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

[My3Sons]

I would bet it was because of his previous play against them. He's actually 2-0-2 against them. Vanecek was 0-0-1 against Anaheim with a .903% in 1 game before Friday night. I remember had a .903% against Anaheim also, but it was in more games played and I don't remember his record. I think Vanecek was an .875% career against the Kings in 1 game and I can't remember if that was an OT loss or a regulation loss.

I thought he has said something like this? That they look at the goalie's play against a particular team? Maybe I'm thinking of another staff.

I remember Pete saying they look at career play against a particular opponent when deciding what teams they'll play Marty and what teams they'll play Hedberg on a back to back.

If Blackwood can put together two or three more good starts he might break .900 on his save percentage for the season. I’m amazed how well NJ has played in front of him given his record and his GAA.

 

[severian]

If Blackwood can put together two or three more good starts he might break .900 on his save percentage for the season. I’m amazed how well NJ has played in front of him given his record and his GAA.

He played a great game last night. Blackwood’s problem is consistency. He has a great game and follows it up with a total clunker all the time. And his clunkers are those 4 goals on 15 shot clunkers that just absolutely sinks your team’s chances to win.

 

[My3Sons]

He played a great game last night. Blackwood’s problem is consistency. He has a great game and follows it up with a total clunker all the time. And his clunkers are those 4 goals on 15 shot clunkers that just absolutely sinks your team’s chances to win.

Yeah. That’s why I see his issues as not talent related or at least not physical talent related. If he could harness his abilities most games he’d be quite good. It’s why NJ has continued to roll him out there despite numerous injuries and bad games.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

Difference is Lou was in charge back then. The man is stubborn as a mule.

I read somewhere NJ was on his no-go list because of the name connection.

 

[Louskoolaid89]

Yeah. That’s why I see his issues as not talent related or at least not physical talent related. If he could harness his abilities most games he’d be quite good. It’s why NJ has continued to roll him out there despite numerous injuries and bad games.

The goalie coaches from the other side of the Hudson might be able to get something more out of Blackwood. They have a good reputation.

 

[severian]

The goalie coaches from the other side of the Hudson might be able to get something more out of Blackwood. They have a good reputation.

Would you trade Blackwood and Hughes for Shesterkin and Laf?

 

[Louskoolaid89]

Would you trade Blackwood and Hughes for Shesterkin and Laf?

No thanks.

 

[My3Sons]

The goalie coaches from the other side of the Hudson might be able to get something more out of Blackwood. They have a good reputation.

Maybe, but they have Shesterkin and it's hard to see Blackwood willing to sign where he has no path to at least a tandem.

 

[glenwo2]

Yeah. That’s why I see his issues as not talent related or at least not physical talent related. If he could harness his abilities most games he’d be quite good. It’s why NJ has continued to roll him out there despite numerous injuries and bad games.

Normally I would say "Hmmm...Maybe Blackwood would be better off as a backup" but even then he'll probably stink up the joint on his next eventual backup appearance regardless so I'm like..."naah, I'm good".

 

[Bleedred]

I know a few people won’t believe this, but evolving hockey has our goalies facing more higher quality chances and shots this year than last year. Because all three goalies GSAx is better than their GSAA.

GSAA is merely the amount of goals saved above or below the league average save percentage. Blackwood is a negative GSAA by a few goals, but they have him as a +1.05 in goals saved above expected.

Vanecek has only saved like 5 or 6 goals above the league average save percentage, but has saved closer to 10 goals above expected. That stat accounts for “Bad defense”, higher danger and all that.

Schmid has also been better than his GSAA.

So basically, every goalie on this team this year could have a below league average save percentage right now and still be better than even in GSAx, Blackwood actually is right now. That wasn’t the case last year with most of the goalies on the team though, other than Hammond and Wedgewood, who played very sparingly. They were both negatives, but neither was expected to be a league average save percentage in their games played here.



Here’s everybody’s numbers.

