Friday Feels: The Thankless Case of Mackenzie Blackwood
Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
The Avs #1 Goalie has been good, yet somehow fans have drummed up a goalie controversy? Why? I experienced something last week that I think Mackenzie Blackwood can relate to lately, and it’s all because of you Avalanche fans. Last week in my column I told y’all I got engaged, and not one of you congratulated me for it. Too Late! Don’t come at me with congrats messages now! That ship has sailed.
Mackenzie Blackwood probably knows the feeling - the deep despair of a fanbase not giving you your flowers when you clearly deserve them. Despite posting a .919 save percentage, a 2.15 goals against average, and a 21-8 record in Avalanche burgundy and blue, a couple great games from career backup Scott Wedgewood led fans to drum up a starting goaltender controversy out of nowhere. It’s unconscionable.
stats from statmuse.com
Like me sitting at my desk reading the comments on last week’s article looking for just one reader to say something like ‘congrats on the engagement btw,’ ‘nice job getting engaged bro,’ or ‘marriage is gonna rock my dawg,’ I have to assume Blackwood spent last week recovering from an illness that caused him to miss a game and some practices scrolling Avs twitter and reddit seeing post after post, comment after comment suggesting that maybe Wedgewood should be the starter for the playoffs thinking ‘don’t these people have any respect? Can’t they see Wedgie is great in managed matchups but doesn’t have the starting netminder bonafides I do? Why didn’t they congratulate Ezra on his engagement like I did?’
It’s just unreasonable, folks. Blackwood shut out the LA Kings last night and that hopefully quieted the haters, but if you’re considering still voicing this ludicrous idea that Wedgewood should take over the net, just look at the advanced stats:
Goals Saved Above Expected per game: Blackwood .344, Wedgewood .113Goals Against Average Over Expected Goals: Blackwood .34, Wedgewood .11High Danger Save Percentage Over Expected: Blackwood .114, Wedgewood .076Wins Above Replacement: Blackwood 2.80, Wedgewood .35
Ok? I know these numbers without context are maybe hard to read, but anyone can tell Blackwood’s are all higher and that’s good - plus, the raw data doesn’t even consider that Wedgewood mostly gets the easier matchups, the first half of back to backs, and isn’t tasked with consecutive starts very often.
Look, Wedgewood’s a very good backup and he’s made some very acrobatic highlight reel saves of late that make the idea of him getting more starts seem fun and right, but the simple truth is Blackwood is a better goalie. There is no goalie controversy here.
The only controversy is why Avs fans can’t give seem to give love to people like Mackenzie and I, who work so hard for them.
FRIDAY FEELS
Love a week full of wins! Let’s do Wins and Fails - and yeah, of course the biggest fail was you all not congratulating me.
Win: Goals EVERYWHERE
Ooh man if you like offense, you like the Colorado Avalanche this week. 14 total tallies in three games, from all over the lineup. Martin Necas led the way with 3, Logan O’Connor had 2, and 9 other guys put pucks in the net this week. That’s balance. That’s power.
Win: Powerplay on Fire!
Both powerplay units even got on the board! Over three games, the Avs PP scored 5 goals on seven chances. That’s absurd production, but continues a trend lately - Colorado’s powerplay has been scoring at a near 50% pace in 2025, all while working in new players and evolving strategies that come with different pieces fitting together.
Jonathan Drouin blasts one home, and Nathan MacKinnon has extended his home point streak to 23 games!
: @espn ➡️ http://plus.espn.com— NHL (Bot) (@notnhl.bsky.social) 2025-03-28T04:30:10.645Z
Fail: Defense Injuries
Losing defenders to injury was literally my only fear with the Avs roster post-trade deadline and lo and behold it happened almost immediately. Josh Manson went down, then Sam Girard and Erik Johnson. Girard is already back and EJ seems to be close, thankfully. Colorado needs some health luck in the postseason, especially on the blueline where asking too much of Keaton Middleton and Sam Malinski (who y’all already know I love) feels very risky.
Win: Keaton Middleton’s possession metrics!
He may be a guy I’m very nervous to see in the playoffs, but Middleton rocked this week. Despite a wild series of errant passes in the Detroit game that had me cackling, he posted the best Corsi For % among Avs defenders in both the Montreal and LA games — not what you expect from the big rugged D-man. On top of that, he led the defense in Expected Goals For % against the Habs and Wings, and allowed only three high danger chances across the three games AND played two whole minutes shorthanded without surrendering even one shot on goal. Maybe - just maybe - he could be ready for prime time after all.
PREDICTIONS
Well I certainly nailed the three wins! And I got the Malinski and Nelson points against the Canadiens - on the first two goals of the game, no less. I was also right that the Detroit game would be the least close finish, but that wasn’t a tough guess. I also had A game finishing 5-4, just not the right one — I was sure the Kings would be a tougher matchup than the Habs, but Montreal nearly rallied back and LA barely even showed up. Hockey is hard to predict! Let’s try again:
Saturday vs. St. Louis: 5-2 W, PK gives up no goalsMonday vs. Calgary: 6-1 W, at least 3 points from Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnonWednesday @ Chicago: 2-0 W, Wedgewood makes less than 25 savesThursday @ Columbus: 4-3 W, goals from Malinski and Charlie Coyle...
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