Since Martin Brodeur left the Devils in 2014, the New Jersey Devils have been looking for that number one, game-stealing, starting goaltender. They have attempted to find it a few times, first in Corey Schneider, then in Jacob Markstrom, but none have been able to stick it out. When the New Jersey Devils traded Jacob Markstrom to the Florida Panthers at the end of the 2025-26 season, they opened up yet another search for that star goaltender.
Should they stick with the three that they have or search for a tried-and-true starter?
Do the New Jersey Devils need a superstar goalie?
Yes, and possibly no. The Devils currently have three goalies under contract: Jake Allen, Nico Daws, and David Rittich.
Jake Allen, who backed up Markstrom last season, is signed through 2029-30, but is certainly nearing the end of his career. He ranked 19th in save percentage among goalies with over 25 starts (.904) and 25th in goals-against average (2.74). The biggest question is how much of a workload he could handle, and if his stats would take a hit if he saw more than 40 games. He hasn't played over 40 games since the 2022-23 season. At 35, it's hard to think a goalie will put up prime numbers.
On the flipside, Nico Daws is 25 and has spent most of his career thus far jumping between the NHL and the AHL. He's never spent more than 25 games with the Devils, and only played three last season. Daws clearly needs some more NHL time before it can be determined if he's going to ever get a starting job. And he was likely going to get that time this season, with Markstrom gone, until the Devils signed David Rittich.
Rittich deal with #NJDevils is 1 year $1M
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 3, 2026
1-way, does not include any trade protection
Rep'd by Craig Oster @TheHockeyAgency https://t.co/STut5NQOEq
Rittich joined the Devils this offseason on a one-year deal. A career backup goalie, Rittich can be a good goaltender to take away some of the workload from the starting goaltender. If he and Allen can split the games as a 1A/1B type of partnership, it could work. It would, unfortunately, cement Daws as the third-string goalie again, though he will benefit by having two strong goalies to learn from.
It's unlikely that the Devils would have signed Rittich in the offseason if they were planning on going for a superstar goalie. To get anyone of note, they'd likely have to get rid of the cap hit of one of the three goaltenders, so bringing Rittich in just to have to dump another deal doesn't make a lot of sense.
In years past, it was crucial to have a big-name goaltender on your roster to go far in the playoffs. Now, however, NHL teams have seen the Carolina Hurricanes have a Cup-Winning season with two relatively young and inexperienced goaltenders in Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov. With the right team in front of a goaltender, anything can happen. The Devils will likely do better to focus on building out front and handle the goaltending as is. Adding someone like Quinn Hughes could make it so that there is no goaltending conversation at all.
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