One small spoiler alert though. Blackwood was not a positive in GSAx (at least not on evolving hockey’s stats) in any of his NHL years before this. Not even the first two good years, though he barely broke below even.

Vanecek also was a negative in his first two years, though not the degree of the last two years of Blackwood.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

Send Mac to Detroit - they are desperate at this point. Get any warm body to back up VV and give him the load.

 

[Nubmer6]

I know a few people won’t believe this, but evolving hockey has our goalies facing more higher quality chances and shots this year than last year. Because all three goalies GSAx is better than their GSAA.

GSAA is merely the amount of goals saved above or below the league average save percentage. Blackwood is a negative GSAA by a few goals, but they have him as a +1.05 in goals saved above expected.

Vanecek has only saved like 5 or 6 goals above the league average save percentage, but has saved closer to 10 goals above expected. That stat accounts for “Bad defense”, higher danger and all that.

Schmid has also been better than his GSAA.

So basically, every goalie on this team this year could have a below league average save percentage right now and still be better than even in GSAx, Blackwood actually is right now. That wasn’t the case last year with most of the goalies on the team though, other than Hammond and Wedgewood, who played very sparingly. They were both negatives, but neither was expected to be a league average save percentage in their games played here.

View attachment 637108View attachment 637110View attachment 637111

Here’s everybody’s numbers.

One small spoiler alert though. Blackwood was not a positive in GSAx (at least not on evolving hockey’s stats) in any of his NHL years before this. Not even the first two good years, though he barely broke below even.

Vanecek also was a negative in his first two years, though not the degree of the last two years of Blackwood.

So... Blackwood is good???

 

[glenwo2]

Send Mac to Detroit - they are desperate at this point. Get any warm body to back up VV and give him the load.

HEY!

PHRASING.

 

[glenwo2]

Decided to bump this up because......reasons.

(oh...but let us "celebrate" getting a point. Hooray for moral victories! )


Actually, I would like Akira back up to...back up VV so it's not just "reasons".

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

I mean it wasn’t necessary for you to bump this. Some of you guys hate Blackwood , we get it.

 

[Bleedred]

I mean it wasn't necessary for you to bump this. Some of you guys hate Blackwood , we get it.

And for good reason

A goalie as bad as he is deserves hate, because it’s the most important position in the game and he’s gonna flush you more points than the bad forwards we harp on (including myself sometimes) or the bottom pairing defenseman like Brendan Smith.

If there’s one player that deserves hate it’s a goalie that’s as bad as he is.

Is there any reason to go out of your way to bash him after tonight? No. Is there any reason to praise his overall body of work because of how he played tonight and the game before? That’s also a no.

Honestly, there’s nothing to talk about in this thread for me right now.

Vitek is the man. No controversy here. He’s been better than Blackwood since he came into the league, he’s been the much better goalie this year behind the same team. Ever since preseason.

He’s also won at a much greater clip this year (probably something to do with the fact that he stops a lot more shots) which I know a lot of people love that goalie stat.

 

[HBK27]

Decided to bump this up because......reasons.

(oh...but let us "celebrate" getting a point. Hooray for moral victories! )


Actually, I would like Akira back up to...back up VV so it's not just "reasons".

Blackwood wasn't the problem last night - he stole a point for the Devils.

OT goal was probably weak - maybe the shot changed angles due to hitting Bratt's stick that threw Blackwood off, but it's tough to say. There was certainly contact with Bratt's stick (either the puck or Burakovsky's stick), but it looked like one Blackwood should've had.

Most teams would be thrilled with a performance like that from their backup goalie.

Schmid has a save percentage below .900 in 3 of his past 4 games, so he's cooled off quick a bit, whereas Blackwood has been at or above .900 in 4 of his past 5 games. I still think Blackwood is the better option between the two right now.

 

[NJDevs26]

Yeah I think the ship sailed on Schmid this year after he struggled his last two starts here with him also struggling in the AHL this year. For better and worse, Blackwood is the #2 at least for the remainder of this season, not that there was really much doubt barring a trade.

