The Devils are back in the same spot they’ve been trying to escape for years: staring at a goaltending situation that looks shaky before the puck even drops.
That’s the headache facing new general manager Sunny Mehta as he settles into the job. The offseason questions were supposed to center on how he’d boost the offense, whether Simon Nemec would be moved, and if a real gamebreaker would come back in any deal. But the biggest issue has always been the one in net.
New Jersey entered the year with only Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen under contract. Nico Daws, Tyler Brennan and Jakub Malek were all pending restricted free agents. And as the Devils have learned over and over during the Jack Hughes era, the crease has been the organization’s soft spot.
There has only been one season in that stretch when New Jersey got above-average goaltending, and that was also the year the franchise set its wins record. The names in that run were Vitek Vanecek, Mackenzie Blackwood and Akria Schmid. All three were gone within a calendar year.
Since Hughes arrived in the league as a rookie under then-general manager Tom Fitzgerald, the Devils have used 16 different goalies. The list has run from Cory Schneider to Jacob Markstrom, a long mix of promising stretches, uneven play and stopgap answers. Now Hughes is entering year eight, and the team still doesn’t have a clear long-term solution at the sport’s most important position.
For now, New Jersey is rolling with another uncertain setup. The Devils announced Daws, Jake Allen and recent waiver claim Remi Poirier as a three-man tandem to open the season in New Jersey.
Allen hasn’t carried a starter’s workload since Taylor Hall won his MVP with the Devils. Daws has only had a few NHL appearances.
Poirier has not yet made his NHL debut.
That leaves Mehta with a choice that could shape the next stretch of Hughes’ prime. One path is to gamble that one of the younger or cheaper options turns into the next Brandon Bussi, the kind of surprise success story that can change a season in a hurry. The other is to stop hoping and pay for certainty.
That’s where Connor Hellebuyck enters the picture. He’s available, he’s an all-world goalie, and he’s also an Olympic teammate of Hughes. A move like that would give the Devils the kind of answer they’ve been missing in net for years.
There is appeal in betting on a breakout. The NHL loves the underdog story, and sometimes a team does find the unexpected fix.
But for a first-time general manager, that kind of roll of the dice comes with real danger. Hoping one of these goalies becomes the next 2014-15 Andrew Hammond is not much of a plan.
The timing matters, too. Hughes has four more years left on his deal before he can become an unrestricted free agent.
That’s the window Mehta has to work with. If the Devils want to compete while Hughes is in his prime, the safer play is the proven one.
Maybe one of the current options hits. Maybe Daws or Poirier or someone else surprises everyone.
But after eight years of the same problem, New Jersey can’t afford to keep crossing its fingers in goal. If Mehta wants to fix the Devils’ weakest link, Hellebuyck is the swing worth taking.
In Other News...
Dawson Mercer Enters A Critical Devils Season For One Big Reason
The Devils spent the offseason reshaping their forward group, and the ripple effects have landed squarely on Dawson Mercer. With additions such as Anthony Mantha and Luke Evangelista changing the depth chart, Mercer is no longer being viewed through the lens of the breakout 2022-23 season that raised expectations around him. Instead, he enters this year in the bottom six, a different kind of assignment for a player whose value once seemed to be trending steadily upward.
That shift gives Mercer a chance to prove he can still matter even without the same offensive runway. He is expected to skate with Arseny Gritsyuk and Evan Rodrigues, a lineup spot that could help stabilize his game and show the Devils he can contribute in a lesser role. If the production does not rebound, though, the questions around his long-term fit in New Jersey are only going to get louder. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Face A Costly Long Term Test As Cap Space Climbs
Rising NHL salary caps are changing the math for clubs everywhere, and the Devils are no exception. With more room across the league, New Jersey is staring at a roster picture where pending unrestricted and restricted free agents could all see their next deals climb, especially as the team weighs younger pieces against veterans who have already carved out roles in the lineup.
Cody Glass, Declan Chisholm, Jonas Seigenthaler, Anthony Mantha, Dawson Mercer and Amadeus Lombardi all fit somewhere in that conversation, whether as current contributors or players who could matter more down the road. Sunny Mehta and the front office now have to balance those rising contract expectations against the need to keep the cap flexible, which makes the next stretch of negotiations a potentially expensive test of how the Devils want this roster to look long term. [Read more 🡒]
Devils May Have One Early Problem With This Revamped Lineup
The Devils are heading into the season with a noticeably different look after a busy offseason that brought in Anthony Mantha, Luke Evangelista, Evan Rodrigues, Amadeus Lombardi, Jesper Boqvist and defenseman Declan Chisholm, while Simon Nemec and Jacob Markstrom are gone. Even with all that turnover, the bigger short-term challenge may not be talent so much as timing, because this roster is being built to sort itself out on the fly.
New Jersey also plans to use a three-goalie rotation, and every one of its four forward lines is expected to feature at least one new face. That kind of overhaul can work, but it rarely clicks instantly, and the Devils may need several weeks before the chemistry settles in and the best version of the lineup comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]