In another Tuesday blockbuster, the New Jersey Devils sent off veteran starting goaltender as well as fringe NHLer Angus Crookshank to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, and Ben Steeves.
In what marks the fourth trade in the last week for new Devils' GM Sunny Mehta, the Devils are retaining no salary on Markstrom's $6 million AAV contract that has yet to kick in. Crookshank, 26, had a cup of coffee with the Devils in 2025-26, scoring a goal in eight games.
Evan Rodrigues, meanwhile, has one year left on his contract that has a cap hit of $3.075 million. He has spent the last three seasons in Florida, where he has won two Stanley Cups and accumulated 38 goals and 102 points across 231 total games. Boqvist, an ex-Devil who makes $1.5 million in 2026-27, also has his name etched on the Stanley Cup, being that he spent 2024-25 with the Panthers. In his two seasons there, the 27-year-old center totaled 16 goals and 36 total points in 151 games while playing in a purely bottom-six capacity.
Steeves, the smallest name on the trade return, is a 24-year-old winger who has put up solid production in the AHL, most recently scoring 23 goals and 45 points in 72 games with the Charlotte Checkers. He is an expiring RFA who received a qualifying offer from the Panthers.
With this trade, the Devils are saving $1.45 million against the cap while adding two pieces to their forward corps. Rodrigues is a player whose production has always been undersold by his underlying numbers, which have been spectacular throughout his tenure with the Panthers. Boqvist's are less dominant, to be sure, but he has great speed, solid defensive numbers, and loves to play with the puck on his stick. Rodrigues will surely be a staple in the Devils' top nine and penalty kill, while it is likely that Boqvist plays in a fourth-line capacity moving forward.
The Devils will now need to re-address goaltending, though, being that their only NHL-caliber netminder is now Jake Allen. Nico Daws and Jakub Malek still need more seasoning, and Allen isn't really capable of playing a starter's volume. In that sense, it's possible that this too is a precursor move to something else. In the meantime, though, the value the Devils got back in this trade is spectacular, especially when considering there was no salary retention.
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