For months it had been rumored that the Devils were trying to acquire Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames and this week they finally did. Is he the savior in net we’ve been waiting for?
On May 6, I wrote a blog about the Devils searching for a goalie again. In that bog, I argued against adding Markstrom and in favor of acquiring Linus Ullmark or Juuse Saros. Now that the Devils have completed a deal for Markstrom and I’ve had a few days to reflect on the deal, I am feeling more optimistic about Markstrom. Now, is that due to my delusional fandom always wanting to see this team succeed so badly that I am capable of convincing myself anything they do will work out? Possibly. But I mean it’s tough to be upset with this deal when we got a goalie who is literally better than Martin Brodeur and Carey Price. Even Brodeur and Price themselves admit that Markstrom is superior in the video below. So case closed… right?
All kidding aside, Jacob Markstrom is a damn good goalie. If the Devils had acquired him sometime in December or January last season, I have no doubt he could have carried the team to the playoffs. Markstom has proven to be able to hold the opposition to under three goals per game throughout his 13 year NHL career. (2.73 career goals against average). The Devils are a great offensive team with some defensive defects so having a goalie back there that can hold steady under pressure can cover up some of those defects and allow the New Jersey offense to take over the game. The analytic stats back that up and Markstrom was 8th in the NHL last season in “goals saved above expected”, finishing the year ahead of Igor Shesterkin in that category. I’m not a huge analytics guy and disagree with the entire concept of “expected” stats, but take that note for what it’s worth. If the Devils goaltending had been in the top eight in the NHL in anything remotely positive last year, they probably would have made the playoffs. Look at these saves. Adding this between the Devils pipes should make this team a lock for a return to the playoffs in 2025 after a miserable 2024.
The points I made on May 6 against acquiring Markstrom are still valid and make me not love this deal as much as some others do. He is getting older, he has battled injuries, and his save percentage has declined in recent years. However, at the same time, the Devils kept the tenth overall pick and all of our top prospects, so at least Fitzgerald followed my guidance on the return. All in all, this looks like a fair trade right now. The Devils got a proven starting goalie (with Calgary retaining about a third of his salary for the next two seasons) and gave up a bottom pair defenseman (Kevin Bahl) plus a 2025 first round pick. That is a fair price to pay to fix the biggest issue with the team over the past God knows how many years. The Devils will now go into the season with a tandem of Markstrom and Allen in the crease. Markstrom will be the starter with Allen as his backup. Ideally, Markstrom will turn the clock back to 2022 and be a lights out goalie playing in over 60 games with Jake Allen picking up the rest as those two help the Devils return to the playoffs…. I really hope I’m not writing about goaltending sinking the Devils season or what goalies we could acquire in the next 12 months….
The Morning Skate 
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