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

[Guttersniped]

Of course I did, I predicted it a few posts back…I’m just making light of the people who said Blackwood was only gonna be a backup

It a goalie tandem, Ruff will go with the hot hand more but likely can’t play either guy too much.

Blackwood is coming off an injury, I don’t see him playing a crazy schedule even if he gets rolling but that’s a great problem to have.

Ruff doesn’t have weird hang-ups about any of these goalies, unlike this board, so the “back-up” talk is meaningless. If Blackwood is winning he’ll play more, that’s how tandems work.

 

[Bleedred]

 

[Blender]

I never want to see Blackwood start again. Call Schmid back up, he was having a great season.

 

[Bleedred]

He just gets worse and worse. I guess in his last AHL season he got a bit better going from an .882% to a .902% (still below average), but he's continuously gotten worse since 20-21.

He had some decent stretches later in 20-21 after imploding pretty early in that season from his hot start. He had at least a brief decent start (like the first handful of games) even to start 21-22.

But I don't think he's any better since returning from his 3 month injury last year than he was for the month/month and a half before that.

He's been a CONSISTENT .878% goalie since December of last year. That's 26 games of .878% at this point.

He's barely playing any better now than he was when he was in pain every night playing on a bad foot last year.

 

[Bleedred]

And it's too early to panic on Vitek. He's having the worst calendar month of his career right now (that could end with a couple of strong games to end the month), but November was also the BEST CALENDAR MONTH OF HIS CAREER so far.

 

[glenwo2]

And it's too early to panic on Vitek. He's having the worst calendar month of his career right now (that could end with a couple of strong games to end the month), but November was also the BEST CALENDAR MONTH OF HIS CAREER so far.

Whose panicking?

I have more Vitek during his struggles than I do with Blackwood 'cause I know that Vitek will come out of those struggles.

Blackwood never does.

 

[Bleedred]

Whose panicking?

I have more Vitek during his struggles than I do with Blackwood 'cause I know that Vitek will come out of those struggles.

Blackwood never does.

A very select few who were anxiously awaiting Blackwood's return, due to Vanecek having an .8-whatever over the last 6 or 7 games he's played.

Especially after that Carolina game.

 

[glenwo2]

A very select few who were anxiously awaiting Blackwood's return, due to Vanecek having an .8-whatever over the last 6 or 7 games he's played.

Especially after that Carolina game.

I can't believe I forgot to add the word "confidence" in my post.

Just noticed it.

YOU SEE WHAT BLACKWOOD IS DOING TO ME?

IT'S ALL HIS FAULT! lol

 

[My3Sons]

A very select few who were anxiously awaiting Blackwood's return, due to Vanecek having an .8-whatever over the last 6 or 7 games he's played.

Especially after that Carolina game.

Let’s face it. Most of us were only anxiously awaiting Blackwood’s return in anticipation of what you had to say about it. Your videos and voice over did not disappoint.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

I think you have to treat Blackwood as a pure no.2 going forward.

He can’t play multiple games in a row consistently.

Even if he gets a shutout in his next start, the trust is gone for him to have another strong consecutive game. I think you only play him in back to backs to give Vtec a rest.

 

[Guadana]

I don`t know what to say. Devils is the second best team in SA\GP. I will sleep when he will start on the net.

 

[Bleedred]

View attachment 626446View attachment 626447

I don`t know what to say. Devils is the second best team in SA\GP. I will sleep when he will start on the net.

And that's just this year.

I'm sure he's right in the same spot if you combined the last three seasons.....

View attachment 626446View attachment 626447

I don`t know what to say. Devils is the second best team in SA\GP. I will sleep when he will start on the net.

And that's just this year.

I'm sure he's right in the same spot if you combined the last three seasons.....

 

[MauDevils]

Merry Christmas to everyone but Mackenzie Blackwood.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Things to consider here. Blackwood played well his last game out. Vitek did not. Also as Triumph noted Blackwood has been good in his career vs Boston So there was some logic to Blackwood getting that game.

To me the question is Blackwood or Schmid. And in that front there are waiver considerations. At some point, maybe pretty soon, we may risk putting Blackwood through waivers and go with Schmid. But I can see why they are reluctant to do that now.

Pretty sober response. Though in reality @guitarguyvic lost me when he referred to Blackwood as "an AHL goalie" ( ignoring the fact that for much of his career the team in front of him was horrible regardless of who was in net).

Not sure what motivates the hate-your-own crowd on these boards.

Maybe it's a Jersey thing.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

I highly doubt vitek is the guy long term either but he’s much better than Blackwood, that’s not even debatable.

