The New Jersey Devils certainly did not want Jacob Markstrom to sprain his MCL, as he is set to miss the next 4-6 weeks of action as they continue their post-Christmas slide down the Eastern Conference standings. But Markstrom’s absence does open the door for potentially one of the best stories of the Devils season to take shape. In Markstrom’s absence, the team announced Friday that they have called up 23-year-old Isaac Poulter to back up Jake Allen.
The name may not sound familiar to most Devils fans. In recent years, a number of Devils draftee goalies have started games for the Devils: Mackenzie Blackwood (2nd round, 2015, Akira Schmid (5th round, 2018), and Nico Daws (3rd round, 2019). Poulter’s name would not be added to that list if he started a game, but not just because he wasn’t drafted by the Devils. He wasn’t drafted at all.
Not only that, but he wasn’t one of the many undrafted free agents who signed two-way entry-level contracts with NHL teams every season. He wouldn’t earn a professional contract for the first three years after his draft year. Even then, it was a two-way contract with the Devils AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets. And it wasn’t smooth sailing right out of the gate— Poulter had a rough first professional season, bouncing between Utica and the Devils’ ECHL affiliate Adirondack Thunder. He finished the year posting a 17-11-5 record, a 3.28 GAA, and a .897 SV%.
Nobody would blame Devils' fans if they thought, at this point in the story, that this undrafted free agent goalie was a nothing prospect who wouldn’t ever make it.
But ever since that first professional season, what Poulter lacked in draft and prospect pedigree, he has more than made up for in on-ice results. He was a godsend for a Utica team last season whose goaltending room was repeatedly raided by an injury-ravaged NHL club. He finished the year with a 14-5-1-3 record, a 2.54 GAA, and a .913 SV%.
This performance earned him a surprising two-way NHL contract with the Devils on February 15, 2024. And he has lived up to the contract so far in the 2024-25 season, outperforming Daws on an underwhelming Comets team this season.
Poulter’s story echoes shades of the path that Jordan Binnington took to his NHL debut in December 2018. Binnington famously split time between the Blues AHL and ECHL affiliates for seven professional seasons before finally making his debut for the Blues. Binnington then led the Blues on a storybook run to a Stanley Cup victory, starting every game of their playoff run.
Isaac Poulter's NHL journey has not always been easy, but an NHL start would make it worth it.
But Poulter is even more of an underdog than Binnington. Binnington at least had a draft pedigree to lean on for job security, as he was a former third-round draft pick. Poulter has had no such luxury. To keep earning contracts and to keep moving up the depth chart, Poulter simply had to outperform whoever else was on the roster with him, over and over for years. And he has done it.
It’s possible that Poulter does not make it into a game before Jacob Markstrom returns from his injury. The Devils do not have back-to-back games again until February 22-23, after the 4 Nations Face-Off. Allen could potentially play all six remaining games before the tournament starts, and it's possible that Markstrom could be back in time for those back-to-back games to pair with Allen.
But if Allen gets injured or suffers a stretch of poor performance, the Devils can trust that Poulter is going to seize the opportunity that’s been given to him, just like he has from the day he joined the Devils’ organization.