New Jersey Devils: 5 Worthwhile Goalie Options This Offseason
The conversation surrounding the New Jersey Devils this offseason has been fixated on the NHL Draft and what the team will do with the second-overall pick. It seems they are down to Juraj Slafkovsky, one of the great defensemen in the draft, or trading it for an absolute superstar.
While getting another superstar forward would be nice, and it’s necessary to round out the top six, the one thing that’s still at the top of the priority list for the Devils is to get a new goalie. Right now, they still have Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier under contract for next season. Nico Daws was decent at times in the NHL, but he often looked overwhelmed and he sputtered in the AHL playoffs. They have options, but these aren’t playoff options unless proven otherwise.
The Devils need to look long and hard at who might be available this season. Bernier is likely going to miss at least the beginning of next season after he had hip surgery earlier this year. They can’t go into next season with Blackwood, coming off his worst season, and Daws, who really needs a full season in the AHL to develop.
The Devils could look at free agents and trade options. We once really liked Jack Campbell coming off a good season from the Maple Leafs, but then we looked a little deeper at his stats and realized maybe they should look elsewhere.
So, who might be the best options for the Devils to fix their goaltending position as the starter? Here are five very different players and situations that fit.
1. Darcy Kuemper
The Colorado Avalanche just made the Stanley Cup Final with Darcy Kuemper as the starting goaltender. He’s obviously going to make a bunch of money this offseason because every free agent coming off a Stanley Cup run makes a premium. This is especially true for a goalie who… wait. Who was the starting goalie in the Western Conference Final? Pavel Francouz took the Avs to the SCF after Kuemper went down with an injury. He’s a really good backup, but he’s still a backup.
Kuemper going down is actually good for the Devils’ prospects here. Kuemper is still the best option on the free agency market, but missing at the end of the Conference Finals while another player takes the team to the promised land doesn’t help the other player’s wallet. Kuemper is still the best option, but the options are extremely limited. It’s not like the market was last season when you can see multiple players getting starter’s money on the free-agent market.
This is obviously one of the Devils’ options that comes with no return compensation. They just have to give Kuemper money and cap space. That’s intriguing, but he will have other suitors. The Devils give him an interesting option, but if Francouz can give the Avs a Cup, then he likely has to find another home.
2. Robin Lehner
The Vegas Golden Knights are in a strange position this offseason. They are coming off a season where they missed the playoffs for the first time. They fired their head coach Peter DeBoer, in part thanks to the Devils. They have $200,000 in cap space next season. That’s not enough to upgrade anything. That’s without a backup goalie.
The Knights just might want to reset themselves in general. They made the move last year to trade Marc-Andre Fleury coming off a Vezina Trophy season. The Knights have no qualms trading players when they feel like doing it. The issue is they don’t have a better option behind Lehner. In fact, they don’t have any option behind him. Maybe a Lehner-Blackwood swap would make sense for the Knights? It would give them a younger option that’s cheaper. The Devils would get a more guaranteed option that they desperately need.
There is risk here since Lehner is coming off an injury-plagued season, and the Devils have been here before. They’ve dealt with goalies getting older and dealing with injuries that made them much worse than they were before. Lehner isn’t dealing with hip injuries like Cory Schneider once had to, but knee injuries can be scary as well. Lehner reportedly had surgery, and hopefully he will be ready for the start of next season.
Maybe the Devils can sign a Scott Wedgewood type to get them through the first part of the season until Bernier can return, and they can try a Lehner-Bernier combo to try and get them to the postseason.
3. Spencer Knight
This would obviously be a huge splash as the Florida Panthers show no signs of wanting to trade away their top goalie prospect, but they do have Sergei Bobrovsky. He is signed for four more seasons at $10 million a clip. That will be hard to make as the backup. Knight was given a chance to take on the backup job this season, but he ended up playing 11 games with the Charlotte Checkers trying to find his game.
Knight had a rough start to last season, but he finished the year with a .908 save percentage. He had a .919 save percentage in March and was even better in April. He’s proving that he’s ready to take on a bigger role at just 21 years old.
With his great end of the year, the Devils would have to pay out the nose in order to get Knight on the team. Maybe they are willing to do that. It’s honestly going to cost something in the range of the second-overall pick. That’s a hefty price to pay, but it might lead to a secure goaltending position for the next decade. It seems like the Devils would be willing to pay any price to get solid puck stoppers. Knight would be the highest price possible.
Making this move changes a lot for the Devils. They can no longer make a big splash with the second-overall pick to get a forward for Jack Hughes, but we think he’d understand. It’s highly unlikely the Panthers would say yes to any trade for Knight, but you never know until you ask.
4. Linus Ullmark
The Boston Bruins are in a spot they haven’t been in for a long time. They are facing a possible rebuild. Patrice Bergeron could retire. Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy could miss the first few months of the season. David Pastrnak could be asking for a trade. It might be curtains for the Bruins’ run as one of the best teams in the NHL.
Last offseason, they made a huge move to try and replace Tuukka Rask, who ended up trying to come back anyway. They signed Linus Ullmark to a four-year deal that pays him $5 million per season. He ended up losing the starting job to Jeremy Swayman, who at 23 years old became the playoff starter against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Ullmark is now sitting here with a bad contract for the Bruins. He’s one of many, but he’s one of the only ones with term. Three years at $5 million per is an anchor the Bruins don’t want, even in a rebuild. It would be hard for the Devils to give them an out on that contract, but it could be an interesting proposition. If the Devils strike out on some other starter options, Ullmark is a good backup plan. He would cost less than a lot of other options since the Bruins want out of that contract.
Here’s the thing, Ullmark was actually really good this season. He had a .917 save percentage. In fact, he’s never had a season with under a .900 save percentage. He’s only had one under .910. He’s a really consistent goalie who just hasn’t had name recognition. The Devils would be lucky to get him.
5. Ilya Samsonov
This one is banking on talent, and that’s scary for the New Jersey Devils right now. Ilya Samsonov’s numbers aren’t great, but he was the reason the Washington Capitals felt like they could easily let Braden Holtby, who won them their only Stanley Cup, go to the Vancouver Canucks. Then, he kind of fell apart. Last season, he finished the year with an .896 save percentage. He was consistently bad, with just one month over a .905 save percentage.
However, this is a former first-round pick who the Capitals felt at one time was their goalie of the future. That’s no longer the case, and Samsonov is going to the highest bidder since it seems like the Capitals are primed to get an upgrade. What is the highest bid?
He’s struggled a lot against high-danger chances. The Devils really want to find someone who can stop those chances since it’s a system under Lindy Ruff who prioritizes speed and offense.
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Still, Samsonov is an interesting option. We’ve seen players get out of a city and turn it around. Samsonov is just 25 years old, but is bringing him in just signing you up for two Blackwoods? The Devils need to understand the risks here, but it might be an intriguing option to put him and Blackwood together until Bernier returns. Then, the Devils are basically buying two lottery tickets hoping to hit.