The San Jose Sharks have acquired goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reported Tuesday afternoon.
Blackwood, 26, posted a 10–6–2 record and a .893 save percentage in 22 games with the Devils during the 2022–23 regular season. He did not appear for the Devils during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Devils originally selected Blackwood in the second round (No. 42 overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft. The Thunder Bay, Ontario product is set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights on July 1.
Blackwood is due a one-year, $3.36M qualifying offer from the Sharks on June 30.
Blackwood made his NHL debut with the Devils during the 2018–19 season, posting a 10–10–0 record and a .918 save percentage in 23 games. He took another step forward in 2019–20, going 22–14–8 with a .915 save percentage in 47 appearances.
Since then, Blackwood’s numbers have declined significantly. He went from a .902 save percentage in 2020–21 to a .892 in 2021–22. He dealt with MCL and groin injuries during the 2022–23 season and played two games in the AHL with the Utica Comets.
Through 152 games over parts of five seasons with the Devils, Blackwood has posted a 65–57–18 record, eight shutouts, and a .906 save percentage. He has yet to play a game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With Blackwood now in the fold, the Sharks have three goaltenders under contract for next season (Kaapo Kahkonen, Georgi Romanov and Magnus Chrona) and three in need of qualifying offers on June 30 (Blackwood, Strauss Mann and Eetu Makiniemi).
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