How the Avalanche’s ‘Lumber Yard’ goalie tandem was built

goaltending tandem can do Can be made overnight. this is it colorado avalanche did when they traded mackenzie blackwood And Scott Wedgwood Within days of each other during the 2024–25 season.

As far as building an authentic relationship between those goaltenders – beyond projecting a harmonious image of smiling at the camera and saying nice things about each other?

It takes time. While Denver is where “The Lumber Yard” tandem is on display, Albany, New York is where the seeds were sown nearly a decade ago.

“We’ve played together in the past and we already have that familiarity,” Blackwood said. “I don’t know how to describe it. That’s just the way he is. He’s a very easy-going guy who is easy to be friends with. He’s very outspoken and cheerful and it’s easy to balance things between being a person like that. It blossomed into what he is now.”

Wedgwood expressed similar sentiments.

Wedgwood said, “I think what we both found is that you’re going your own way, but we can get along well.” “We feel like we can cheer each other on and we don’t want each other to fail. Because then our team fails.”

To understand where Blackwood and Wedgwood are now, it would be helpful to examine the hockey journey they both embarked on. New Jersey Devils‘Agriculture System.

The 33-year-old Wedgwood was a third-round pick in 2010, drafted with the promise that he could someday become an NHL goaltender. Blackwood, 29, was selected in the second round in 2015, with the profile of someone whose athleticism and physical stature meant he could be a future No. 1 option.

But what each of them had to endure to reach the NHL could not have been envisioned or predicted. This had to be tolerated and they had to take separate paths. They were successful in subsequent trips, due to which they were reunited.

The lessons Blackwood and Wedgwood learned before coming to Colorado – and what they learned while playing for the Avalanche – have played a role in creating one of the NHL’s best goaltendings. This is the kind of partnership that can help lead the team to a fourth Stanley Cup.

“They were both still young and had different personalities,” said Rick Kowalski, who was their AHL coach with the Albany Devils. “They were both good teammates who were committed to getting better and wanted to develop before moving on.”

thousands of hockey players – Drafted and Undrafted – shuffled into smaller leagues like the AHL and ECHL. They do so with the hope of reaching the NHL, while understanding that this may never happen. Teammates in those leagues who take different paths can ultimately reach the same destination, whether it’s with the team that drafted them or not.

That’s what happened to Blackwood and Wedgwood when their paths crossed during the 2016-17 season at Albany.

Blackwood was transitioning from junior hockey to the OHL, and Wedgwood had more than three seasons of professional experience, including the ECHL, AHL, and NHL.

Blackwood was trying to prove that he could make it as a professional. Wedgwood was attempting to show that he could make it to the highest professional level. Soon, this will eventually change to a three-goalie rotation that will also include Kenneth Appleby.

“I ended up staying with Scott that year and it was an interesting dynamic,” said Appleby, 31, who split the 2025-26 season between the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones and the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. “It was really cool to know him and be with him. He was a few years older and had already played professionally for a few years and showed me good skills. He was a great example to learn from.”

Appleby said there were times that season when all three were competing for the same net but they still maintained respect for each other.

“Scott pushed us every day in practice and since we were young, we were kind of following Scott around,” Appleby said. “We were learning from him and trying to be as good as him every day in practice. It created a really good competition and a really good dynamic within our group. We were just fed up of each other.”

Although Blackwood and Wedgwood were playing for the same team at the same time, they faced different challenges.

“Blackwood was young in many areas. He was learning the pro game and learning how to live on his own,” Kowalski said. “He did some things during that season that surprised a lot of the big guys, including the coaches.”

Such as?

Kowalski said, “He’s basically built like an NFL linebacker. If he’s not playing and I’m walking through the gym at night, he’s out there lifting 305 pounds like it’s nothing.” “We’re having to keep him away from the gym. He even had a gym bag that he took with him everywhere that was filled with snacks and supplements. I will say this: He knew his body and it wasn’t like he was eating junk food.”

Kowalski laughs remembering other things that made Blackwood a bit of an eccentric as a young professional. He recalled how Blackwood once used his sofa mattress as a pillow to sleep on the team bus. Or how the coaching staff worked with him to develop strong time management skills.

“I remember I had to make him sit next to me because he would come to our meetings at 9 a.m. with coffee and an egg sandwich or something in his hand as the meeting would start,” Kowalski said. “I had to explain to him, ‘Blackie, your day doesn’t start after the team meeting. You have to be ready to go.’ We had baby steps with him and he will learn how to be a professional.”

Wedgwood’s experience at the start of that season was quite different.

