San Jose Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood is hoping a small addition to his offseason training regimen can make a positive impact on his health after he went through another injury-plagued year with the New Jersey Devils this past season.
Blackwood, acquired by the Sharks from the Devils last week, began to practice yoga and is also trying out Pilates to help avoid some of the soft tissue injuries that have caused him to miss a significant amount of time since the start of the 2021-2022 season. Blackwood experienced an MCL sprain near the start of last year and later suffered a groin injury – maladies that allowed him to play only 22 games last season after he played in just 25 the year before.
“I’ve been doing it for months now into this offseason and I feel good. I feel great,” said Blackwood, who had a 19-16-6 record and a .893 save percentage over the last two years. “I think it’s going to go a long way (in the) long term for me, so I’m just excited. Trying to switch things up a little bit here and trying to help with the longevity and the flexibility.”
Blackwood’s health is obviously vital if he has any hope of recapturing the form he showed in his first two NHL seasons. From 2018-2020, Blackwood had a combined save percentage of .916 to go with a 32-24-8 record. He finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year in 2019-2020 when he had a .915 save percentage.
“There were some good moments, but it just kept getting derailed by injuries or some unfortunate situations,” Blackwood said of the last two years. “But I’m healthy now and I’m just excited to try and get my game back on track and start putting it together.”
The Sharks would gladly take the numbers Blackwood put up earlier in his career considering they had an NHL-worst team save percentage of .881 this past season. The Sharks, after acquiring Blackwood from the Devils for the bargain price of a 2023 sixth-round draft pick, gave the 26-year-old goalie a two-year, $4.7 million contract.
General manager Mike Grier, who saw Blackwood at his best when he was an assistant coach with the Devils from 2018-2020, said the Sharks examined his medical files and felt it was worthwhile to bring him to San Jose.
“We’re pretty confident that he’ll be in a good spot here when camp starts,” Grier said. “I know he’s excited and in a good frame of mind.”
Blackwood’s health issues, his contract status as a restricted free agent, and the emergence of goalie Akira Schmid led the Devils to go in a different direction with their goaltending.
Vitek Vanecek established himself as New Jersey’s No. 1 goalie last season with 33 wins, and Schmid became a playoff hero of sorts for the team as it advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs. All of that led Blackwood to feel like he was going to be the odd man out in Newark.
Now Blackwood joins a Sharks team that knows what he’s capable of doing. Besides his connection to Grier, Blackwood also had Fabian Zetterlund as a Devils teammate and was teammates with both Kevin Labanc and Givani Smith with the Barrie Colts of the OHL a decade ago.
“I kind of saw the writing on the wall there my last season,” Blackwood said. “I just figured that it was kind of time for a change and they felt the same way. I kind of figured (a trade) was going to happen. I didn’t know exactly where, when, or what it was going to be, but seeing this go to where it is now, I’m excited about a new opportunity and it seems like a great spot.”
A ZETTERLUND BOUNCE-BACK?: Zetterlund was given a two-year, $2.9 million deal last week as a restricted free agent, a sign that the Sharks are confident in the winger’s ability to make an impact this season.
Zellerlund struggled to produce at the end of last season after he was acquired from the Devils in February as part of the return for Timo Meier. He had just three assists in the final 22 games of the season and saw his ice time slip from 14:28 minutes per game in March to 12:09 in April. With the Devils that season, Zetterlund had 20 points in 45 games.
The trade was the first of Zetterlund’s career, and he remarked that the transition to a new city, with new teammates and a new coaching staff wasn’t easy for him.
“It was my first trade and I’m still pretty young and everything was new, coming to a new rink and meeting new people,” said Zetterlund, who turns 24 in August. “It was a little bit hard.”
Zetterlund should have an opportunity to start the upcoming season as a middle-six type forward as David Quinn and the Sharks coaching staff figures out line combinations.
The Sharks did not qualify RFA’s Noah Gregor, Evgeny Svechnikov, and Jonah Gadjovich, and allowed Andreas Johnsson and Jeffrey Viel to walk as free agents. Among the newcomers up front are Smith and Anthony Duclair, and rookies like William Eklund and Thomas Bordeleau are expected to challenge for roster spots.
Unlike the rookies, though, Zetterlund is built like an NFL running back at 5-foot-11 and 220 pounds and probably needs to play more on the inside to be effective.
“I know what I’ve got to do to play my best game, and I will do that,” Zetterlund said. “They believe in me and I wanted to be a Shark, too, for a long time. I can help the team.”
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