Except that when healthy Mackenzie has twice had seasons with save percentages over .915 (once winning 22 games for a team that had 28 wins all season). Vitek has yet to be over .908 for a season despite playing for a consistent playoff team and was deemed expendable by that team.

Despite your disdain for the guy, it would seem those who are in hockey as a profession have a bigger opinion of Blackwood.

 

[Bleedred]

Except that when healthy Mackenzie has twice had seasons with save percentages over .915 (once winning 22 games for a team that had 28 wins all season). Vitek has yet to be over .908 for a season despite playing for a consistent playoff team and was deemed expendable by that team.

Despite your disdain for the guy, it would seem those who are in hockey as a profession have a bigger opinion of Blackwood.

That was 3-4 years ago now.

And what’s the excuse now? He’s still injured? Still enough reason to cut bait. How many years we gonna wait for him to get healthy?

And how about his mediocre AHL career which was before his good NHL seasons? Maybe the fact is that he just isn’t good? Maybe?

 

[Azathoth]

Pretty sober response. Though in reality @guitarguyvic lost me when he referred to Blackwood as "an AHL goalie" ( ignoring the fact that for much of his career the team in front of him was horrible regardless of who was in net).

Not sure what motivates the hate-your-own crowd on these boards.

Maybe it's a Jersey thing.

Say something nice about Jesper Bratt.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Pretty sober response. Though in reality @guitarguyvic lost me when he referred to Blackwood as "an AHL goalie" ( ignoring the fact that for much of his career the team in front of him was horrible regardless of who was in net).

Not sure what motivates the hate-your-own crowd on these boards.

Maybe it's a Jersey thing.

Except that when healthy Mackenzie has twice had seasons with save percentages over .915 (once winning 22 games for a team that had 28 wins all season). Vitek has yet to be over .908 for a season despite playing for a consistent playoff team and was deemed expendable by that team.

Despite your disdain for the guy, it would seem those who are in hockey as a profession have a bigger opinion of Blackwood.

Lol boy you are in for a shock when management doesn’t bring this guy back next year.

Blackwood is not a good goalie. A couple of outlier seasons in the middle of a bunch of sub .900 ones is not proof otherwise.

Also, the “hate your own crowd” comment is really rich coming from you.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Pretty sober response. Though in reality @guitarguyvic lost me when he referred to Blackwood as "an AHL goalie" ( ignoring the fact that for much of his career the team in front of him was horrible regardless of who was in net).

Not sure what motivates the hate-your-own crowd on these boards.

Maybe it's a Jersey thing.

speaking from someone who hates all of our best players, I will ask you the same question. How ironic.

 

[Eggtimer]

That was 3-4 years ago now.

And what’s the excuse now? He’s still injured? Still enough reason to cut bait. How many years we gonna wait for him to get healthy?

And how about his mediocre AHL career which was before his good NHL seasons? Maybe the fact is that he just isn’t good? Maybe?

We just simply cannot afford to give him starts anymore . Or at the very very least , only start him when VV and or Schmid obsoletely need a break . Even then I don’t want him to ever start again. We are no longer in a position in the standings to sacrifice the good of the team just in order to try once again to get Blackwood “ going” . What sucks is that once in a blue moon , Blackwood will play “decent “ enough to win and then they give him the benefit of the doubt and play him again and too often.
Its time to move on . As in right f***ig now. Maybe if we were still in rebuild mode we could try to salvage him , but there is absolutely no reason to now , especially when we have seen that Achmid can and has outplayed him this year. Yes it is a lot to ask from Schmid , but that’s better than what Blackwood can bring.
For the good of the tream , it’s time to cut ties with Blackwood or at the very very least , have him play only in emergency situations or if both VV and Schmid have series issues.

We just simply cannot afford to play Blackwood as a starter anymore.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Say something nice about Jesper Bratt.

Got me.

He has some skills and seems like a nice fella.

 

[Bleedred]

We just simply cannot afford to give him starts anymore . Or at the very very least , only start him when VV and or Schmid obsoletely need a break . Even then I don’t want him to ever start again. We are no longer in a position in the standings to sacrifice the good of the team just in order to try once again to get Blackwood “ going” . What sucks is that once in a blue moon , Blackwood will play “decent “ enough to win and then they give him the benefit of the doubt and play him again and too often.
Its time to move on . As in right f***ig now. Maybe if we were still in rebuild mode we could try to salvage him , but there is absolutely no reason to now , especially when we have seen that Achmid can and has outplayed him this year. Yes it is a lot to ask from Schmid , but that’s better than what Blackwood can bring.
For the good of the tream , it’s time to cut ties with Blackwood or at the very very least , have him play only in emergency situations or if both VV and Schmid have series issues.

