GDT: Tag Team GDT #2 - Bruins @ Devils, 7 PM, MSGSN2

[My3Sons]

There’s zero chance of that sort of agreement or even a need.

The team really needed him to rebound, you can’t look at this with the hindsight of a nice stretch of play from Schmid after he bombed in the NHL last season.

Daws struggled too, they couldn’t count on either of them to be a NHL back-up all season.

Bernier was always very questionable at best. It wasn’t feasible to replace Blackwood because he only makes 2.8m. Add Cory and we’re spending 8.2m on goalies plus Bernier’s 4.125m on the LTIR.

The Blackwood’s disgruntled rumors were before he came back at the end of last season and had two underwhelming starts. He’s playing for future contract here, he needed a bounce back season for himself.

There’s zero chance Fitz throws away goalie depth after last season so we aren’t dumping Blackwood with months of the season left. Goalie depth is very thin across the league, GM can’t that picky.

I thought Schmid was getting shaky, and we were getting sloppy in front of him as well, so I was ok with sending him down.

Also I don’t see how Blackwood has gotten too much rope this season in some crazy way. Yes, I get it, I don’t have faith in him either, boo hiss, he sucks, blah blah.

There isn’t a start got that didn’t make sense, even this one. He got our first win after 6 losses.

Vanecek gave up 4 goals on 17 shots in 24 minutes of the the Islanders game and then 4 goals on 23 shots to the NYR in the next game. Shit happens.

If he can’t get his game straight then the team will have to figure out what to do with him but they aren’t going to call time of death after this game. Again, boo hiss Blackwood, but Mr Inconsistency has had some very good stretches when healthy and the team is hoping he can do that.

Sure. Fitz decided unilaterally that they were wiping the slate clean and never spoke with Blackwood or his agent after the reporting last season that Blackwood wanted out which of course was not at all leaked by the agent. So of course their statements which I’m too lazy to find were never reported.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Define “NHL caliber goalie”.

And yet there are games he does that. You and I aren’t NHL goaltender because we would play zero games where we stop routine shots. Blackwood plays games where he stops routine shots and hard shots. Very few people can do that. The talent is there and even the toughness but something critical is missing that shoudnt be. Practice and repetition should have allowed him to reduce the number of clunkers but he can’t. It’s not for want of talent.

Huh? Just because he has talent does not mean it's enough talent to be a competent and consistent player at the NHL level. The average beer leaguer would get schooled by an ECHL player...because they have talent...just not enough to compete with the boys in the higher leagues.

Blackwood is not talented enough for the NHL. If he was, he wouldn't be going 2.5 years of stats that put him at the bottom of the league. He wouldn't fail the eye test when you watch him play. Is he talented enough to play elsewhere? Sure OK. Irrelevant to the question of whether he's good enough to be on an NHL roster.

 

[My3Sons]

If it's not for want of talent, then what is it?

If he is talented like you imply, then he is the Sam Darnold of Goaltenders : All the Physical ability but missing the Mental aspect to process the game(or in his case, the position he plays).

Definitely something along those lines. I’m not sure it’s processing or lack of situational awareness but it’s something along the lines of what you are suggesting.

 

[My3Sons]

Huh? Just because he has talent does not mean it's enough talent to be a competent and consistent player at the NHL level. The average beer leaguer would get schooled by an ECHL player...because they have talent...just not enough to compete with the boys in the higher leagues.

Blackwood is not talented enough for the NHL. If he was, he wouldn't be going 2.5 years of stats that put him at the bottom of the league. He wouldn't fail the eye test when you watch him play. Is he talented enough to play elsewhere? Sure OK. Irrelevant to the question of whether he's good enough to be on an NHL roster.

I’m not sure I can agree. If he wasn’t talented he never would have had the season he was .911 or whatever it was. Maybe a non talented guy could be good for a handful of games but he has had a large number of individual games over .900 even if his bad games happen too often. His problem is between his ears not in his physical makeup as I see it.

