For the last two seasons, following the addition of Jacob Markstrom, goaltending was expected to be an area of strength for the New Jersey Devils, but it has instead only been marred by inconsistency, chaos, and injury.
Markstrom, 35, is surprisingly 7-4-1 on the season, and that is surprising because his raw stats have been astonishingly poor. Through 12 appearances, Markstrom has a paltry 3.60 GAA and a .874 save percentage to match.
And, considering Markstrom had save percentages of .892 and .905 in his last two seasons, respectively, with the Calgary Flames, it's becoming more and more apparent that the Devils got this wrong. That's been a trend of theirs over the years.
At the time of this writing, Markstrom has a save percentage of .895 in 61 career games with the Devils, per Quant Hockey. That is worse than Akira Schmid (.899 in 43 games), Nico Daws (.899 in 53 games), Vitek Vanecek (.903 in 84 games), and MacKenzie Blackwood (.906 in 152 games).
All of those goalies, save for Daws, whose fate has not yet been decided but is becoming increasingly clear, were given away by the Devils for scraps, just to pay a first-round pick (Cole Reschny) and Kevin Bahl for Markstrom, who is playing at or below that level while having less upside as an older player.
Devils goalie situation is not where it should be at this point in the process
Vanecek is still a middling backup these days, but Daws and Schmid have looked legit in limited action this season. Blackwood, of course, has taken over as the Colorado Avalanche's starting goalie and has a .915 save percentage in 43 games there after a pit stop in San Jose.
The cherry on top is the 2020 NHL Draft, where the Devils drafted Alex Holtz, later traded with Schmid for Paul Cotter and a draft pick that became Mason Moe, seventh overall ahead of top goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov, who went 11th overall to Nashville.
Askarov, 23, is now emerging as a legitimate starting NHL goalie on a surprisingly competitive San Jose Sharks team; he's allowed just 18 goals in his last 10 games and boasts a .947 save percentage in that span. Overall, Askarov is 9-6-1 this season with a 2.96 GAA and .910 save percentage on the... Sharks.
Markstrom's two-year, $12 million contract extension is already looking to be a major flop despite not even kicking in until July 1, and that contract, combined with Jake Allen's extension, means there won't be any room for Nico Daws on this roster barring injury.
In all? The Devils better hope prospect Mikhail Yegorov is every bit the savant he's shown the potential of becoming, otherwise the position will be in even worse turmoil in short order.