With the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft officially in the books, the Jacob Markstrom trade between the New Jersey Devils and Calgary Flames is now in the books.
On Friday night, with the first-round pick they acquired from the Devils, the Flames drafted center Cole Reschny, one of the best and most prolific players in the WHL this past season.
The 5-foot-11 center was a near-consensus top-20 pick in the draft and, of course, landed right in that range with the Devils' 18th pick. Reschny scored 26 goals, 66 assists, and 92 points in 62 games for the Victoria Royals this season, adding nine goals, 16 assists, and 25 points in 11 playoff games.
Playing under pressure and in playoffs is important for the Devils these days, too, isn't it? And, I would be remiss to ignore the five goals, three assists, and eight points with Canada at the 2025 U18 World Championships, where Reschny recorded at least one point in every game.
With all that said, the Markstrom trade now reads as two years of Markstrom at 31% retained ($4.125 million total cap hit) for defenseman Kevin Bahl and Cole Reschny.
The Devils struggled badly with defensive depth at the end of the season, and Bahl, at his $1.15 million cap hit, is much cheaper than Brenden Dillon and Brian Dumoulin, for example.
And what of the goaltending? Markstrom was narrowly out-performed by free agent Jake Allen by season's end, mostly due to injury, and Markstrom and Nico Daws both have one year remaining on their respective contracts.
So, while the Devils needed Markstrom now, they still don't really have a long-term solution at the goalie position, unless you want to hinge all your hopes and dreams on the shoulders and pads of 19-year-old Mikhail Yegorov.
Plus, Reschny would more than likely become the No. 3 center - the bar isn't very high - the Devils have always needed, especially ever since they passed on Anton Lundell five years ago.
Some food for thought as the NHL roster is worse than it should be at this stage of the rebuild with players like Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier on the contracts they're on.