 

[Bleedred]

And this all comes back to Blackwood's AHL career, which was NOT GOOD. Particularly his final two years of it.

So yeah, he may not be talented enough or smart enough to play at the NHL level.

The outlier to his pro hockey career were his first two years in the NHL.

It's not like Blackwood just started showing his first signs of prolonged poor play at the pro hockey level in the early months of 2021.

The red flags were there much earlier than that.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Also I don’t see how Blackwood has gotten too much rope this season in some crazy way. Yes, I get it, I don’t have faith in him either, boo hiss, he sucks, blah blah.

There isn’t a start got that didn’t make sense, even this one. He got our first win after 6 losses.

Vanecek gave up 4 goals on 17 shots in 24 minutes of the the Islanders game and then 4 goals on 23 shots to the NYR in the next game. Shit happens.

If he can’t get his game straight then the team will have to figure out what to do with him but they aren’t going to call time of death after this game. Again, boo hiss Blackwood, but Mr Inconsistency has had some very good stretches when healthy and the team is hoping he can do that.

I said it right after the game, but it bears repeating here where there's less ground clutter in the discussion, that last night (and come to think of it the Carolina game too, but let's stick with last night) reminded me so much of last year's Devils.

The 2021-22 scenario. We play well for a stretch, look good, but suddenly our goalie can't make a timely save or two and that changes the momentum of the game; bang we're down, but press for the equalizer and don't finish and than we make some big mistakes, seem to lose our composure, and give up a couple more goals in short succession. You can see the air come out of the tires in our body language at that point. And the whole thing snowballed after we couldn't "get a save or two" as Ruff so aptly put it. The story of so many second periods last year. And in the third we don't quit, come back, but not all the way, and lose.

Getting the timely stops and having our goalie's keep us in the game was a huge factor in our early season run. This past week we saw what it means to be without it. (That's where the Carolina game came in too). Ruff's biggest challenge now is sorting out the goaltending.

 

[My3Sons]

And this all comes back to Blackwood's AHL career, which was NOT GOOD. Particularly his final two years of it.

So yeah, he may not be talented enough or smart enough to play at the NHL level.

The outlier to his pro hockey career were his first two years in the NHL.

It's not like Blackwood just started showing his first signs of prolonged poor play at the pro hockey level in the early months of 2021.

The red flags were there much earlier than that.

I just don’t see how a guy without talent plays two good NHL seasons. Even in his worst seasons he manages some very good games. It’s hard to define though. To me he has every physical gift needed to play well. To me that’s the talent portion. Whatever his problem is it’s not that he is small or slow or physically weak or lacks reflexes. Maybe injuries or covid have robbed him of some of his physical ability?

 

[guitarguyvic]

I just don’t see how a guy without talent plays two good NHL seasons. Even in his worst seasons he manages some very good games. It’s hard to define though. To me he has every physical gift needed to play well. To me that’s the talent portion. Whatever his problem is it’s not that he is small or slow or physically weak or lacks reflexes. Maybe injuries or covid have robbed him of some of his physical ability?

Why would the mental aspect not count as part of talent? Thinking the game fast enough, being able to anticipate what the opposition is going to do, elite awareness, etc you can’t just 100% teach someone to be good at that stuff just because they have talent from a physical/athleticism standpoint.

If you want to compete amongst the greatest hockey players in the world, it’s also not enough to just simply be capable of doing those things intermittently. You have to be able to do it consistently. If you can’t, then you’re not an NHL level player.

Talent or skills or whatever you want to call it are also not static. Any number of variables may cause a temporary or permanent decrease in ability and/or consistency. The longer the sample size, the more likely it’s not a temporary issue. Blackwood’s sample size of being crap at the NHL level is now more than two years. To also go along with a large sample size prior to the time period when he seemed good enough.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

You're not new here, literally been happening for over a decade now

I actually don't remember them doing it recently (not this season, like past few seasons).

 

[My3Sons]

Why would the mental aspect not count as part of talent? Thinking the game fast enough, being able to anticipate what the opposition is going to do, elite awareness, etc you can’t just 100% teach someone to be good at that stuff just because they have talent from a physical/athleticism standpoint.

