Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood may only be 28 years old, but considering how long he has been in the league and what he has gone through injury-wise, it certainly seems like he has been around a lot longer.
Despite playing behind some porous hockey clubs and undergoing a lot of different injuries, Blackwood has shown enough to the Avalanche since they acquired him from the San Jose Sharks on December 9 in terms of his goaltending abilities. The club went ahead and signed him to a five-year contract extension worth $5.25 million per year on Friday, December 27.
In four games with the Avalanche, Blackwood is 3-1 with a 2.03 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage. He has proven to be a significant upgrade over Alexandar Georgiev as Georgiev struggled mightily with the Avalanche this season prior to being traded as he was 8-7 with a 3.38 goals-against average and a .874 save percentage.
With the signing, Blackwood is being given a big opportunity to show both the Avalanche and the rest of the league that he can be an elite goalie in the NHL. There are a few reasons why he might be able to accomplish that.
For starters, Blackwood has played well despite playing behind struggling teams in San Jose and New Jersey. With the Sharks this season, Blackwood was 6-9-0-3 with a 3.00 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage, and one shutout.
Yes, his goals-against average is not great, but one has to take into account the team he played on. The Sharks are not a great defensive team and despite that, Blackwood still posted a terrific save percentage.
With Blackwood now a member of the Avalanche, he is getting a chance to play on a more competent hockey club in the Avalanche. They will do a better job of clearing rebounds, being smart with the puck in their end, and protecting their goaltender than the Sharks did.
Secondly, Blackwood is a very athletic goaltender who is great at going post to post, being in a good position to stop second and third shots, and controlling his rebounds. He can do this because of his 6’4 frame and also because of his ability to fight for pucks.
In speaking with the media following the announcement of Blackwood’s contract extension, Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said that he believes in Blackwood’s ability to stop pucks and also remarked that his new goaltender has gotten better with every game he has played with the team.
“As I said when we acquired him, we feel like Mackenzie has just gotten better and better every year and he has come in and done a great job with us in his first few starts. He’s a big body, athletic goaltender who is still young and still growing as a goaltender. Stylistically, he has fit really well with how we play and has been a perfect fit in our dressing room as well.”
Blackwood is also someone who can be a top goaltender in the league when he plays with confidence. That is something that he is currently playing with when it comes to his new home in Colorado.
Here is what Blackwood has done with the Avalanche in his first four games with the club:
- December 14 vs. the Nashville Predators: Stopped 37 of 39 shots and got the win.
- December 16 vs. the Vancouver Canucks: Stopped 22 of 24 shots in a loss.
- December 19 vs. the San Jose Sharks: Stopped 32 of 24 shots and got the win.
- December 22 vs. the Seattle Kraken: Stopped 17 of 19 shots and got the win.
Lastly, Blackwood is happy that he is being given a chance to show what he can do on a consistent basis. After his new team beat the Sharks, Blackwood told reporters that he was grateful that Sharks general manager Mike Grier believed in him and gave him the chance to play.
“When I got healthy, he believed in me, brought me in and gave me a chance to play,” Blackwood said. “I got myself turned around, got my game up and back on track. He was a big part of giving me the opportunity to do so.”
With the contract extension out of the way, it is now up to Blackwood to go and get the job done. The team in front of him knows how to put the puck in the net and won the Stanley Cup three seasons ago.
All Blackwood needs to do is focus on stopping the puck, something he has done extremely well so far this season.
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