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On Mackenzie Blackwood, John Quenneville and more:
1) On Friday it was announced that Barrie Colts goaltender, and New Jersey Devils prospect, Mackenzie Blackwood has won OHL Goaltender of the Year as the league's best during the 2015-16 season.
The recognition is certainly well deserved as Blackwood owned a 28-13-0 record and finished in a tie for the league lead with a .921 save percentage.
In winning this award Blackwood edged out Erie Otters goaltender Devin Williams (.915 save percentage) and Niagara IceDogs goaltender Alex Ndeljkovic (.907 save percentage).
Blackwood is 11 months younger than Ndeljkovic and more than a year younger than Williams, which makes his strong season that much more impressive.
The Devils have a good one coming.
2) Sticking with Blackwood, Devils GM Ray Shero is looking real smart for what he did at last year's draft. Shero moved down a handful of slots in the 2nd round, got his guy in Blackwood, and picked up Ottawa's 3rd round pick in this year's draft during the process.
The numbers suggest trading down and accumulating more assets works out more often than not and it looks like that will hold true in this case as well.
Gabriel Gagne, the guy Ottawa drafted after trading up, is coming off a somewhat underwhelming season where he posted 36 points in 42 regular season games prior to tallying a point per game in the playoffs. Those aren't great numbers for a high 2nd rounder in his draft+1 year.
At this point Blackwood is showing more promise as a prospect and, again, the Devils picked up a 3rd this year while trading down to get him.
3) John Quenneville's Brandon Wheat Kings are off to the Memorial Cup after picking up an 8-4 win over Seattle on Friday night to clinch the WHL title.
Quenneville finished the WHL playoffs 1st in goals with 16 and 3rd in scoring with 27 points in 21 games.
I look forward to seeing how much he contributes at the Memorial Cup against the best teams the CHL has to offer.
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