If you want to compete amongst the greatest hockey players in the world, it’s also not enough to just simply be capable of doing those things intermittently. You have to be able to do it consistently. If you can’t, then you’re not an NHL level player.

Talent or skills or whatever you want to call it are also not static. Any number of variables may cause a temporary or permanent decrease in ability and/or consistency. The longer the sample size, the more likely it’s not a temporary issue. Blackwood’s sample size of being crap at the NHL level is now more than two years. To also go along with a large sample size prior to the time period when he seemed good enough.

Sure. That’s all part of it. I just think some folks see Blackwood as having poor physical abilities which I don’t see. You want to call aspects of brain power a talent I won’t object. Blackwood is more or less thr NHL equivalent of a coach killer like you see in thr NFL sometimes.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Sure. That’s all part of it. I just think some folks see Blackwood as having poor physical abilities which I don’t see. You want to call aspects of brain power a talent I won’t object. Blackwood is more or less thr NHL equivalent of a coach killer like you see in thr NFL sometimes.

The single biggest fault I see is he almost never closes the five hole when he drops to the butterfly and whenever he moves he opens up. Then there are some bad angles. Frequently out of position when he’s off his game. Another repeated thing is him wearing down technically when under siege - he’ll start the game strong but let in a goal or two and seemingly lose focus.

He’s got great reflexes and is a battler. It’s hard to judge him on last night after missing 6 weeks, and 1.3 games back, except we’ve seen the movie before. Last night was typical Blackwood when he’s off his game.

Either he cuts it or not right now. We can’t afford to let him play his way out of it.

 

[My3Sons]

The single biggest fault I see is he almost never closes the five hole when he drops to the butterfly and whenever he moves he opens up. Then there are some bad angles. Frequently out of position when he’s off his game. Another repeated thing is him wearing down technically when under siege - he’ll start the game strong but let in a goal or two and seemingly lose focus.

He’s got great reflexes and is a battler. It’s hard to judge him on last night after missing 6 weeks, and 1.3 games back, except we’ve seen the movie before. Last night was typical Blackwood when he’s off his game.

Either he cuts it or not right now. We can’t afford to let him play his way out of it.

To me that goal he gave up to Noesen is classic Blackwood. The whole thing shoukd t have happened but here we are. I’m not sure how long his leash is but my thought is that it’s longer than we expect.

 

[Bleedred]

To me that goal he gave up to Noesen is classic Blackwood. The whole thing shoukd t have happened but here we are. I’m not sure how long his leash is but my thought is that it’s longer than we expect.

I don’t think it is anymore. Ruff threw him under the bus as nicely as he could.

I’m not sure if we’d be cap compliant if we recalled Schmid without sending him down?

If we could then I could see Schmid recalled and three goalies up here sooner than you think.

At this point Blackwood is merely depth. Just a body. He’s not someone that we can count on to help us win games or make a positive impact.

I think the organization is starting to realize that. At least Ruff certainly seemed to last night.

If he plays closer to how he played last night in his next start then that could be it for him. Either we have to shelter him to the point where he hardly ever has to play or we’ll be calling up another guy to take those starts.

 

[My3Sons]

I don’t think it is anymore. Ruff threw him under the bus as nicely as he could.

I’m not sure if we’d be cap compliant if we recalled Schmid without sending him down?

If we could then I could see Schmid recalled and three goalies up here sooner than you think.

At this point Blackwood is merely depth. Just a body. He’s not someone that we can count on to help us win games or make a positive impact.

I think the organization is starting to realize that. At least Ruff certainly seemed to last night.

If he plays closer to how he played last night in his next start then that could be it for him. Either we have to shelter him to the point where he hardly ever has to play or we’ll be calling up another guy to take those starts.

Hopefully Ruff tells Fitz what he thinks about Blackwood’s game in a blunt and direct manner. It might be best if Ruff just asks Fitz to speak to you about him. My concern is that after last season Fitz will be very gunshy about waiving a goalie - even an underperforming Blackwood.

