Are The New Jersey Devils Rushing MacKenzie Blackwood?

Putting Corey Schneider on waivers puts a lot of pressure on the young netminder Mackenzie Blackwood. Are the New Jersey Devils rushing him?

The news that the New Jersey Devils would waive Cory Schneider sent minor shock waves throughout the NHL. Sending their six million dollar man down to the AHL opened up a spot for the previously acquires Louis Domingue to join MacKenzie Blackwood on the NHL roster. This paints Blackwood as the defacto number one for the first time in his NHL career, but is he ready?

Schneider enjoyed a solid run with the Devils, being a top-five NHL goalie during most of his tenure from 2013 until the present. Unfortunately, his best success coincided with lackluster Devils teams that never touched the playoffs. The past few injury-riddled years made things worse while the team appears to be on the upswing. Not surprisingly, Blackwood has been the much better of the two goaltenders this season.

More from Puck Prose

• Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
• This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
• 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
• 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
• This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings

Entering the season, goaltending was a major question for the Devils. The crease was to be shared by Schneider, who the Devils heavily invested in and expected a matching performance out of, and the still young in experience Blackwood.

Over the past summer, I discussed the issue with New York hockey broadcaster Don LaGreca. He expected the Devils to split goaltending duties, as neither candidate emerged as the clear number one.

Sure Schneider was in decline, but with his payroll and pedigree, you’d want more out of him. Even though Blackwood looked like he was on the road to being an NHL starter in his half of a season with the big club, he still remained untested.

With no number one and number two, the Devils could have gone with a “one A” and “one B”. The Boston Bruins use a similar situation and have found success, with Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak. Also, the Carolina Hurricanes did the same thing with Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney, but that was more a move of desperation after parting ways with Cam Ward and Scott Darling failing to live up to expectations.

Former New York Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro thinks the one A one B situation is the future of goaltending. Not only does it manage workloads better, but it can also help teams in a cap crunch.

That’s the situation everyone though Mackenzie Blackwood would be in. Here we are a quarter of the way through the season and for the first time in his career he’s the undisputed number one. He gets the honor pretty much the same way Schneider did, entering as a backup than exceeded expectations before stealing the job for himself.

Is Blackwood being given too much responsibility too quick? This past weekend, he played a home and away back to back where the Devils skated away with two wins. Even with the promotion of Domingue, Blackwood will most likely carry the heavy workload as the Devils try to frantically makeup ground and turn around their season.

While one of Blackwood’s storied predecessors in Jersey, Martin Brodeur, was able to establish himself as an NHL starter fairly quickly, young goalies usually take time to develop. Rushing a young goaltender into stardom is often ill-advised and derails their development. It served as a cautionary tale last season for Carter Hart, even as the Philadelphia Flyers finally hoped they found their goalie.

Too much too quick is also what turned Andrew Hammond from an NHL prodigy to a barely AHL level goaltender. His amazing half a season to propel the Ottawa Senators to a playoff berth now look like a flash in the pan.

Not all who rise quickly are doomed to fail. In fact, the most recent example is proof of that. Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues went from AHL nobody to immediate brick wall en route to a Stanley Cup championship in his rookie season.

Binnington also has a few years on Blackwood, and a few more years of professional (even if it’s minor league) hockey experience. Maybe Binnington was ready for his shot and ascension since he was well used to the rigors of life as a professional goaltender. No doubt all that practice helped with his transition.

How the Devils outlook begins to look determines Blackwood’s workload. If they’re fighting for a playoff spot, head coach John Hynes will continue to give the reigns to Blackwood probably more times than he should. If the season starts to falter and games mean less, Louis Domingue will begin to fill into that “one b” roll.

One thing working into Blackwood’s advantage is his previous NHL experience. Granted, he only has a half-season under his belt, it was a half of a season with consistent starts. Blackwood ran that half a season right back into the NHL for this year.

Once Blackwood left the AHL, it seems he graduated to the major leagues for good. Compare that to Jordan Binnington who only had a small sample size of NHL call ups before his legendary call up of last year and firmly taking the starters spot in January.

Are the Devils rushing Mackenzie Blackwood? Or Is Blackwood really ready? It seems that only time will tell. For this New Jersey team still marred in a rebuilt, they better hope it works out for the better. If they lost their apparent next goaltending sensation, they’ll set themselves back tremendously.