It’s unbelievably frustrating to be writing another piece about the New Jersey Devils’ goaltending, but after this past Tuesday’s game against Tampa Bay, it’s the prominent topic at the front of my mind.
This is the second season now of the Devils running a Jacob Markstrom/Jake Allen tandem after bringing Allen back just before he hit free agency this summer. And this is also the second season in a row where one of the two has been maddeningly inconsistent to the point where it is actively harming the Devils. The Devils need to do something to ensure this is not another season that falls short of expectations.
I’ll admit, I was very critical of Jake Allen last season; while he was good after coming over at the trade deadline the season prior, he had his struggles in 2024-25. There were games he would start off looking great, then would let in one goal (good or bad) and he would absolutely fall apart from there. He did have some good games, but 13 wins across 29 starts isn’t good enough in today’s NHL. Neither was his .908 save percentage; it was in line with his career average, but certainly not good enough to really even be a 1B tandem option. I was surprised when the Devils brought him back, but after seeing the free agent market and with the team not really seeming to have confidence in Nico Daws, bringing Jake back made sense.
And so far, that re-signing has paid dividends. Allen has started 10 of the Devils’ 19 games to this point, and has put up wins in seven of those contests. Across all 10 appearances, he’s posted a respectable .916 save percentage. The best part? He hasn’t looked shaky like he did at times last season. While he’s had a couple not so great games, he’s been above .900 in seven of his appearances, including when he cramped up and did not receive a decision against Columbus. I don’t think Jake should be receiving more than half of the team’s starts because I think overworking him will lead to inconsistency and poor performances. Allen is at least looking like a true half of a platoon goaltending tandem this season, which is better than what we saw last season even early on from him.
Now on to the problem: Jacob Markstrom. Markstrom was a controversial acquisition when the Devils brought him in and his recent play is probably only going to make him more controversial. While he had some strong games last season, his save percentage was worse than Allen’s at an even .900. In 49 starts, he did manage to win 26 games, but I don’t think he has a shot at getting close to that this season. He was also one of the few Devils who actually delivered come playoff time, as he turned in four quality starts across five contests, giving the team a chance to win each night with the obvious exception of game four.
But I don’t know if that Markstrom exists anymore.
Right now, in eight starts, Marky has five victories, but many of those are in spite of his performances. Take a deep dive into his numbers: in his nine total appearances, he’s had a save percentage above .900 ONCE. Even if you take out the Columbus game where he can in for the third period and only allowed one goal on nine shots, his stats are awful. Of all goalies to appear in at least five contests this season, Markstrom ranks 59th out of 63 in save percentage. Heck, Vitek Vanecek (who we couldn’t wait to be done with after he fell apart) is rocking a better save percentage than him right now!
Jared has discussed Markstrom a couple of times recently and he continues to come up in conversation here at AAtJ pretty regularly. I’m legitimately worried about the fact that he seems to be falling off a cliff, especially with the Devils recently committing to him for two more seasons. While the increased cap will offset the minimal increase in Marky’s cap hit, I am worried about having a $6 million goalie as the primary option if he’s visibly declining. We’ve seen Father Time go undefeated against other Devils in the past and we could be looking at another instance of that. I can’t imagine Markstrom looking worse than he has this season, but two more season is a lot of time and anything is possible; the Devils, however, cannot keep icing a goalie who is regularly letting in multiple bad goals on a consistent basis.
While Allen has performed admirably so far as discussed above, the Devils need a player who can deliver quality performances on a regular basis. I’m not flush with solutions for how they go about that right now; they have a number of prospects at different stages of their development, but I’m not sure any of them are realistic possibilities for this season, or even next. I don’t know how realistic the trade market is right now, as I don’t see the Devils sending the goalie who is actually performing the other way in exchange and I don’t think anyone wants the goalie who’s not performing and signed for two more seasons. Maybe they bring in a third if things trend downward and either keep one (read: Markstrom) as a healthy scratch or waive one (read: Markstrom) in an attempt to rehabilitate them in Utica…and with how things are going in Utica, I don’t think that’s going to work either.
One way or another, Tom Fitzgerald needs to figure out his team’s goaltending. There’s too many seasons already that have been wasted due to other factors; goaltending cannot be what sinks this campaign after bolstering the team’s depth this past summer. Fitz needs to find a goalie on a team that doesn’t look like a contender, see if they’re available and a fit, and make an offer using non-NHL assets to try and acquire them. If this team is serious about competing, they need to take a big swing and land a piece that makes them dangerous on an every game basis.
What are your thoughts on the Devils goaltending situation; do you think the Devils need to go out and get a consistent tender? Do you think it’s even a possibility for them to do so? Are you worried by just how badly Jacob Markstrom has looked while playing this season? Should Jake Allen be getting more than just every other game right now? If you do think the Devils need a different goalie, who do you think they could realistically target? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!
