A few weeks ago, Kevin Weekes reported that the Devils were gauging market interest in regards to a trade for goaltender Jacob Markstrom.
I wrote an article breaking down potential landing spots for Markstrom and came to the conclusion that the three teams that made the most sense were Detroit, Edmonton, and Florida.
Weekes, a reliable insider who is incredibly plugged in on both the goaltending fraternity as well as the Devils organization, turned out to be correct in his assessment. He followed that up with the breaking news earlier today that indeed, the Panthers and Devils were working on a deal for Markstrom to return to South Florida, the team that initially drafted him.
Elliotte Friedman added that the deal seems to be centered around Markstrom and Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues, while Pierre LeBrun had the full details. The Devils would be sending Markstrom and AHL forward Angus Crookshank to the Panthers for Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, and Ben Steeves. According to James Nichols, the Devils will not be retaining any salary on Markstrom’s contract.
My initial reaction is that I’m stunned by this deal. Credit to Sunny Mehta for being able to do what I thought was impossible and move an immovable contract without attaching any draft capital to it and without retaining salary.
My second thoughts on this were that the Devils did a heck of a job getting an actual return.
Evan Rodrigues, a player I mentioned as a potential trade candidate due to his connection to Mehta, has one year remaining on his deal at $3.075M. He is a jack of all trades forward who can play anywhere in the lineup to the point where he was playing on Florida’s top line during their Cup run a few years ago. His point production doesn’t jump off of the page as overly impressive….he’s never had a 20 goal season or more than 43 points in a single campaign. But he is a reliable depth forward who can kill penalties and is active in all three zones. He’ll certainly have a role for the Devils this season, and might be a candidate for a short-term contract extension.
Jesper Boqvist, initially a Devils draft pick, played for the Devils from 2019-23. He never quite lived up to his second round draft billing but he has added layers to his game since former GM Tom Fitzgerald made the decision not to qualify him a few years ago. He’s become a physical pest who plays a defensively sound game, skates well, and is capable of popping in a few goals on the fourth line. I would view him as the Paul Cotter replacement after he was not qualified yesterday, and frankly, I think its an upgrade at a reasonable price as I view Boqvist as more of a complete player than Cotter. Boqvist has one season remaining on his deal at $1.5M.
Ben Steeves is a 24 year old AHL left winger who has yet to make his NHL debut. Florida did extend the pending RFA a qualifying offer yesterday to retain his rights. He has 33 goals and 40 assists in his last 132 games with AHL Charlotte. He also had 100 PIMs last season, so like everyone else with Florida, there’s probably some pest in his game. We’ll see if he can eventually push for a fourth line role.
From a cap standpoint, its tough not to view this deal as a win. The Devils managed to get out of one of Tom Fitzgerald’s biggest blunders relatively pain-free and got a couple of useful NHL players. They created about $1.5M in cap space heading into free agency tomorrow while simultaneously wiping the entire $6M Markstrom cap hit off of the books for 2027-28, creating more flexibility down the road.
Obviously, the first question that comes to mind will be what will the Devils do in net without Markstrom. Jake Allen is the defacto number 1 in net for now, but he’s entering his age 36 season and probably shouldn’t be relied on to play more than 45-50 games. Perhaps Sunny Mehta feels that the recently qualified Nico Daws is ready for a regular NHL role. Or perhaps he has something else in mind whether its via trade or free agency. We’ll see what he comes up with now that he’s no longer tied down by the Markstrom contract. If the Devils choose to run with Daws though, it does create an opportunity for the Devils to add another forward, whether its via trade or free agency, as Daws will likely not earn all that much money on his next contract.
The obvious big name out there in terms of goaltenders is Connor Hellebuyck, but according to Darren Dreger, the Devils hadn’t been in the mix for him. Maybe that changes now that the Devils have a need in net, but I wouldn’t pencil him in as a Devil.
I also wouldn’t pencil in a reunion between Sunny Mehta and Sergei Bobrovsky. Florida pivoted to Markstrom for a reason and that reason is that Bobrovsky likely priced himself out of South Florida between how much term he wants and his salary. Maybe his demands drop once the number of seats starts running out in this game of musical chairs, but Bobrovsky is also coming off of a dreadful season in Florida. Perhaps he bounces back, but I don’t blame Sunny Mehta if he chooses not to go there.
The second question I have is what will the Devils lineup look like once the dust settles. The Devils don’t have a shortage of middle six winger options between Rodrigues, Connor Brown, Stefan Noesen, Dawson Mercer, Arseny Gritsyuk, and Lenni Hameenaho. Does this mean the Devils move on from Noesen and/or Mercer to create a little more salary cap flexibility to go, for lack of a better term, big game hunting? Or do the Devils keep all of them? We shall see.
It is a bit ironic that the Panthers are, once again, turning to a couple former Devils. Perhaps Markstrom enjoys a bounceback season playing on a Cup contender in Florida and has a season closer to what he’s always done in his career. Perhaps his new tandem partner Akira Schmid is the perfect compliment to spell him. I don’t know how it’s going to work out for Florida, and frankly, I don’t really care. I’m not rooting against either player, and I’m not going to call Mehta an idiot if either one plays well for the Panthers. Mehta is doing what’s best for the Devils right now, and what’s best for the Devils right now is to move off of Markstrom and create the flexibility to shape this roster the best way he sees fit. He accomplished that today by picking up a couple of useful NHL forwards in Rodrigues and Boqvist, as well as getting out of the $6M owed to Markstrom for 27-28. Florida might view this deal as a win for them when its all said and done, but I think this deal is also a win for Sunny Mehta and the Devils.
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