The New Jersey Devils have a ton of goalies all over the world in their system. Evan Cormier is a player most of us forgot about, but he’s appeared once again.
The Binghamton Devils made a surprise announcement on Saturday, giving a tryout to a player the New Jersey Devils drafted a while ago.
OFFICIAL: #BingDevils sign goaltender Evan Cormier to amateur tryout!
— Binghamton Devils (@BingDevils) December 29, 2018
With MacKenzie Blackwood now getting starts in the NHL, Eddie Lack hurt for the foreseeable future and a very questionable situation surrounding Cory Schneider, the Devils AHL affiliate needed someone to fill the backup role to Cam Johnson.
That’s where this Devils team took a blast from the past to fill that role. Evan Cormier was signed to a professional tryout.
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Cormier was the Devils 4th round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft. He’s still just 21 years old, and has a lot of promise. He spent four years with the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL, and didn’t really put up impressive numbers. In those four seasons, he never posted a save percentage over .900.
This season, Cormier was playing very well with the University of Guelph Gryphons. He has a .926 save percentage and a 2.27 goals against average. This is, however, against much worse competition. The Gryphons most notable alumni is Ken Lockett, who had a cup of coffee with the Vancouver Canucks in the 70s.
Now, Cormier has built some confidence, and he sees if he can turn it into something. This is a very young goalie, who the Devils knew needed some time. He was a fourth-round pick, so Ray Shero and company understood what it took to get this guy ready. He needed time.
With Giles Senn and Akira Schmid also in the prospect rankings in net, and with Blackwood and Johnson hitting their stride, Cormier may not have a long-term spot in the organization, but it’s nice to see he’s getting the chance to prove himself worthy. He could make things very interesting if he plays well.