It's a good deal, full stop. Cost is incredibly low, upside is solid if unspectacular, and in terms of the overall roster it's a good allocation of resources in a salary cap world. A ton of us spent last year just praying we could even have "league average" goaltending, and that's something we should now have, with some upside to be a bit better, and with the continued growth of the young forwards and the graduation of some more prospects, especially on the blue line, it's what they need.
Obviously it'd be great to acquire someone who's got All Star potential, but goalie in the NHL currently is starting to feel a bit more like catchers currently in MLB: there just aren't really that many difference makers out there, so trading for one/signing one in free agency becomes a risk, which places a premium on drafting and developing your own.
The ones who are difference makers? Teams that drafted/developed them aren't trading them for anything less than a king's ransom, and if they make it to free agency they'll command a big, fat contract (e.g. the Phillies signing J.T. Realmuto for catcher)...which isn't necessarily a bad thing to spend on, but it's a physically taxing position where careers tend to trend downward quicker than you'd hope, so signing a guy around age 30 and hoping he'll still be great through age 36 is a big time roll of the dice.
In that situation, build up the team around that spot, continue trying to draft/develop your own internal solution, but in the meantime don't fret if you need someone who's more of a band-aid solution than a long term fix. I don't think there's a difference maker goalie out there who wouldn't cost the Devils way too much right now, either in terms of useful young talent or in terms of cap space that's about to become a lot more important as more of the roster gets to its mid-20s, so I'm down for this.
On Blackwood: I don't get the desire to chuck him overboard. Believe me, his petulance last year over getting his prookles infuriated me, but saying "it's every year with this guy" ignores what his specific issues were: COVID in 2020, a heel injury that didn't repair properly in 2021. That's really it. That doesn't make him injury prone, it's just shit that happens sometimes to pro athletes, especially during a global pandemic. If you can get someone better than him at a reasonable cost, by all means explore it, but otherwise I don't think we're at all at "sunk cost fallacy" stages with him this year if they want to give him one more chance to prove his worth, be it to the Devils or on the trade market.
