The New Jersey Devils are going about the goalie position from a risky point of view. Instead of going after one of the top goalies in the league, like Sunny Mehta had in Florida with Sergei Bobrovsky, he’s taken an approach that amounts to throwing something at the wall and hoping it sticks.
Originally, they were going into the season with Nico Daws as the upside play, Jake Allen as the veteran with comfortability in the system, and David Rittich as insurance. That all changed on Sunday.
The Devils claimed Remi Poirier from the Dallas Stars. At just 24 years old, he kind of takes over as the upside play. Daws, on the other hand, now is the guy getting the first opportunity. If he takes it, he’ll be the starter, but the Devils have a decent option behind him besides Allen.
The Devils hope that one of their four options works in net, which is honestly a pretty good plan. Goalies are voodoo, and anyone can turn into something at any point. The Colorado Avalanche are doing it with Scott Wedgewood, a guy who was on waivers for the Devils, in net. The Washington Capitals have Logan Thompson, who was in the Devils system years ago in the ECHL.
Everyone is hoping Daws turns into Thompson. He has the talent, but so does Poirier, and now, scouts are noticing what the Devils are doing.
On Elliotte Friedman’s latest 32 Thoughts podcast, he spoke with a few people within the league, and they were surprised, but impressed, with Sunny Mehta’s latest move.
"Somebody said to me (the Poirier claim) struck them as pure Moneyball. You look at him and he is consistently above the AHL save percentage average... This guy said to me that this is a numbers bet. His numbers are consistently better than the AHL average, and he deserves a chance. If it doesn't work for the Devils, you gave it a shot, but there is a chance for that to be a real steal."Elliotte Friedman, 32 Thoughts
Friedman went on to say this is a move that has no downside and potentially big upside. Those are the types of bets that Mehta is going to continue to take.
And he's right. If the Devils get something out of Poirier, then great! They got him for essentially nothing. If he isn't what the Devils hope, then they can move on from him and try someone else as the third goalie. If Rittich makes it through waivers, then even better.
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