Goalie tandem of Markstrom, Allen gives Devils a serious fighting chance in 2024-25
On Wednesday, the New Jersey Devils finally found their goalie, trading defenseman Kevin Bahl and a 2025 first-round pick to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Jacob Markstrom.
Trade Details:
To #njdevils: G Jacob Markstrom
To #Flames: NJD 2025 1st Round Pick*, D Kevin Bahl#Flames are retaining 30% on Markstrom, knocking Markstrom down to $4 mil AAV. CGY avoids July 1 SB.
*Pick is Top 10 protected.
Markstrom waived his 'no-trade' clause.
Who would have thought after Vitek Vanecek joined Martin Brodeur as the only other Devils goalie to record 30 wins in a season and young Akira Schmid played well in the 2023 playoffs that New Jersey would ride into the 2024-25 season with a goaltending duo of Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen?
Probably nobody.
But the reality is that Vanecek was far too inconsistent, eventually leading to him being traded to the San Jose Sharks in March. And 24-year-old Schmid needs a little more time to cook.
More importantly, the Devils now have a very respectable goalie tandem in place for next season. And with that, a huge opportunity to rise back up among the contenders after missing the playoffs in a very disappointing 2023-24 season.
Tyler Yaremchuk: A deal that really felt like it was going to happen at the last trade deadline when we knew the Devils were hungry for goaltending… The Devils get their guy. Where does this push the Devils to?… Does just getting the goaltending right… Does it make them a legit playoff contender? Does it push them into a contender to win the division next year?
Colby Cohen: I think it puts them right back in the conversation in their division. Obviously, Igor Shesterkin is still the king in goal, and I think the New York Islanders just haven’t really done enough to help themselves. I wonder if Lindy Ruff still has his job if this deal would’ve gotten done last trade deadline…
… Here’s the thing about Markstrom… He’s been up and down in his career. I wouldn’t say you’re getting one of the elites. You might be getting the second-tier top goalies in the NHL… I think it puts them into a conversation to be as good as anybody in that division… If we get an A- version of Jacob Markstrom, this is a team that could very easily be playing in a conference final next year.
Tyler Yaremchuk: What I like is that they have him paired with Jake Allen. It’s now a duo. Jacob Markstrom doesn’t have to play 59 games, 63 games. You can slot him in for a nice even 50.
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