Devils To Re-Engage Calgary About Jacob Markstrom
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined Steve Kouleas and Carter Hutton on Sirius XM NHL Network Power Play segment and was asked about who the New Jersey Devils will pursue in the goaltending market.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
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Carter Hutton: “The other name for me as Jacob Markstrom like where does he land in that sense and the fact that you know, the Devils went out and got Jake Allen before that, is there still that connection now with the new coach with Keefe there?”
Dave Pagnotta: “I think so. You know, I think they’re going to if they haven’t already, they’re going to re-engage I don’t think it’s gotten to that point yet. But I do think that they are going to re-engage and try to see if they can make it happen. Primarily because he’s willing to go there. He willing to sign off on the paperwork if needed, or when needed in order to make that trade go down. Didn’t get to that point. But he did indicate he was willing to waive it to go to Jersey.
I think they pursue that again, with the addition of Jake Allen was, I guess to a certain extent to help them this season, obviously too little too late. But also to make sure they’ve got an experienced guy in the pipe between the pipes excuse me as a 1B/backup. And Markstrom can definitely hold his own. He can definitely hold the duties like a lot of guys that are up for grabs right now. Can play significant minutes and are obviously gonna want to play significant minutes. But you got to have a guy that can step in and provide some a break every now and again.
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And when you’re going to be in a position where Jersey feels they will be next season getting back to contender status, you’re gonna want to have somebody in there that can step up and take, you know, 25 games, at least off the number one’s plate, maybe 30. And Jake Allen proved he can definitely do that. It’s affordable. Montreal has to eat a bit of his contract. It gives New Jersey some flexibility.
They wanted to get the coach done. Now it’s a matter of focusing on some other holes that they’ve gotten lineup. I think they’re definitely going to bring in another goalie. I think it starts with Markstrom then they go from there. Maybe they pivot to Ullmark or someone else but I think it starts with Markstrom in Calgary and then they figure it out.”