Tom Fitzgerald moved to the player that was targeted at the trade deadline and was unable to land but this time, Fitzgerald landed his man as the Devils acquired goaltender Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames to cure the Devils issues in net.
New Jersey traded young defenseman Kevin Bahl and the Devils 2025 first-round draft pick to Calgary for Markstrom, which seems to be a pretty good price for a quality goaltender.
Markstrom turns thirty-five during the upcoming season and played well for a non-playoff team last year winning twenty-three of forty-eight games with a 2.78 GAA and a .905 save percentage.
Markstrom was incredible in 2021-22, finishing second in the voting for the Vezina Trophy but tailed off badly in 2022-23 before bouncing back last season.
It's a bit concerning at his age that perhaps Markstrom could be inconsistent, so the Devils are hoping that Markstrom has returned to form and 2022-23 was simply an off year.
New Jersey will use veteran Jake Allen, who the Devils were able to acquire at last year's trade deadline as the backup, going with a two-veteran group after last year's disaster with younger goaltenders Akira Schmid and Nico Daws as the backups to Vitek Vanacek.
Markstrom is under contract for two more seasons and Calgary will be paying for thirty percent of Markstrom's salary, helping the Devils with cap space.
The Devils also retained their first-rounder this season (tenth overall) by sending their 2025 first-rounder and there is added protection as the Devils would keep the pick in the event of the choice falling in the top ten.
The Devils traded Kevin Bahl to Calgary and the twenty-three-year-old defenseman played in all eighty-two games last season, scoring one goal with ten assists and finished with a plus one Plus/Minus.
Bahl has the size (6'6 230 pounds) to be a solid stay-at-home blueliner but his play was inconsistent in his first full season in the league and the Devils are solid at defense in both veterans and young players, so I can understand why Bahl was the selection to move to Calgary.
I can't be disappointed with what the Devils gave up for Jacob Markstrom.
They kept a top-ten pick, and protected their 2025 from the top ten, and while I like Kevin Bahl, I would have been more disappointed with losing other young players.
At thirty-four, Jacob Markstrom is not going to solve the Devils problems over the long term but hopefully, Markstrom can bridge the gap to an eventual long haul mainstay.
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