It was solely two weeks in the past that the Colorado Avalanche made a commerce with the San Jose Sharks to accumulate goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to assist overhaul their goalie state of affairs.
Goaltending was the clear weak point of the roster within the first two months of the season, and administration wasted little time in attempting to repair it.
In addition they wasted little time in ensuring that Blackwood goes to be their goalie for the foreseeable future, signing him to a five-year, $26.25M contract extension on Friday after making simply 4 begins with the workforce.
It’s a massively dangerous contract and there’s no assure it’ll work out the way in which the Avalanche hope it would.
There’s additionally a really actual probability it may very well be the following regrettable contract handed out by a workforce to a mid-level goalie.
Goaltending is a difficult place for NHL groups as a result of it’s the most impactful place on the ice. An excellent goalie can elevate a mediocre workforce right into a contender, whereas a poor goaltending efficiency can take a contender and switch right into a pretender. What makes it so maddening is that for all of its significance, it’s also one of the troublesome positions to undertaking by way of efficiency. There are solely a handful of goalies you could rely on for high-level play yr after yr. There is a component of randomness and unpredictability with the second- and third-tier goalies, and that’s the degree that Blackwood falls into.
He confirmed flashes of being starter earlier in his profession when he first entered the league with the New Jersey Devils, however was a below-average starter for 4 consecutive seasons between 2020-21 and 2023-24.
He has been considerably higher to date this season, and between the Sharks and Avalanche, his .914 save proportion is seventh within the NHL out of 37 goalies which have appeared in at the very least 15 video games.
If he maintains that degree of play, his new contract might be a discount for the Avalanche. However there isn’t any assure he does that given his observe report.
Possibly enjoying behind a powerful Avalanche workforce with a fantastic protection and loads of offensive purpose help will assist him and convey out one of the best in him. The supporting solid round him definitely places him right into a place the place he doesn’t should be the focus of the roster. The Avalanche don’t want a goalie that may steal them video games. They simply want any person who’s stable and doesn’t lose them video games the way in which Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen have been early within the season.
However these five-year goalie contracts within the $25M-30M vary don’t sometimes prove properly for the groups that hand them out. That’s the similar wage vary that gamers like Tristan Jarry (Pittsburgh), Joonas Korpisalo (Ottawa), Elvis Merzlikins (Columbus), Jack Campbell (Edmonton), Darcy Kuemper (Washington), and Philipp Grubauer (Seattle) have signed in recent times. Virtually all of them have been clear losses for the workforce inside a few years. Within the case of Korpisalo, Campbell and Kuemper, they have been traded away from their groups or waived inside two years of signing the offers, whereas Jarry and Merzlikins have been among the many least productive starters within the league. Grubauer misplaced his beginning job in Seattle.
Given Blackwood’s inconsistent observe report all through his profession, there’s a superb probability the Avalanche discover themselves in an analogous place in a few years. It’s merely a dangerous contract.
