Lindy Ruff Offers Details on Mackenzie Blackwood's Injury
Today, Lindy Ruff announced that goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood suffered an MCL sprain during the team's 4-3 over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
Doing a quick Google search, MCL sprains take - on average - six weeks to fully heal, give or take a couple of weeks depending on severity. Blackwood was the Devils' 'starter' as it were - before his injury - but it's as clear-cut a 1A-1B situation as there is in the NHL with Vitek Vanecek.
Both Blackwood and Vanecek have appeared in 7 games to this point, and combined they have backstopped the Devils to their best start since 2012 when they fell in the Stanley Cup Finals.
You could call Ruff's update an optimistic development, at least Devils fans could. Last season they recycled through seven goalies, who combined for one of the worst seasons of goaltending in the modern era. With Jonathan Bernier ahead of schedule, and their AHL goalies - recently recalled Akira Schmid and Nico Daws - are both promising in their own rights. A mere 4-6 week absence is not ideal, but far from the worst case scenario.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 7 | 181 ANSWERS Lindy Ruff Offers Details on Mackenzie Blackwood's Injury If the Devils continue on their pace, where does Lindy Ruff stand in the Jack Adams (best coach) race? | ||
| Ruff should win | 62 | 34.3 % |
| In the race, but not quite there | 70 | 38.7 % |
| Not even close | 49 | 27.1 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||