After a scorching start, the New Jersey Devils have hit a bit of a wall with back-to-back losses to kick off their western road trip. Despite that, they’re still sitting second in the Metropolitan Division with an 8-3-0 record.
Related: Devils Could Thrive by Utilizing a More Even Goaltending Split
In this edition of Devils News & Rumors, we take a glance at where things stand with a Jacob Markstrom extension, how head coach Sheldon Keefe handled the ‘maturity’ narrative, and Martin Brodeur’s recent thoughts on load management with today’s goaltenders.
Progress on a Jacob Markstrom Extension
At exit interviews last season, Markstrom commented on a potential extension: “If Fitzy’s calling, I’m picking up.”
On Sept. 28, insider Kevin Weekes reported that the Devils had an offer on the table for ~$5 million per year. Then, on the Oct. 16 edition of TSN’s Insider Trading, Darren Dreger said, “I’m told that the talks have been healthy and that they will resume the negotiations in the near future. There is a mutual interest with the veteran goaltender and the New Jersey Devils to get something done.”
However, Markstrom has mightily struggled to start the season, to the tune of a 5.13 goals against average and .830 save percentage (SV%) in four games. He also missed six games to injury in between. According to Moneypuck, his .882 low danger SV% is the worst among all 68 goalies to suit up this season.
Some are wondering how this impacts the extension talks, but at the end of the day, it’s just four games. Markstrom is beloved in the locker room; there’s plenty of time for him to bounce back to his dominant self.
Keefe Shuts Down ‘Maturity’ Narrative
While many tried to praise the Devils for seemingly looking like a matured team during their eight-game heater, head coach Sheldon Keefe was quick to shut that down: “Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, we’ve been talking about this a lot. I know media has stuff to talk about and ask me about (…) You can’t make any proclamations, positive or negative, any of that kind of stuff. It’s way too early.”
While the Devils were certainly playing great hockey, virtually everything was going their way. They were getting opportune bounces, exceptional finishing/goaltending, and killing off virtually every single penalty, despite being frequent penalty box visitors.
It appears Keefe was certainly right to not want to jump to any conclusions so early. He was pretty ticked off after the Devils’ recent loss in San Jose, telling NJD.TV, “I don’t think [the loss] was a structure issue. It was a work ethic and competitive issue for us (…) You cannot win in the National Hockey League with that as the baseline. That’s unacceptable & once again you get what you deserve.”
Especially with key defenseman Brett Pesce out for at least a month, the Devils really have some work to do in order to get back on track.
Martin Brodeur’s Thoughts on Load Management
In a recent edition of NJ.com’s “Speaking of the Devils” show with beat reporter Ryan Novozinsky, Martin Brodeur was asked for his thoughts on load management in today’s goalies.
For background, Brodeur played 70+ games 11 different times in his career, including 78 in 2006-07. Last season, not one netminder played more than 63 (Andrei Vasilevskiy).
“You know, I always give the example: If Scott Stevens was able to play 82 games, my job was a lot easier than his. So I don’t know why I couldn’t play as many games as I could,” said Brodeur. “I [don’t] have an issue with [load management], but I think we’re catering a lot to the goalies now. There’s talented duos now, guys have better duos than maybe back when I played.”
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