Mackenzie Blackwood

Thunder Bay, Ontario has produced a notable cluster of NHL goaltenders, a fact that came up when Mackenzie Blackwood appeared on Episode 70 of the InGoal Radio podcast back in May 2020 ^[1]. Blackwood himself is one of those Thunder Bay products — born December 9, 1996, standing 6'4" and playing at 225 pounds, left-catching, and carrying the distinction of having been the top-rated North American goaltender in the NHL Central Scouting Bureau's final rankings ahead of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Selected 42nd overall by the New Jersey Devils in the second round of that draft, Blackwood's path from Thunder Bay to the NHL ran through Barrie, Adirondack, Binghamton, and Albany before he arrived in New Jersey as a full-time starter. He made his first NHL appearances at 21 and stepped into the Devils' starting role as a 22-year-old — a December birthday meaning he was, in developmental terms, younger still than that age suggests.

His first full NHL season, 2019-20, produced numbers that set the tone for his early career: 47 games played, 22 wins, a 2.77 goals-against average, and a .915 save percentage, with 3 shutouts. That season was cut short by the COVID-19 pause, at which point the Devils had accumulated 28 wins overall — with Blackwood accounting for 22 of them.

The four seasons that followed in New Jersey showed more modest results. In the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign he went 14-17 with a 3.04 GAA and .902 save percentage across 35 games. The 2021-22 season brought a 9-10 record in 25 games with a 3.39 GAA and .892 save percentage. In 2022-23, limited to 22 games, he posted a 10-6 record with a 3.20 GAA and .893 save percentage.

Those years in New Jersey were also formative in ways beyond the statistics. Blackwood arrived just as veteran Cory Schneider — a goaltender Blackwood had admired from afar while Schneider was in Vancouver — was being slowed by injuries. On the InGoal Radio podcast ^[1], Blackwood reflected on what he absorbed from that partnership: "I feel like I was really, really fortunate to be in the spot that I was. Cory's been huge for me coming in, and I would say the most that I've taken from him is just the mental side of the game." A 2026 InGoal article by Colin Hodd revisited that relationship and what Blackwood's words about Schneider reveal about the backup mindset — a topic made newly relevant by Blackwood's own situation in Colorado's 2025 playoffs ^[2].

There was also the matter of his gloves. A 2020 InGoal piece by Kevin Woodley detailed how Blackwood spent a significant stretch of his early NHL career wearing equipment that belonged to other goalies — first a CCM glove from Schneider, then one made for Jhonas Enroth, with a Sergei Bobrovsky glove serving as his practice option — the result of a misstep when ordering his own ^[3]. The full story, including video from the Devils' room with Blackwood explaining and showing his gloves, is available to InGoal members ^[3].

After six seasons in New Jersey, Blackwood moved to the San Jose Sharks for 2023-24, where he appeared in 44 games and went 10-25 with a 3.45 GAA and .899 save percentage — his highest game total in a single season and a difficult year on a rebuilding team.

The move to Colorado changed the statistical picture. In 2024-25 with the Avalanche, Blackwood went 22-12 in 37 games with a 2.33 GAA and .913 save percentage, recording 3 shutouts — his lowest GAA across any of his eight NHL seasons. Into the 2025-26 season, he has continued in that range: 39 games played, 23 wins, 10 losses, a 2.51 GAA, a .904 save percentage, and 3 shutouts.

Through the 2025-26 season, Blackwood's NHL career totals stand at 291 games played, 126 wins, 113 losses, 30 overtime losses, a 2.90 career GAA, a .906 career save percentage, and 17 shutouts across more than 16,379 minutes of ice time.

During the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Blackwood found himself in a tandem arrangement with Scott Wedgewood, receiving two starts in the Avalanche's first ten postseason games. The InGoal article by Colin Hodd ^[2] examines that circumstance through the lens of what Blackwood said about Schneider years earlier on the podcast — and what the backup experience that shaped one of his goaltending idols may have taught him about navigating his own.

InGoal Magazine has covered Mackenzie Blackwood in one podcast appearance and two InGoal articles.