In the wake of goalie disasters, 24-year-old prospect Nico Daws has seen extensive NHL action for the New Jersey Devils twice in his young career. Still, after 46 games in the big leagues, Daws is just that: a prospect.
Devils fans will begrudgingly recall the 2021-22 season that saw New Jersey hand multiple starts to seven different goalies, including Daws. The Devils' former third-round pick was only 20 years old when he made his NHL debut, recording 24 saves on 25 shots (.960%) and spurring the Devils to a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Overall, Daws finished the year with a 10-11-1 record, a 3.11 GAA, and a .893 save percentage. Those were solid numbers for a young kid playing professionally in North America for the first time, and he did it while outplaying Mackenzie Blackwood (9-10-4, 3.39 GAA, .892%).
Of course, Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald opted to bring in Vitek Vanecek to stabilize the position, which worked for most of 2022-23 until the postseason came around. Then, it became the Akira Schmid show.
Last season, with Blackwood out of the picture and Daws recovering from hip surgery, Vanecek and Schmid both fell flat on their faces, and Vanecek ultimately suffered a season-ending injury before being traded to the San Jose Sharks for Kaapo Kahkonen.
Daws returned in 2023-24 for a short duration, again showing both promise and a lack of consistency while posting a nearly identical stat line to his first foray in the NHL: a 9-11-0 record, a 3.15 GAA, and a .894% save percentage. He also set the NHL record for saves in an outdoor game, making 45 stops on 48 shots in a 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2024 Stadium Series.
After eventually acquiring Kahkonen and, later, current backup Jake Allen, Daws was surplus to requirements and finished the season in the AHL with the Utica Comets. Ironically, Daws and Allen finished 2023-24 with strikingly similar statistics overall.
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Because the Devils traded for Jacob Markstrom and still have Allen, Daws has not had a real opportunity to seize a permanent NHL roster spot, but opportunity knocked under dubious circumstances for the third time.
Markstrom suffered an overwhelmingly untimely injury against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, and Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe revealed after the game that Markstrom would "miss some time." NHL insider Kevin Weekes reported Friday that Markstrom had suffered a knee sprain that could jeopardize his participation in February's 4 Nations Face-Off tournament with Sweden.
Based on this, it appears that, for about a month, Allen will be the Devils' starting goalie. As for the backup? It unquestionably should be Daws.
Daws has played legitimately great hockey for the Devils in his short NHL career thus far. His Achilles heel, as is common for young goalies (especially ones with his injury history), has been his consistency.
Last season, Daws played 11 games for the Devils with a save percentage of .917% or higher. He also played 10 with a save percentage of .885% or lower, including five below .770%. However, we can also deduce that Daws was overworked coming off a major hip surgery - a microcosm of the failure that was Lindy Ruff's last season in New Jersey.
Nico Daws could be the simple answer for the New Jersey Devils with Jacob Markstrom injured.
Between Feb. 12 and Feb. 17, Daws started four games against Seattle, Nashville, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, going 3-1-0 and stopping 129 of 137 shots to the tune of a .942 save percentage. Then Ruff trotted him out two more times on Feb. 20 against Washington and Feb. 22 against New York. Between those two games, Daws allowed 11 goals on 44 shots. Unsurprisingly, the Devils lost both games handily.
Daws posted wins against Montreal and San Jose on Feb. 24 and Feb. 27, then allowed eight goals on 27 shots between two games against Los Angeles and Anaheim on March 1 and March 3. After that, Daws made his two final starts of the year against St. Louis and Carolina, stopping 45 of 48, beating the Blues and falling to the Hurricanes.
Online discourse has shifted in the direction of the Devils riding Allen until Markstrom returns from his injury. Fans also understand that if Allen, who is now 34, plays in 25 of the Devils' last 32 games and reaches 40 games played, the Devils will lose a second-round pick to the Canadiens based on the conditions of the trade the two teams made.
At his age, the Devils just can't force-feed starts to Allen. On the same token, they have no real reason to worry about what happens to their second-round pick. Daws has shown many times that he can play at the NHL level and do it well. Can he do it consistently?
This is the question the Devils need and should be eager to find the answer to. Allen's contract expires at the end of this year, while Daws signed a two-year, $1.625 million contract to stay in New Jersey in the summer.
Markstrom is not getting any younger, either, so if Daws is the answer (or an answer), he needs to prove it. Now is the time, and it should be recognized that he is plenty capable of taking the reins. Daws only needs to do it.