Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
On Dec. 9, the Colorado Avalanche acquired veteran goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood from the San Jose Sharks. And less than three weeks later, the Avs signed Blackwood to a five-year, $26.25-million contract that has an average annual value of $5.25 million.
Does that sound like an overreaction to you? It does to this writer.
While it’s true the 28-year-old Blackwood has performed well since Avs GM Chris MacFarland traded for him – posting a 3-1-0 record, a .931 save percentage and a 2.03 goals-against average – it definitely feels like Colorado jumped the gun with this Blackwood extension. Sure, Blackwood was going to be a UFA at season’s end, but if you’re suggesting there were teams out there who were willing and able to offer Blackwood a half-decade deal or more, we’re saying we’re extremely skeptical of that.
Indeed, why couldn’t this new Blackwood deal have waited until the end of the regular season? At least the Avalanche would’ve had a bigger sample size to judge him by. And when you look at many of the contracts NHL goalies have signed of late, a long-term deal never materializes for them.
Take Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz. He only received a two-year deal from Toronto last summer. In Vegas, Stanley Cup winner Adin Hill’s latest contract was for two years at $4.9 million per season. In Carolina, youngster Pyotr Kochetkov is playing on a four-year contract, but at only $2 million per season – and Frederik Andersen is working under a two-year contract at $3.4 million per season. And in Detroit, Cam Talbot signed a two-year contract last summer.
Meanwhile, for every long-term deal that makes sense – Ilya Sorokin on Long Island, Igor Shesterkin in Manhattan, Jeremy Swayman in Boston and Jake Oettinger in Dallas – there are long-term contracts that turned out to be full-on grenades. Think of John Gibson in Anaheim, Jordan Binnington in St. Louis, Tristan Jarry in Pittsburgh and Elvis Merzlikins in Columbus. All those netminders would likely be long gone from their current team if their contracts had half the term on their present deals.
This is the danger we’re talking about when we look at Blackwood’s new extension. The Avs have thrown caution to the wind here, and MacFarland and Colorado president of hockey operations Joe Sakic are putting a good deal of their salary cap flexibility on the line with this Blackwood contract. The cap ceiling is going to rise in a major way in the next few seasons, but that’s not a good reason all on its own to spend money the way the Avs have spent it on this new contract.
In a perfect world for the Avalanche, the Blackwood extension will turn out to be a long-term bargain. Blackwood is now locked up through his prime, but there was a reason he bounced from New Jersey to San Jose before the Avs traded for him this month. Blackwood hasn’t posted an SP of .900 or better in any of the past three seasons – yet somehow, Colorado has decided he’s worth investing a lot of time and money in. And that’s why this contract could wind up being bought out by the Avs before it comes to an end.
Blackwood now is under immense pressure to justify the Avalanche’s investment in him. It’s a high-stakes battle, and one that could turn out to be disastrous for the Avs. And only time will tell whether MacFarland’s gamble will pay off positively or end in ruin.
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