The New Jersey Devils were desperate to finally fix their goaltending position. After years of guess-and-check attempts to fill the space many consider obsolete, Tom Fitzgerald finally put his assets where his trades were and gave the Calgary Flames a top-10 protected first-round pick, as well as Kevin Bahl for Jacob Markstrom.
The Devils were reportedly trying to get Markstrom last season, but that deal was blocked by the owner. Who knows how different last season would go if the Devils were to get Markstrom in December or January, but there's no use crying over spilled milk. The Devils got their man this offseason, and they paired him with Jake Allen, who they traded for last trade deadline.
The deal seems to have worked out, as the Devils have been playing like one of the best teams in the league. Many fans would say the Devils just needed average goaltending to be a contender, and they are partially right. The Devils' team save percentage sits at .901 on the season. That's good for 10th in the league. Twenty-one teams in the NHL have a combined save percentage under .900.
Markstrom's all strengths save percentage is .902. That's good for 36th in the league. But according to Natural Stat Trick, if you check on goalies who have played at least 10 games, Markstrom is 20th out of 38 possible players. It's still not the best, but it's about what the average people were calling for. Is average enough for what the Devils paid? Does that even matter?
When looking a little deeper into the numbers, it shows that Markstrom is actually playing better than simple save percentage can dictate. The Devils' defense is playing so well on the penalty kill; both he and Jake Allen have a pretty terrible save percentage there (.867 and .862, respectively). The Devils have only allowed Markstrom to face 60 penalty kill shots in 93 PK minutes. Even with that being the case, Marktrom has a positive goals saved above average in those 93 minutes. He's doing a little better than average despite the numbers suggesting otherwise.
Markstrom's -4.35 GSAA is bad. We're not going to pretend it's anything besides that, but Markstrom is an interesting player who this exact number doesn't tell the entire story. He lets in multiple stinkers but makes multiple miraculous saves in a game. Letting a relatively simple shot go in impacts the numbers more than making a "save of the year" candidate.
The biggest issue for Markstrom is how well Allen has played. His .917 save percentage behind the same defense shows that a player can be one of the best in the league. That's a fair criticism. Markstrom has to be better, especially with his consistency against high-danger chances, but he has been far from a problem that needs to be addressed. The Devils have their goalie, and he's going to take them as far as they are going to go.