He thought in 2016–17 that there was a competition between him and Blackwood to be called up by the Devils first.

Wedgwood said that he saw it as his window closing while Blackwood’s window was still open.

“It has nothing to do with the person. It has everything to do with the situation of ‘that’s my dream versus your dream,'” Wedgwood said. “Then you shake someone’s hand. I think a lot of us know that you can tell in the first five minutes of a conversation whether someone is being real with you or not.”

Wedgwood said similar early interactions laid the foundation for him to establish strong friendships with other goalie partners. Jake OttingerAnti Raanta and Jus Saros.

What about Blackwood? How has their relationship evolved since they first held hands in New York nearly a decade ago?

“With Blackie,” Wedgwood said, “it’s gotten to the point that some days I text him more than my wife. It just depends on what we’re talking about.”

after one season Together in Albany, both goaltenders would compete with different teams before reuniting with the Avalanche.

Wedgwood began the 2017–18 season with the Devils organization, before being traded to the Arizona Coyotes in October. Los Angeles Kings in February. He signed a one-year contract with buffalo saber Another one year deal for 2018-19 tampa bay lightning For 2019-20.

Most of his time away from the Devils was spent in the AHL, but Wedgwood returned to the team that drafted him at the start of the 2020–21 season. That’s when he was reunited with Blackwood, who had emerged as the Devils’ No. 1 goaltender.

His second stint as a teammate would be short-lived. They began the 2020–21 season together before the Coyotes claimed Wedgewood off waivers in November, then were traded in March. dallas stars.

Blackwood enjoyed early success as the Devils’ starter, then struggled in 2021–22 and 2022–23. He was eventually sent to the AHL before being traded by the Devils san jose sharks In June 2023.

While Blackwood was playing for the rebuilding Sharks, Wedgwood was on a Stars team that was a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

Everything changed in 2024-25. Blackwood was still with the Sharks and Wedgwood also joined Nashville Predators After three seasons with the Stars. The Avs were a strong team that was hindered by their supporting cast and their netminders. The goaltending duo of Alexander Georgiev and Justus Annunen Struggled for continuity.

Avs general manager Chris McFarland quickly improved his team’s position on the Nets, trading for Wedgewood in late November before acquiring Blackwood less than two weeks later.

“You don’t really want to look back right now, but over the summer, that’s when you get time to reflect and maybe ask, ‘How did we get here?'” Blackwood said. “I definitely look back on things and I’m curious about how the path turned out the way it did and how it got accomplished, but the path is still going every day.”

back in the dayWedgwood suffered an injury, leaving Blackwood in the No. 1 goalkeeper position. This season, Blackwood was still recovering from off-season lower-body surgery, which gave Wedgwood an extended opportunity to start and finish with the strongest season of his career.

Wedgwood had 31 wins in the regular season, which is all the more impressive considering they had won a total of 30 games the previous two seasons. His .921 save percentage this season was the best full season of his career.

Blackwood (23 wins) finished with more than 20 wins for the second consecutive season, and the third time in his NHL career.

Together, they reflect how the landscape has changed for NHL goaltenders over the years.

like netminders connor hellebuyck, Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin, Andrei Vasilevsky and Saros who can play more than 55 games in a regular season. Other teams use a tandem approach.

Teams that use the tandem will report that it creates less wear and tear on their goaltenders in general, but especially in an 82-game schedule in which travel is more demanding than ever.

“It also shows that you want to work with each other,” Wedgwood said. “Maybe you don’t like your teammates, your goalie coach or you don’t like the things that are going on in the world. No one wants to be in that environment. We’re both happy goalies and I think we fit the bill in terms of characteristics and personality traits.”

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However there is another complication with the tandem in the playoffs: Who will coach Jared Bednar start?

The Avs went with Blackwood in last season’s playoffs – a seven-game loss to Dallas in the first round – but Wedgewood started in Game 1 against the Kings this season. Wedgwood stopped 24 of 25 shots in Colorado’s win.

“Bedsie is going to trap somebody,” Blackwood told ESPN in March. “Whether it’s you or him? When you find out.” [to the playoffs]It’s about the team. It’s not about me. no one cares. I don’t care. Nobody cares about me personally, but it’s about how to take the team as far as possible. When you get to the playoffs, it’s all about the group.”

Just as Wedgwood sounds, Bednar would be equally supportive if he decided to go with Blackwood.

“I think it’s just about being a resource for each other,” Wedgwood said. “There may be a situation where they trust me with travel or anything else. Those are situations you can’t control and if they go to me to give them a break or they take turns. Whatever their plan is, it’s always the team first.”