 

[MadDevil]

Blackwood is the goalie equivalent of the "tools but no toolbox" skater. It doesn't help that the guy can't stay healthy either. If he could I think some of his issues could be improved upon. Maybe not to the point of him ever being a starter but at least to where he could be a serviceable backup. But the team is beyond the phase where they can afford to keep giving him chance after chance after chance. At some point they have to say enough and move on.

 

[Bleedred]

Hopefully Ruff tells Fitz what he thinks about Blackwood’s game in a blunt and direct manner. It might be best if Ruff just asks Fitz to speak to you about him. My concern is that after last season Fitz will be very gunshy about waiving a goalie - even an underperforming Blackwood.

This is going to shock a lot of people, but it didn't shock me one bit.

Blackwood's play since the start of December of 2021 is literally worse than Jon Gillies Devils tenure.

Gillies Devils tenure in 19 games played = .885%.

Blackwood's last 26 games = .878%.

And I'm pretty sure that Blackwood is also an .878% in his last 12 NHL regular season games played, which games 1 and 2 of that were his first 2 games back from being shut down last year. The other 10 are this year.

While Blackwood certainly had much more potential than Gillies, that doesn't mean he's any better than Gillies in the year 2023.

Michael McLeod had more potential than Jesper Bratt at one point, but one guy has been far superior at the pro hockey level than the other and it isn't McLeod.

And while we're on the topic of Jon ''the Devils made him look worse than he really is'' Gillies, in 12 games with the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL he's been an .877% this year lol.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I actually don't remember them doing it recently (not this season, like past few seasons).

It's been happening, just not as loud between limited crowds initially and pumped in crowd volume that we had for a bit so probably not as easy to hear on TV. Hasn't ever stopped happening at the games though.

 

[Xirik]

So which player missed who they were covering in that one goal where the Bruins player was all alone in front of the net?

 

[MadDevil]

So which player missed who they were covering in that one goal where the Bruins player was all alone in front of the net?

The 4th goal? Sadly it was Nico. He should have taken DeBrusk instead of chasing Marchand behind the net. Although if Bahl hadn't turned it over behind the net the entire play wouldn't have happened anyway. It was just kind of a clusterf*** by everybody.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

I don’t really expect scoring in those situations but Ruff really did a shit job managing the end of the game and getting the them time with an extra skater.

He had Nico’s line on and then McLeod with Sharangovich and Wood went on with slightly less than 2 minutes left.

McLeod’s line had possession for good while in the offensive zone and Ruff kept waiting and waiting for some f***ing reason to pull the goalie.

Hughes hit the ice as the 6th skater mixed in with that hodgepodge with ~1:30 left.

Then Vanenek came in for a neutral zone face-off with 1:17 left before getting off and giving the team slightly less than a minute with the main unit. They had five shot attempts, 3 were blocked.

Coaches these days often try to give their guys more time with an empty net, it really increases your chances at scoring in that situation.

We’ve given up a few empty net goal lately but I don’t see how that McLeod line was pulling off any miracles without an extra skater. I didn’t know what Ruff was waiting for.

Agree coaches now tend to pull the goalie earlier and to my mind that's not a great idea.

Apparently it worked once or twice for Patrick Roy in the playoffs when he was coaching the Avalanche and it became a trend.

Unfortunately, with the increased level of skill these days players are for more willing (and able) to hit the empty net.

My bigger issue with the empty net was the presence of Bratt on that unit. With almost no willingness to go inside the play it was easy for the Bruins to maintain their structure and block shots.

Which they did.

That also might have been a situation to use Kevin Bahl - a defenseman who has shown an ability to get pucks through traffic for goals or deflections (rather than pounding clappers wide or off the glass) but since he was nailed to the bench for a second period turnover he wasn't an option.

 

[NJDevs26]

The Devils just played a game against the Isles with an empty net for 6.5 minutes and the Isles didn’t hit it, it’s not quite as easy as you’re making it out to be