At least we don't hear the whining that Blackwood wants out and the team isn't happy with him this year, maybe he has had a genuine reset on his career.

 

[glenwo2]

Blackwood wasn't the problem last night - he stole a point for the Devils.

OT goal was probably weak - maybe the shot changed angles due to hitting Bratt's stick that threw Blackwood off, but it's tough to say. There was certainly contact with Bratt's stick (either the puck or Burakovsky's stick), but it looked like one Blackwood should've had.

Most teams would be thrilled with a performance like that from their backup goalie.

Schmid has a save percentage below .900 in 3 of his past 4 games, so he's cooled off quick a bit, whereas Blackwood has been at or above .900 in 4 of his past 5 games. I still think Blackwood is the better option between the two right now.

According to our resident Goal-softy expert, Bleed, goals 1 and 2 weren't great :

I didn’t think goals 1 and 2 were great. Those two Donato goals. Just gave him too much of the short side and he also couldn’t glove it. Didn’t like the second goal either. I’m sure he was still thinking about the first goal he scored on him and knew there was gonna be plenty of room up top.

Don’t get me wrong, these goals happen fairly often around the league, but didn’t think they were great. I actually didn’t like the first one more than second. A goalie his size should be able to get hit in the shoulder by one of those if he’s gonna leave some much open up top.

Sounds like Mac had bad positioning on both, which is not good because his whole style is predicated on positioning.

 

[Devs3cups]

Blackwood wasn't the problem last night - he stole a point for the Devils.

OT goal was probably weak - maybe the shot changed angles due to hitting Bratt's stick that threw Blackwood off, but it's tough to say. There was certainly contact with Bratt's stick (either the puck or Burakovsky's stick), but it looked like one Blackwood should've had.

Most teams would be thrilled with a performance like that from their backup goalie.

Schmid has a save percentage below .900 in 3 of his past 4 games, so he's cooled off quick a bit, whereas Blackwood has been at or above .900 in 4 of his past 5 games. I still think Blackwood is the better option between the two right now.

I haven’t liked Mac’s play these last few years and I am very doubtful he can contribute to our future, but he was good last night. Now, that doesn’t outweigh 2 years of bad play and he won't play like that every game, but if we could get a few games like these from him that'd be good.

I didn’t necessarily like the 1st and 4th goals on him, but overall his performance was good.

 

[Devs3cups]

According to our resident Goal-softy expert, Bleed, goals 1 and 2 weren't great :


Sounds like Mac had bad positioning on both, which is not good because his whole style is predicated on positioning.

Did you watch the highlights? What did you think of the goals?

I didn’t like goals 1 and 4. Goal 2 is on a 2-on-1 and it was a pretty good shot, goal 3 he was hung up to dry.

 

[HBK27]

According to our resident Goal-softy expert, Bleed, goals 1 and 2 weren't great :

Good for him, though you think Bleedred might be a tad biased in his assessment of Blackwood? I don't think they were bad goals, but I also don't know how Bleed grades softies overall as I don't follow that thread.

I watched the entire game last night and Blackwood was good. Again, most teams would love a performance like that from their backup, but you decided to use it as a starting point for calling for him to be replaced Schmid, who's been struggling lately.

 

[Mgd31]

At the end of the day, over his last 5 games, with the exception of the Boston game, Blackwood gave us a chance to win and didn't blow us up.

Can't really ask for more than that from him.

 

[glenwo2]

Yeah Schmid has been struggling as of late but unlike Blackwood, there is still room for improvement and growth.

With Mac, what you see is basically what you will more than likely get going forward.

Look...we can go 'round and around with this but I'm not going to change your minds and neither are any of you going to change mine.

So let's just agree to disagree on Blackwood and call it, okay? Okay.

 

[MadDevil]

I think you can say that Blackwood has been okay lately and still be skeptical that it means anything long term.