We just simply cannot afford to play Blackwood as a starter anymore.

Yeah, this idea that it's a ''Tandem'' or it's a ''1a/1b'' needs to stop.

Blackwood should be given as many starts over Vanecek as Brian Elliott should be given over Vasilevskiy or Rittich over Hellebuyck.

But since Vanecek isn't as good as any of those guys, Blackwood shouldn't be played any more than Schmid was when he was up, which was about once per week at the absolute most. I think in his last week up he started 2 in his last week. The Florida game at home was clearly a send off for him.

Blackwood has done nothing this year to show he deserves nearly as many starts as Vanecek, nor has he done anything in the last two seasons to show he deserves more starts than Vanecek. He also was significantly outplayed by Vanecek in the preseason.

So it's in our best interest no matter what to go right back to Vanecek for the next Carolina game, no matter what happens when he plays Boston.

Judging by Ruff's last press conference, it doesn't sound like he's really very warm to the idea of giving Blackwood 40% of the starts. He threw him under the bus as nicely as he could in that game.

I'm pretty sure that Blackwood is no better than Jon Gillies is at this time. No matter how good he was 3-4 years ago and no matter how high a ceiling he had.

Michael McLeod had a much higher ceiling than Jesper Bratt too.

 

[My3Sons]

Yeah, this idea that it's a ''Tandem'' or it's a ''1a/1b'' needs to stop.

Blackwood should be given as many starts over Vanecek as Brian Elliott should be given over Vasilevskiy or Rittich over Hellebuyck.

But since Vanecek isn't as good as any of those guys, Blackwood shouldn't be played any more than Schmid was when he was up, which was about once per week at the absolute most. I think in his last week up he started 2 in his last week. The Florida game at home was clearly a send off for him.

Blackwood has done nothing this year to show he deserves nearly as many starts as Vanecek, nor has he done anything in the last two seasons to show he deserves more starts than Blackwood. He also was significantly outplayed by Vanecek in the preseason.

So it's in our best interest no matter what to go right back to Vanecek for the next Carolina game, no matter what happens when he plays Boston.

Judging by Ruff's last press conference, it doesn't sound like he's really very warm to the idea of giving Blackwood 40% of the starts. He threw him under the bus as nicely as he could in that game.

I'm pretty sure that Blackwood is no better than Jon Gillies is at this time. No matter how good he was 3-4 years ago and no matter how high a ceiling he had.

Michael McLeod had a much higher ceiling than Jesper Bratt too.

If Blackwood could even alternate one good with one bad start NJ could make do. If he’s only going to give you one good start in three that’s enough to park him after another handful of games over the next couple of weeks. Ruff has shown this season that he can be mercenary and play whoever he thinks will help in the short term. I imagine at some point they recall Schmid and keep three goalies once injuries allow them to do that.

 

[Jack Be Quick]

Pretty sober response. Though in reality @guitarguyvic lost me when he referred to Blackwood as "an AHL goalie" ( ignoring the fact that for much of his career the team in front of him was horrible regardless of who was in net).

Not sure what motivates the hate-your-own crowd on these boards.

Maybe it's a Jersey thing.

Or maybe, just possibly, it's a Blackwood sucks thing.

 

[Eggtimer]

Yeah, this idea that it's a ''Tandem'' or it's a ''1a/1b'' needs to stop.

Blackwood should be given as many starts over Vanecek as Brian Elliott should be given over Vasilevskiy or Rittich over Hellebuyck.

But since Vanecek isn't as good as any of those guys, Blackwood shouldn't be played any more than Schmid was when he was up, which was about once per week at the absolute most. I think in his last week up he started 2 in his last week. The Florida game at home was clearly a send off for him.

Blackwood has done nothing this year to show he deserves nearly as many starts as Vanecek, nor has he done anything in the last two seasons to show he deserves more starts than Vanecek. He also was significantly outplayed by Vanecek in the preseason.

So it's in our best interest no matter what to go right back to Vanecek for the next Carolina game, no matter what happens when he plays Boston.

Judging by Ruff's last press conference, it doesn't sound like he's really very warm to the idea of giving Blackwood 40% of the starts. He threw him under the bus as nicely as he could in that game.

I'm pretty sure that Blackwood is no better than Jon Gillies is at this time. No matter how good he was 3-4 years ago and no matter how high a ceiling he had.

Michael McLeod had a much higher ceiling than Jesper Bratt too.

Blackwood just doesn’t have “it”. His athleticism is good but he cannot read plays well enough Amd loses focus too easy and often . Maybe another team Amd goalie coach can get the rocks out of his head but he is done here in NJ. We just simply cannot hold his hand and wait for him to “ figure it out “