Confirmed Signing with Link: [COL] G Mackenzie Blackwood signs extension with the Avalanche (5 years, $5.25M AAV)

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Good grief, this is embarrassing.

What was Blackwood's camp at, 5.5-6 mil per? Gross.

This will definitely hurt the Oilers negotiations with Skinner.

You realize the cap is probably $95M next year. $5M is average starter money, even slightly below that.

And Blackwood is better than Skinner

 

[Mobiandi]

5 years

 

[Romang67]

This is minimum wage for a veteran 40-50 game goalie.

People need to adjust expectations with the rising salary cap.

If you want a reality check, go back and read the Daccord thread to see how many posters are completely out of touch with where the market is for goalies. Daccord had 68 career games, and he got a similar contract to buy up UFA years.

It's just the reality right now that unless a team develops RFA goalies and can get them cheap throughout their RFA years, the cost of a UFA who even has proven they can play 40-50 games and projects to a .900+ starting goalie is now going to be 5M with term.

It's entirely possible that we're at a point where shot-in-the-dark goalie will get $5-6M, good starter will get $8-9M, and elite goalie will get $11M+ at this point, yes.

I think people are being fooled by Sorokin, Saros, Hellebuyck signing their contracts just before Swagman and Ullmark reset the market.

 

[EdAVSfan]

I was thinking maybe they should sign him before the price goes up, but I didn't see the price going up more than that, so it seem like a big rush, especially for 5 years.

The AVS are extremely capable concious starting next year. They prob preferred to have certainty in a contract to calculate other numbers.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I'm actually shocked at Avs fans cope with this contract, this guy has played over 200 games and been borderline out of the league with inconsistent play, has 4 good games and is given an insane deal. Avs have been continuously let down by poor goaltending decisions and their fans are defending this objectively horrendous deal. This is a 50% overpay at minimum. Adin Hill got less after winning a Cup lmfao. Citing the fact that Jarry or Kuemper (who are also signed to abysmal contracts) are paid similarly is not a defense lol.

Anybody repeating this are just proving to be clueless.

 

[RangerBoy]

You realize the cap is probably $95M next year. $5M is average starter money, even slightly below that.

And Blackwood is better than Skinner

$97M.

 

[TGWL]

The AVS are extremely capable concious starting next year. They prob preferred to have certainty in a contract to calculate other numbers.

Yeah, but there's still plenty of time for that.

 

[Jerzey Devil]

This is one situation where adding and an S or a Y to part of his last name to use as his nickname doesn’t work. The Devils nickname for him was Blacky.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

$97M.

I doubt it's that high, but that also just makes thus contract even more reasonable.

$97M would mean 5.3% of the cap.

 

[Grigowski]

You cant be serious? Keumper was pretty damn good for your Avs

Kuemper was not bad, but he was the worst goalie in the last 30 years to win a cup. Thats how good this AVS-Team was in 2022.

I dont know if this extension works out fine for us, but with all the goaltending we got over the years, what else can go wrong...... It cant get any worse than what we witnessed with Georgiev and Anunnen this season. I mean, that was beyond a nightmare.

 

[DeltaSwede]

Wouldn't be happy with this one as an Avs fan. Things have to go very right for this to end up being a good contract. He's been very up and down during his career so it's very tilted to the risky side.

No reason, given the term and the cap hit, to hand this contract out after 4 games with the term and take that risk. He wasn't getting any or much more term or money in FA.

Good luck!

 

[Tralfamadore]

Colorado was a team i thought could possibly win multiple cups but I'm starting to think this core just wins the one. Which is still great, but I expected more.

Of course there's a chance this works out and he ends up as a really solid, stable goalie for them the next 5 years. Just seems like an unnecessary risk that could end up being an anchor.

Oh 100% it's only one. The writing has been on the wall since the cup season even.

 

[Shane Diesel]

Do you approve of this extension, big Shane?

I don't particularly agree with giving out five year contracts to average goaltenders, but the cap hit is largely in line with what other goaltenders of his ilk have gotten as a percentage of the cap.

It was probably the best option available out of a bunch of mediocre/bad avenues. There is a dearth of reliable goaltenders in the league and Nabokov is still several years away from being a reliable option. It was either lock-in an available and mostly known commodity versus rolling the dice on more backups. It generally worked out with Grubauer and failed badly with Georgiev.

I don't think the cap hit will be an issue if it doesn't work out, it'll be the term that bites them in the ass if it does.

But I don't generally believe in investing in goaltenders.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

It's entirely possible that we're at a point where shot-in-the-dark goalie will get $5-6M, good starter will get $8-9M, and elite goalie will get $11M+ at this point, yes.

I think people are being fooled by Sorokin, Saros, Hellebuyck signing their contracts just before Swagman and Ullmark reset the market.

