Goaltending was a major reason, if not the main reason, the New Jersey Devils missed out on the playoffs last season. Vitek Vanecek was unable to replicate a career-best year from 2022-23 that far exceeded expectations before he was lost to injury. Trade deadline trades for Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen were a step in the right direction but too little too late.
Considering the final Eastern Conference Wild Card spot went to the Washington Capitals with 88 points you have to think a few extra weeks of the Allen-Kahkonen tandem would have pushed the Devils into the postseason.
An offseason trade for Jake Markstrom was supposed to alleviate those concerns. The Devils were also getting a full season of Allen, who outperformed pretty much every other Devils goaltender last season, as a more than formidable backup. While the Devils are a respectable 6-4-2 (we won’t read too much into the fact they’re currently top of the Metropolitan Division since they’ve played more games than any other division team due to the NHL Global Series) goaltending has not been their strong suit.
Entering play on October 27th the Devils were 31st out of the 32 NHL teams in goals saved above expected. Both Allen and Markstrom enter Tuesday with a negative goals saved above expected, with Markstrom at -4.60 and Allen at -1.10. At 5-on-5 Markstrom ranks 66th out of 70 qualified goalies at -3.40 goals saved above expected.
Last season with the Calgary Flames, Markstrom had a 13.70 goals saved above expected in 48 games. Allen is a little closer to the middle of the pack at 39th with -0.30 goals saved above expected at 5-on-5. The tandem of Markstrom and Allen puts the Devils at 27th in the NHL in goal differential above expected (entering October 27th).
On the penalty kill (specifically when the Devils are 4-on-5) Markstrom is a slightly better -0.90 goals saved above expected. Allen comes in at -0.50 goals saved above expected with half the workload. New Jersey enters play Tuesday with the league’s 15th-ranked penalty kill at 78.80%. One of the Devils few strong suits last season was a penalty kill that ranked in the top ten at 80.70%.
More concerning is that the Devils penalty kill has taken a nosedive over the past week. Last week's 8-5 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning was the first loss all year that the Devils would surrender a power play goal. They would surrender two to Tampa Bay and then two in their next game, a 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, and surrendered another to Anders Lee in a 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders.
Surrendering five power plays in three games, as part of a Devils overall 0-3-1 skid, is a recipe for disaster. The Devils stopped the bleeding with a win over the Anaheim Ducks Sunday where they didn’t surrender a power play goal and Markstrom posted a much better 0.923 save percentage in the victory.
The Devils are only 12 games into the season and even the best teams will go through a losing streak like their 0-3-1 run, so should we be worried? It’s not so much about overreacting as much as seeing the team continue to struggle with what was the biggest part of their downfall last season.
The team is still adjusting to Sheldon Keefe’s new system and Markstrom is still getting used to a change in scenery. If you’re a Devils fan you want at least some indication Markstrom will return to his career form and these worries are just overstated early season problems.
So far five of Markstrom’s eight starts have seen him perform at a .900 save percentage or better. Three of those have seen him perform at a .920 save percentage or better. His two best performances this season saw him finish with a 0.968 save percentage in a games against the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators that both saw him finish with an identical state line of 30 saves on 31 shots. In his four starts Jake Allen has one game with a save percentage over .900 (a .944 save percentage effort against the Sabres) and one shootout against the Utah Hockey Club.