A few months ago, I asked the question whether or not the Devils should consider extending Jacob Markstrom.
I weighed the pros and cons of it, and while I can appreciate the Devils wanting continuity and the stability that comes with a reliable veteran netminder in place, the conclusion I came to at the time essentially boiled down to “what’s the rush?” I would say most of you reading this who commented on that article agreed with me that there’s little point of doing this now before the 2025-26 season plays out. Let’s at least see how things progress before going down this road.
At the end of the day, we are talking about a 35-year old goaltender who has already missed a chunk of time with an injury this season. Even with another expected jump in the salary cap ceiling coming in 2026-27 and beyond, the Devils don’t have endless cap dollars available. They need to be careful where they invest their resources moving forward, particularly with an important position like goaltender. If you get it wrong, you risk a situation like what Seattle has dealt with with Phillip Grubauer where you’re stuck with the player because the contract is immovable. For a Devils team that is hoping to put the final pieces of a championship roster around the core they’ve assembled in these next few seasons, it’s something that they simply can not have.
For whatever reason though, it doesn’t appear that Tom Fitzgerald has gotten the memo, as both he and Markstrom’s camp appear to have mutual interest in a new contract.
Consider this quote from Fitzgerald in a recent interview with The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.
“His agent (Pat Morris) and I have been talking for a long time,” Fitzgerald said, emphasizing the “long.” “It’s just exchanging health opinions on where older goalies are at. But we love Jacob Markstrom. We love his family. We want to continue this relationship moving forward. So I’ll have another talk with his agent this week. Again, when you start these negotiations, you’ve got term, you’ve got money, you’ve got commitment involved and it’s just, ‘OK, let’s try to find some common ground on what makes sense for him and what makes sense for us.’”
Given Fitzgerald’s history with trying to solve the goaltending position in New Jersey, I can at least understand wanting to be protective of what you have. There’s something to be said about having a known commodity in hand while being fearful of the unknown.
Nobody can say that Fitzgerald hadn’t tried to address the goaltending for years. He certainly did try. It’s not his fault that Corey Crawford never played a game here. Or that Jonathan Bernier lasted ten games before suffering a career-ending injury. Or that Mackenzie Blackwood was oft-injured, inconsistent, and downright unplayable at times. Or that Vitek Vanecek was also inconsistent to the point of being unplayable. Poor goaltending, among other things, destroyed any chance the Devils had of competing for a playoff spot in two of Fitzgerald’s first four seasons on the job before he swung the deals to bring both Markstrom and Jake Allen to New Jersey.
I can understand not entirely trusting what you have internally with Nico Daws where you’re skeptical whether or not he can hold up as part of an NHL committee in net, although it should be mentioned that Daws has posted a .945 save percentage over seven NHL appearances over the last two seasons. Daws is playing in front of the same forwards, same blueline, and same Sheldon Keefe system as Markstrom. Yes, it’s a small sample size, but it’s still a sample size nonetheless and it’s what we have to go on. Daws is also going to turn 25 years old later this season, so if Daws isn’t ready for the NHL now, is he ever going to be?
I can also understand taking a look at the list of upcoming free agent goaltenders and not being all that enamored with the options that may or may not even make it to July 1. Sergei Bobrovsky, Frederik Andersen, and Cam Talbot are older than Markstrom, and the rest of this list is littered with career backups and/or below average starting goaltenders.
After watching his first few starts this season though, and watching Colorado beat him 8 times for goals (and more if we count how many times the Avalanche hit the post), am I being a prisoner of the moment for at least thinking the following?
What if Jacob Markstrom isn’t that good anymore?
His numbers from last season look ok on the surface, as he posted a .900 save percentage and 4 shutouts. He also had stretches last season where he was excellent and that shouldn’t be dismissed. But on the other hand, he ranked 22nd (out of 30 qualifiers) in goals saved above expected among all goaltenders who appeared in at least 41 games last season.
His numbers this season? There’s no sugarcoating it. They’ve been awful.
He had an .845 save percentage and 3.89 GAA, as well as -1.7 goals saved above expected BEFORE Colorado put eight past him. Needless to say, all of those stats are worse now.
I don’t think its asking too much to want to see the 35-year old goaltender play well before he signs a contract extension that might hurt the team more than it helps in the long-term.
Now, in fairness to Markstrom, the Devils did him zero favors last night with their abhorrent defensive coverage. The Devils gave up far too many odd man rushes. They took too many penalties and put a Colorado power play that should be lethal in a position to repeatedly beat him. They made far too many mistakes in front of him and the result was a deserved 8-4 loss to snap their eight-game winning streak. Yes, its Colorado, and Colorado is an elite team, but the Devils played poorly enough where any NHL team could’ve beaten them on that given night.
The problem is that Markstrom did himself no favors either, starting with his delay of game penalty in the first minute of the game. That penalty and subsequent goal against, followed by another goal minutes later set the tone for the game, he just couldn’t come up with saves when he needed to, and things just snowballed from there.
I expect that Markstrom will have better days when its all said and done. He’s a rhythm goaltender who needs to see shots to get into a groove. He’s a veteran who has had rough patches before and should know how to navigate them. He’s also faced tough competition in his starts between Carolina, Tampa Bay, and now Colorado. All on the road. There should be easier matchups ahead, and I expect Markstrom to put things together and go on a run at some point.
But this is also a reminder of why the talks about extending Markstrom now are ridiculous and why the Devils would be foolish to do so.
I don’t think Markstrom is washed up, but I also can’t sit here and say with certainty that he isn’t. It’s possible that he has an injury-riddled season where he struggles to get into a groove and posts pedestrian numbers. I hope that isn’t the case, but he’s 35 and this is what we have seen from him so far. I can’t rule it out.
If that does happen, do you want to be on the hook for Jacob Markstrom approaching his 40s? On a deal with some term and money that I would deem “significant enough”? I don’t, and I don’t care how creative Fitzgerald might get with said deal. Loaded up with bonuses? Stretch the term out into perpetuity to lower the AAV? It’s still a problem. You can’t hide a healthy, bad goaltender like you can hide a 14th forward.
I don’t think I want any part of that. And I certainly don’t want a part of that on October 29th with 72 games to go. Neither should Fitzgerald. This is an important decision he’s going to have to make at some point, and its one that should be made with as much information as possible instead of haphazardly trying to force it through like Congress might do with an unpopular bill.
Again, what’s the rush?