3 Free Agent Goalie Options New Jersey Devils Must Sign This Offseason
In yet another season where we’ll likely see the New Jersey Devils finish in the bottom five of the NHL, there have been more positives in comparison to recent seasons. Jack Hughes has emerged as a potential future Hart trophy winner, scoring unlike he has in previous seasons, and some young defensemen have really begun to establish themselves.
Despite all these success stories, something really holding the team back has been their lack of efficiency at the goaltending position. New Jersey has used a grand total of seven goaltenders throughout the course of the regular season. None of them are likely going to be the long-time starter unless something changes. With every Devils fan looking forward to what is likely to be another eventful offseason, here are three goaltenders the Devils should look to sign.
1) Vitek Vanecek
With the Devils having a large amount of money available to be spent this offseason, it would without a doubt be in their best interest to throw a large portion of that money at Washington Capitals goalie Vitek Vanecek.
The 26-year-old recorded a 2.60 goals-against average along with a save percentage of .910. While those numbers aren’t necessarily at the top of the pack, none of the seven Devils’ netminders who have seen the ice have stats that come close to that. The sophomore goalie would improve the Devils’ chances to be competitive instrumentally.
Additionally, it’s rare in today’s NHL to find a goalie as young as Vanecek with the UFA label. With New Jersey’s roster being the youngest in the league in terms of average age, the Czechia native will help continue the trend of youth that Devils management is trying to establish.
How does he benefit the Devils?
In comparison to a lot of the other free-agent goalies, Vanecek is still developing and has by far the least amount of NHL experience of the bunch. With the window New Jersey has with studs like Hamilton, the aforementioned Hughes, Hischier, etc. having a goaltender with plenty of career length left might be in the best interest of the Devils.
Vanecek could without a doubt be one of the more sought out goalies in this Summer’s sweepstakes and this team definitely has the finances to make it happen. In the end, if we do end up seeing Vanecek in Devils red rather than Capitals red come 2022-2023, it will be an instant improvement in comparison to where New Jersey is currently by quite a bit.
2) Darcy Kuemper
After an inconsistent first nine seasons of his NHL career, Darcy Kuemper has settled in and is in the midst of his best NHL season after being acquired by the Colorado Avalanche this past offseason. It’s the best opportunity he’s been given to be the full-time starter on his team. The Saskatoon, Canada native by season’s end will have played the most games of his career, while also having a goals-against average of 2.51 and a .922 save percentage.
Despite playing with an elite NHL offense, Kuemper deserves a lot of credit as to why the Avalanche are 1st in the Western Conference with 116 points and are serious contenders to win the Stanley Cup in June.
How does he benefit the Devils?
In the last couple of seasons, New Jersey has had a very bad break when it comes to the availability of veteran goalies they’ve signed. Last year after Corey Crawford was expected to relieve Mackenzie Blackwood’s load, the Chicago Blackhawks legend decided to call it a career. This season it took just eight starts for Jonathan Bernier to be sidelined for the season with a hip injury.
This year Kuemper has proven he can stay healthy over the course of a full year and can help New Jersey out by simply being available. While there will be a lot of kinks to work out including depth, it’s definitely been proven that especially in the Devils’ case, you can never have too many goalies.
While similar Kuemper, similar to Vanecek, should have a lot of interest on the market this Summer, the Holy Cross High School graduate is someone New Jersey can definitely afford and should definitely be in communication with him once free agency commences.
3) Braden Holtby
Braden Holtby is a player whose future is a little up in the air. After a lengthy tenure with the Washington Capitals, his career seemingly took a bit of a spiral beginning last season in Vancouver and going into this year with the Dallas Stars.
While the production on Holtby’s end has declined, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be a productive addition to the Devils’ roster in 2022-2023. While he was in Washington, Holtby has won plenty of playoff games, has a Stanley Cup, and simply has been in a productive organization throughout his time in the NHL.
Additionally, despite his reduction, he still has performed better than the majority of goaltenders to play in the crease for NJD so it’s still an improvement of some kind.
How would he help the Devils?
Sure Holtby checks off the veteran box as Kuemper does, but like it was mentioned earlier, he knows what it’s like to win, something this roster desperately needs. Even if he doesn’t play that much, Holtby can bring that positive mindset that the young goalies need to learn how to play with.
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In the end, the Lloydminster native would be a great vocal piece on the roster who won’t require much cap at the end of the day. Even if the Devils decide to add another goaltender this Summer, Holtby wouldn’t be a bad consideration at all especially if Bernier isn’t ready to go.