The New Jersey Devils finally pulled the trigger on a starting goalie. On Wednesday morning, we learned that the Calgary Flames were sending Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey for Kevin Bahl and a protected 2025 first-round pick. With the deal, the Flames will retain about 31% of the deal. It's a good deal for the Devils, and honestly it's not an awful deal for the Flames.
After the deal went down, Markstrom spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon. He was clearly gleaming. It was well reported that Markstrom not only waived his no-move clause to move to New Jersey, but he really hated how much of his situation was being discussed in the media. This was a guy who wanted to go to a winner and wanted people to stop talking about him. Well, New Jersey is one of the best places for all that.
Markstrom made some interesting comments during his media session. Here are three comments that really stood out.
"The team has something really good going on, the roster, the skillset (...) they really wanted me to come, it's always exciting to join a group, team and organization like the NJ Devils. I know a bunch of players who played there and absolutely loved it." #NJDevils Markstrom
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) June 19, 2024
This shows that the New Jersey Devils roster is still one that is considered a good one outside of Newark. Despite the awful season in 2023-24, the Devils are a very talented roster. The goalie likely caused them to miss the playoffs, which is an interesting thing to think about. The Devils missed the playoffs by 10 points, but if they had a competent goalie earlier in the season, they would make it easily.
Goalie probably cost the Devils 15-20 points. It sounds insane, but it's true. So, when you add Markstrom to a team that's already sporting Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Dougie Hamilton, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, etc. etc. etc., then you have a real contener on your hands. And it's clear Markstrom agrees.