Devils Hit Their Mark On Most Difficult Item Of Their Summer To-Do List
On their Marks…the Devils are almost all set to go for 2024-25.
New Jersey’s persistence paid off. The team announced on Wednesday that they traded for Calgary goaltender Jacob Markstrom, 34, who led the NHL in high danger save percentage this season (30 games minimum), according to NaturalStatTrick.com. New Jersey sent rising defenseman Kevin Bahl and a top-10 protected 2025 first round pick to the Flames, who retained 31.25% of the two years remaining on Markstrom’s contract (the AAV salary cap hit to the Devils will be $4.125 million).
It was the deal Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald had to make. The organization has wasted several seasons pointing to shoddy play in net as the primary excuse for lackluster results. With Markstrom and Jake Allen, who performed capably after coming over from Montreal at the trade deadline, New Jersey has invested in a pair of veteran goalies with (good) playoff experience.
That Fitzgerald was not only able to protect against disaster with the 2025 pick clause but also held onto the team’s No. 10 overall selection in next week’s NHL Draft soothes the pain from surrendering Bahl. You hate to give up on a 6-foot 6, 23-year old on a cheap contract ($1.05 million AAV) who has the tools to develop into a stud left-handed defenseman, but stay-at-home types are easier to replace than relaible goalies these days.
Besides, the future is now for New Jersey. This season’s 81-point disaster, following a record-setting 2022-23 campaign that saw the team win its first playoff series in 11 years, was unacceptable. Major changes, starting with the hiring of former Toronto Head Coach Sheldon Keefe to man the bench, were obligatory.
What the team needed most is a goalie who can erase the mistakes its young defensemen were prone to making. NHL goalies aren’t measured by the number of “bad” goals they surrender—more than a handful is too many and will get you sent down to the minors—but by stopping shots they have no business turning away. We see it every year: A hot netminder can carry a team deep into the postseason.
And that’s where Markstrom comes in. In the last three seasons, only Ilya Sorokin (Islanders), Igor Shesterkin (Rangers) and Juuse Saros (Predators) have saved more goals above average than Markstrom on high danger scoring chances, per NST.
That figure would have been significantly better had Markstrom not suffer through an off 2022-23 campaign which saw his save percentage dip below .900 for the first time in nine seasons. However, he did bounce back last season, performing at top-ten levels in every metric. No one was better at stopping the most dangerous scoring chances.
Well, at least through the end of February, when constant trade chatter may have affected his performance down the stretch.
New Jersey was one of the teams circling the waters then, but Fitzgerald couldn’t get a deal across the finish line. Instead, he settled on turning Vitek Vanecek and a conditional 2025 third-round pick into Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen, who will surely sign elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent, to play out the string.
Fitzgerald was playing the long game. With Markstrom now on the books at a reduced cap hit, the Devils have just a little over $6 million allocated to their goalies for next season, leaving Fitzgerald with about $16 million in cap room to make further improvements. Of the Devils’ own free agents, only Dawson Mercer, who is restricted, is a must sign.
Of course, Fitzgerald has to pay attention to future obligations, such as when Luke Hughes becomes an RFA after next season. Still, the Devils have the wherewithal, especially if No. 10 remains in play, to plug the few remaining holes, not just Bahl’s.
The bottom line is that the most difficult item on the Devils’ summer to-do list, has now been checked off. Finally.