Despite the New Jersey Devils having a roster logjam at just about every position, they made a waiver acquisition early Sunday afternoon, claiming goaltender Rémi Poirier from the Dallas Stars.
The 24-year-old netminder was selected in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, the very same draft that the Devils selected Nico Daws three rounds prior. Over the years, Poirier has established himself as one of the AHL’s premier young goaltenders, putting up consistently strong stats with the Texas Stars and ultimately working his way up to being their bona fide starter.
In 2025-26, Poirier appeared in a whopping 52 games — tied for the league lead — with Texas, posting a pristine .912 save percentage (SV%) on a strong AHL squad. Among the 11 goalies to log at least 40 games played, that SV% ranked second. The 6’2, 205-pound goalie has more than proven his worth at that level, and the Devils’ front office clearly rates him high enough to believe he can take that next step. As a distant third on the depth chart behind Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith, Poirier hasn’t even logged an NHL game in his career.
The Devils added a goalie and could lose one to waivers
In a corresponding transaction, the Devils sent veteran netminder David Rittich to waivers. Rittich, an NHL backup for several years, was expected to be the Devils' third-stringer behind Jake Allen and Daws. Rittich was signed to a one-year, $1 million contract on July 3rd.
Most assumed the Devils would have a three-goalie rotation entering 2026-27 -- after all, both Allen and Daws struggle when handed a starter's workload, with the latter being a significant question mark entering the campaign. That still seems to be the case, given that Poirier has to be on the NHL roster in order to avoid being repossessed by Dallas, but now it appears as though the trio will consist of Allen, Daws, and Poirier.
If Rittich makes it through waivers, he'll likely be splitting starts with Jakub Malek down in Utica, if not acting as a backup. If not, he'll be a perfectly capable backup elsewhere in the league. For now, the question mark in net for the Devils has gotten a bit bigger, with two unproven commodities playing behind Allen.
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