LeBrun: Mackenzie Blackwood, in his first playoffs, has a chance to improve his Olympic stock

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DALLAS — Health. Confidence. A change of scenery.

MacKenzie Blackwood needed all three of those things by the time his five years were done in New Jersey.

In many ways, while it felt like a low point in his career, the Devils dealing his rights to San Jose in the summer of 2023 was the fresh start the netminder needed.

While playing goal for a last-place team gutting its roster in a major rebuild may not sound that appealing, Blackwood rebuilt his game in San Jose, which eventually piqued the attention of the Avalanche this season. It’s hard to imagine where the Avs would be now without making that Dec. 9 trade with the Sharks.

But that trade never happens without the 28-year-old goalie first finding his footing again in San Jose.

“He was great for us,’’ Evgeni Nabokov, director of goaltending for the Sharks, told The Athletic via text message Saturday night. “He is everything you want to have in an NHL goalie: size, technique, explosive, reads the game well. Him and (Sharks goalie) Thomas Speer had a great chemistry. And he’s a great teammate.’’

Asked what the Sharks tweaked in Blackwood’s technical game, Nabokov responded: “Nothing dramatic, some small changes. Corrections from game to game.’’

Just being healthy was huge. His last two years in New Jersey were injury plagued, limited to 25 games in 2021-22 and 22 games in 2022-23.

He started this season on the rebuilding Sharks posting a .911 save percentage in 19 games, and it was enough to convince Avs GM Chris MacFarland not only to trade for the 28-year-old on Dec. 9, but to extend the pending UFA just five games into his Avalanche career to a five-year contract paying him a $5.25 million AAV per season.

It was wild in so many ways that the Avalanche felt comfortable enough signing him just 18 days after acquiring him (although the Avs’ front office had long done its homework on him before the trade). On the flip side, getting traded mid-season can be unsettling for a player, but obviously Blackwood felt comfortable enough in his new surroundings to sign on the dotted line rather quickly, too.

“Yeah, I mean, came to Colorado, good team, good people, felt it right away and they offered me a great contract. So I mean it seemed like the perfect storm,’’ Blackwood said Saturday night, smiling after backstopping the Avs to a 5-1 win in Game 1.

Seven years into his NHL career, 10 years after he was drafted 42nd overall by the Devils, Blackwood appeared in his first NHL playoff game Saturday. And boy did he make it count. He was outstanding and certainly didn’t look like a guy playing in his first NHL playoff game.

“It was pretty special,’’ Blackwood said. “You know, I’ve been waiting to play in the playoffs for a long time, and it was great to finally get my first one.”

Par for the course since Blackwood got to Colorado.

“Yeah, I mean, he’s incredible,’’ superstar Avs blueliner Cale Makar said postgame Saturday night. “When you have a guy like that back there that gives you that confidence, he’s very calm in the net, so you know if you do something or make a mistake, he’s going to be there. And he definitely showed up tonight. Hopefully he can continue to do it because he’s a huge piece of our team, and a great guy and a great player.’’

Spend five minutes in the Avalanche dressing room and this much is clear: The players in there appreciate that their front office traded for both Blackwood as well as veteran goalie Scott Wedgwood in-season.

I mean, how often does a team swap out both their goalies in-season? Not to mention the fact the Avs revamped so much of their roster in general this season.

“For us, the two moves that were probably the ones that we weren’t really thinking about or focused on going into the year was the goaltending moves,’’ MacFarland told me on March 8. “To make two trades on that front certainly wasn’t planned or contemplated in training camp.’’

But when Alexandar Georgiev stumbled out of the gates (.874 save percentage in 18 games with Colorado this season) and couldn’t seem to recover, MacFarland didn’t hesitate. Why? Because Colorado’s window to win won’t be forever. They won the Cup three years ago and have to keep taking swings until that window closes on them.

Again, where would the Avs be now without both goalies trades?

“I mean, I’m happy we did, you know?,’’ Avs superstar center Nathan MacKinnon said postgame Saturday night. “We have two No. 1s, I think, and obviously MacKenzie had a great night. He’s got to stay locked in and get ready for Game 2.’’

Added the Avs’ Charlie Coyle: “Enough can’t be said about the saves that he made tonight. He was awesome. Every time we needed a big save, he was there to keep us tied, keep us ahead. Every step of the way it was, they got a chance, we had a little breakdown, and he shut the door. You need that in playoff time to win these tight games. It’s a game of inches and he earned it. And, yeah, enough can’t be said about the game that he’s played tonight.’’

The Avs appreciate the goalie but also the person in Blackwood.

“Very outgoing, just cheerful, always in a good mood, great teammate,” said MacKinnon. “When you love your goalie, you want to play hard for them, block shots for them. When he’s locked in like that, he’s so hard to beat. He’s so big and so athletic.’’

The 6-4 Blackwood tried to approach his first career playoff game without overthinking it.

“Yeah, I mean, the way I approached the game today was the same, obviously a little bit more intensity, you could feel it around the rink,’’ said the native of Thunder Bay, Ont. “But I mean, you have to go to the same job. I don’t want to change things about my game. You know I know what I have to do to have that success. So try to just approach it like a big game and, you know, go do the best I could.”

It’s early days in these Stanley Cup playoffs to be sure. But if this turns into a deep playoff run for the Avalanche with Blackwood shining in net, you know who else will be paying attention? Doug Armstrong and Jon Cooper and the rest of the Team Canada Olympic brain trust, that’s who. Armstrong, Team Canada’s Olympic GM, talks often about how important the Stanley Cup playoffs are on a player’s resume and a chance to improve one’s stock. Blackwood has a chance this spring to force his way into the Olympic conversation.

For now, he’s enjoying finally having got a taste of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

(Photo: Raymond Carlin III / Imagn Images)

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