The new tiers are going to be 5M for any proven NHL starter. A proven NHL goalie being someone who can play 45+ games at .900+. 8M+ for a top 10 goalie, and 10M-12M for the Carey Price goaleis who are perceived as franchise cornerstones.

 

[Muffin]

Wouldn't be happy with this one as an Avs fan. Things have to go very right for this to end up being a good contract. He's been very up and down during his career so it's very tilted to the risky side.

No reason, given the term and the cap hit, to hand this contract out after 4 games with the team and take that risk. He wasn't getting any or much more term or money in FA.

Good luck!

5M is literally just average starter money now. There's zero chance any goalie who's been a starter in this league signs for less than 5M.

 

[KingsHockey24]

What the f*** lol

 

[EdAVSfan]

Yeah, but there's still plenty of time for that.

Not really. You seem to be assuming the Avs were going to evaluate. They were not. They made it clear from the start when the trade was made that they were planning to extend. This is absolutely no surprise to any Avs fan that follows the team news.
The risk they run with waiting is to have Blackwood prefer to test the market. The AVS need cost certainty. Waiting likely brings more financial risk than the Avs want.

As of now, there are no UFA solutions. All middling guys with different risks.

The AVS did their homework before the trade. They liked what they saw.
Now we get to wait 5 years and see if they’re right.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

He's tied in sv% with Shesterkin this season but will be under 46% of his cap hit next season, so it's a bargain if you think about it.

 

[JoeSakic13]

This deal could prove to be an absolute steal or an absolute joke.

Clearly a lot of people are betting on the latter, but I think way too many people are still downplaying Blackwood’s time in SJ playing around a rebuilding team.

Huge dice roll by Avs management.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

I mean Blackwood always showed some great flashes with the Devils but his issue was mental consistency. I suppose that's something you get better with with age, but also don't be surprised if he lays an egg in the playoffs.

Caps fans tried to warn us about Vitek Vanecek and we laughed at them because he was amazing at first. Then things went rough in the playoffs and he lost his game completely and it carried off into the next season.

Bad gamble in my book, but it is a gamble and I guess it could work if they think he's fixed his focus.

 

[ClydeLee]

It's almost like he's played like 200 NHL games mostly on bad teams. Good thing we have people paid to watch games that are called scouts.

Goalies can preform well on bad teams... Darcy Kuemper. Was great on a bad team in Arizona, acquiring and trusting in him was smart... but since the cup. Just a series of awful goalie decisions.

It's like the John Gibson defenders over and over. He's back down to earth again after another strong start. It's clear for 5 years, the goalie is a hampering factor of the team. They're as much a problem as the team.

 

[Empoleon8771]

It's entirely possible that we're at a point where shot-in-the-dark goalie will get $5-6M, good starter will get $8-9M, and elite goalie will get $11M+ at this point, yes.

I think people are being fooled by Sorokin, Saros, Hellebuyck signing their contracts just before Swagman and Ullmark reset the market.

My stance is more that you just shouldn't be signing goalies like Blackwood to these kind of deals, you should be trading assets to bring in what Blackwood was when San Jose acquired him. These kind of goalies are so volatile that they'll regularly go through cold spells and hot spells, buying high when he's having a hot spell is how you get stuck with these kind of Jarry/Merzlikins/Campbell types of contracts.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Every non Avs fan right now

View attachment 951866

They have fleas?

 

[Muffin]

Goalies can preform well on bad teams... Darcy Kuemper. Was great on a bad team in Arizona, acquiring and trusting in him was smart... but since the cup. Just a series of awful goalie decisions.

It's like the John Gibson defenders over and over. He's back down to earth again after another strong start. It's clear for 5 years, the goalie is a hampering factor of the team. They're as much a problem as the team.

Kuemper was real good in Colorado. He was never the same again after that eye injury.

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

It's entirely possible that we're at a point where shot-in-the-dark goalie will get $5-6M, good starter will get $8-9M, and elite goalie will get $11M+ at this point, yes.

I think people are being fooled by Sorokin, Saros, Hellebuyck signing their contracts just before Swagman and Ullmark reset the market.

I agree with this. And Avs fans saying 5.25mm is not crazy. It really isn’t.

In fact if they had announced 6 mm I would have been ugh a little high, but nothing crazy.

The 2 real crazy things Avs fans are glossing over though:

1. 5 years - that could be problematic if he doesn’t pan out when you have money tied up in 3 players and every dollar matters.

2. 4 games after trading for him!!! Omg what was the rush. How high could his contract have possibly gone if he ended up winning a cup! The team and management barely even know him.

It’s hilarious. I love it.

They have fleas?

Whoa, it was just a joke. No need to be so defensive buddy!

I though that gif was hilarious!