Blackwood signs three-year, $8.4 million contract with Devils

Mackenzie Blackwood
signed a three-year, $8.4 million contract with the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday. It has an average annual value of $2.8 million.

The 24-year-old goalie, who was a restricted free agent, led NHL rookies in wins last season, when he was 22-14-8 with a 2.77 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and three shutouts in 47 games (43 starts) with the Devils.
"Mackenzie is going to be one of the key young, core pieces for this organization for a long time, and we are excited and extremely happy to have him under contract," general manager Tom Fitzgerald said. "He's obviously shown that he can be a No. 1 goalie, and the sky's the limit for him."

Selected by New Jersey in the second round (No. 42) of the 2015 NHL Draft, Blackwood is 32-24-8 with a 2.72 GAA, .916 save percentage and five shutouts in NHL 70 games (64 starts).
"This is special because it gives me a chance to continue doing what I love, gives me three years to be back and to be with this team and to do the thing I love and keep working on my craft," Blackwood said. "It's really exciting and a really new experience for me. I've never negotiated a contract before, but I have nothing but good feelings here. I'm really fortunate and thankful to be back."
Blackwood is expected to share time in goal with 35-year-old Corey Crawford, who agreed to a two-year contract Oct. 9, one day after the Devils placed goalie
Cory Schneider
on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buyout.
Crawford went 16-20-3 with a .917 save percentage and one shutout for the Chicago Blackhawks last season. He joined the Devils after 13 seasons and two Stanley Cup championships (2013, 2015) with the Blackhawks but hasn't played more than 40 games in any of the past three seasons and missed time in 2017-18 and 2018-19 because of concussions.
Blackwood said Crawford "reached out to me in the summer and we chatted a little bit. I know people who've played with him, and just from talking to him briefly, he seems like a super nice guy. I grew up watching him play, so it's exciting to have a guy with all that experience under his belt and, of course, the Stanley Cups. It's just nice to be able to have a guy like that around to be able to learn from, see what works for him and what doesn't.
"I think being able to watch him and watch his patience and poise will be good for me to watch and try and implement into my game."
NHL.com staff writer Mike G. Morreale contributed to this report