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The New Jersey Devils and general manager Tom Fitzgerald remain interested in acquiring goalies Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames or Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins, but could go in a number of different directions if they are unable to acquire one of those two players, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.
LeBrun indicated that the Devils and Tom Fitzgerald would prefer to acquire Jacob Markstrom from the Flames over anyone else. A deal with the Bruins for Linus Ullmark makes sense.
The other options for the Devils are to wait for the summer to fix the goaltending issues, or get a stopgap player to fill the void. LeBrun specifically mentioned Kevin Lankinen from the Nashville Predators as an option.
One thing is for sure, and that is that the trio of Vitek Vanecek, Akira Schmid and Nico Daws has not worked for the Devils this season. Whether it is addressing the problem ahead of Friday's NHL Trade Deadline or waiting until the summer, something needs to be done. It is a problem that has played a significant part in derailing this season, and something that has been a question mark for a long time for Fitzgerald.
The question is, when do the Devils actually address this issue?
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Should the Devils still be buyers in the goalie market at the deadline?
The Devils have a super talented roster that had Stanley Cup aspirations coming off of last year. However, they sit at just 30-28-4 right now, with 64 points and are eight points back of a playoff spot. While not impossible, it would take a miraculous run down the stretch to get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It will be interesting to see if the Devils are able to finally pull off a trade for someone like Markstrom. Even if it does not get them into the playoffs this year, they would have him under contract for the next two seasons, when they are hoping to contend for a Stanley Cup.
