The New Jersey Devils had the worst goaltending in 2023-24. If you don't count the Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen era, the Devils' goaltending was impossibly bad. Vitek Vanecek lost all confidence he once had in net, Nico Daws couldn't stay healthy, and something was completely off with Akira Schmid. The Devils made the move for Jake Allen at the deadline last season despite it being too late. This offseason, they traded a first-round pick and Kevin Bahl for Jacob Markstrom.
So far this season, the Devils have enjoyed serviceable goaltending. It's just not something they've had for a majority of the past decade. If it wasn't injuries, it was surprise retirements. If it wasn't that, it was a promising prospect forgetting how to play the position. There was just about everything that ruined the net for the Devils. But not anymore. How good have the Devils' goaltenders been this season?
Jacob Markstrom
Wins: 19 Save Percentage: .911 GAA: 2.18
Grade: A
Markstrom has been just about everything the Devils have asked him to be. Has he allowed a few too many soft goals? Sure, but he more than makes up for it with how many shots he stops that should be goals. He's third in the league in goals against average. After a rough start in the stat, Jacob Markstrom has a 7.83 goals saved above average, which is good for 12th in the league. He's been fantastic on the PK, good for 10th in GSAA with the man disadvantage according to Natural Stat Trick.
Since the start of December, Markstrom has been fantastic. He has the fifth-best high-danger save percentage at .902. Literally one one-thousandth of a point would put him in third place (as of Sunday). He's doing exactly what the Devils expected of him. He's winning games and keeping the Devils honest. Whether he faces 15 shots or 35, it seems the Devils are getting the same level of goaltending all game.
Jake Allen
Wins: 5 Save percentage: .901 GAA: 2.84
Grade: B-
It's strange to have a goalie with a losing record on a team as good as the Devils, but Jake Allen has been mostly good this season. He was fantastic to start the season. At one point, fans were calling for Allen to be the starter, but he was always going to be the backup. Now we know why. Allen only had three games in December after he missed some time with injury, but he looked better in his most recent game against the Los Angeles Kings (even if the Devils scored zero goals for him).
Allen just needs to stay where he is in his numbers. If he can keep his save percentage over .900 and win a few more games, then the Devils will be more than happy with his performance. We must remember that the Montreal Canadiens are still paying a good portion of Allen's salary. The Devils just need him to perform on the second half of back-to-backs and in the occasion night off for Markstrom, who has been a workhorse this season.