"I wasn't ready to play": Mackenzie Blackwood reveals New Jersey Devils asked him to play despite not having fully recovered from injury

By Abhishek Dilta

Modified Mar 06, 2024 07:50 GMT

Mackenzie Blackwood, the former New Jersey Devils goalie now with the San Jose Sharks, recently spoke about how his former team, the Devils, mishandled his injury and playing time before he fully recovered.

According to reporter Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, Blackwood sustained a groin injury during the Sharks' 7-2 defeat to the Devils last week. The 27-year-old netminder is expected to be back between the sticks 'within a week or so'.

After spending five seasons and appearing in 152 games, the New Jersey Devils traded Mackenzie Blackwood to the San Jose Sharks last season.

His tenure with the Devils was hit with significant injury issues which later turned out to be one of the key factors in his trade from New Jersey.

San Jose Sharks v Colorado Avalanche

Mackenzie Blackwood has regained his form and feels healthier than he has ever been in his career since wearing the San Jose jersey.

In an interview with The Hockey News, the netminder revealed that he had to leave the game against the Devils due to a minor groin injury:

"It wasn't terrible, but it was enough that I don't want to make it worse," Blackwood said today. "[It's] just a little groin [tweak], but it's not very bad. Very mild. It's almost healed."

Mackenzie Blackwood further discussed his difficult experience with his injury situation at the New Jersey Devils.

Blackwood mentioned that he and the training staff had discussions about his return, but due to the club's struggle in the league at the time, he felt pressured to play even though he didn't feel fully ready due to the ankle injury:

"At the time when I had my big ankle thing, they were struggling, and you know, I wasn't ready to play," Blackwood said. "I thought I wasn't ready, but they thought it was fine."

Blackwood added:

"It was conversations. We talked about it together. Obviously, you can always say no," Blackwood explained. "It was one of those conversations we had where it's probably not going to get worse if you keep going, but it might take longer to get back to 100."

---

Mackenzie Blackwood didn't give enough time to fully recover

During the interview, Mackenzie Blackwood also revealed that when he first got injured in New Jersey, he didn't give himself enough time to fully recover before returning to play.

This led to a series of injuries, including his ankle and the other side of his body:

"When I first got hurt in New Jersey, I never really treated it properly in terms of waiting till I was fully healthy to start trying to play and play a lot again," Blackwood said on February 26th. "It just compiled."

"I did my ankle, and I did my groin, and then I did my other side just because everything is just overworking each other, right?. So I never really waited long enough for my body to be ready to handle a full 82-game workload," he added.

Due to injuries, Mackenzie Blackwood was limited to only 22 games last season, posting a 10-6-2 record with an SV% of .893. This season, he has posted a 9-18-3 record with an SV% of .899, including one shutout win.