 and 19-20 is looking more like McLeod's 9 goal in 40-something games in 20-21 than anything. Where that was the exception and not the rule and he's since had multiple 38 game goal droughts and three 25 game goal droughts.