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Jacob Markstrom

Devils Place Jacob Markstrom, Jonas Siegenthaler On IR

February 18, 2025 at 7:07 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley Leave a Comment

The New Jersey Devils have made a flurry of move with the hockey world’s attention turning back towards NHL rosters. Most notably, the team has placed starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom (knee) and top-four defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler (lower-body) on injured reserve. Markstrom has missed New Jersey’s last seven games after suffering an MCL sprain in New Jersey’s win over Boston on January 22nd. He was announced as out four-to-six weeks at the time of his injury. Markstrom has posted a dazzling 21-9-5 record and .912 save percentage in 36 appearances this year. His starting role has been filled by veteran Jake Allen, who also has a .912 save percentage but just a 9-11-1 record in 21 games.

Siegenthaler’s injury is less clear. He left New Jersey’s February 7th game against the Pittsburgh Penguins after taking an awkward hit from Anthony Beauvillier. Siegenthaler missed New Jersey’s last two games. He is expected to miss an additional two-to-three weeks after undergoing a procedure to address his injury during the 4-Nations break, per head coach Sheldon Keefe. Siegenthaler has been one of New Jersey’s top defenders this season. He has just nine points in 55 games, but formed a strong pairing with Johnathan Kovacevic.

In corresponding moves, New Jersey also recalled defensemen Simon Nemec and Seamus Casey, and goaltender Tyler Brennan, to join the team’s Tuesday practice. The pair of defenders stand as perhaps New Jersey’s top two prospects. Nemec and Casey lead the Utica Comets’ blue-line in scoring, with 23 points in 34 games and 15 points in 22 games respectively. Meanwhile, Brennan has spent his last two seasons with the ECHL’s Adirondack Thunder. He’s begun vying for the starting role this year, leading all Thunder netminders with 22 games played and posting a 6-14-2 record and .870 save percentage. Brennan likely won’t stick with the roster when games start back up, but one of Casey or Nemec could hold onto a spot depending on how long Siegenthaler misses.

New Jersey has utilized 22 of 23 roster slots with both defense prospects up. That final roster spot could soon be taken up by captain Nico Hischier’s return. Keefe told NHL.com that Hischier didn’t seem to be dealing with any sort of discomfort in New Jersey’s first day back, though he’ll need to be approved by doctors before he can return. Hischier added that he felt like his break, and Tuesday’s practice, both went well. The top Swiss has missed New Jersey’s last six games with an oblique injury after taking a cross-check to the ribs in the Devils’ January 25th win over the Boston Bruins. He’s been one of New Jersey’s top forwards when healthy, with 24 goals and 43 points in 51 games. Hischier will immediately return to a top-line role, should he be healthy enough to play this weekend.

Injury| NHL| New Jersey Devils Jacob Markstrom| Jonas Siegenthaler| Nico Hischier| Seamus Casey| Simon Nemec| Tyler Brennan

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Devils’ Jacob Markstrom Out 4-6 Weeks With Knee Sprain

January 24, 2025 at 8:15 am CDT | by Brennan McClain 1 Comment

Jan. 24: Markstrom’s absence will likely stand in the four-to-six-week range, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on Friday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast. That keeps him out of the 4 Nations tournament and potentially up until the trade deadline, but all indications point to him being back between the pipes for the stretch run.

Jan. 23: A frightening situation from last night’s game against the Boston Bruins has worsened for the New Jersey Devils. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reported that Devils’ goaltender Jacob Markstrom has been diagnosed with a knee sprain and could be sidelined until after the 4 Nations Face-Off, which concludes mid-February.

Weekes states that the diagnosis is more favorable than anticipated, but it adds insult to injury for a team that has struggled recently. Bruins’ forward Justin Brazeau collided with Markstrom early in the second period of yesterday’s game, causing the Swedish goaltender to awkwardly hit his net. Markstrom exited the game after 23:09 of action, having stopped six out of seven shots.

After managing three straight wins against intra-divisional opponents in mid-December, New Jersey has amassed a 3-6-3 record in their last 12 games falling to third place in the Metropolitan Division. It’s difficult to blame Markstrom for the rough patch given he’s managed a respectable .907 save percentage over the same span. Throughout the regular season, Markstrom has been exactly what the Devils needed with a 21-9-5 record in 36 starts with a .910 SV% and 2.20 goals-against average.

While Jake Allen may not be as skilled as Markstrom, he is certainly a better option than many backup goaltenders. This season, he has started 14 games for New Jersey, recording a 6-8-1 record with a .901 save percentage and a 2.66 goals-against average. New Jersey only has seven games between now and the end of February’s international tournament so he won’t have too much to shoulder. Although it may be challenging to count on Allen to steal wins for the Devils, he remains a capable veteran goalie.

In addition to the impact of Markstrom’s injury on the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference playoff race, it could pose a significant challenge for Team Sweden. The team is already facing the potential unavailability of Linus Ullmark due to his injury status, and Filip Gustavsson has struggled with a .839 save percentage over his last four starts, which has not instilled much confidence. Multiple sources indicate that Philadelphia Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson would be called to fill the role if neither Markstrom nor Ullmark can participate in the Four Nations Face-Off because of injury. 

Injury| New Jersey Devils| Newsstand Jacob Markstrom

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Metropolitan Notes: Mitchell, Lindgren, Thompson, Markström, Chytil

November 21, 2024 at 1:51 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 1 Comment

The Islanders returned defenseman Travis Mitchell to AHL Bridgeport on Wednesday, per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News.

Mitchell’s first NHL recall came and went without an appearance. He was recalled last week to serve as an extra defender with Adam Pelech, Mike Reilly and Alexander Romanov all out with injuries on the back end, but served as a healthy scratch in three straight games before yesterday’s reassignment. He was no longer needed with Romanov returning to action against the Flames on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old Mitchell is in just his second full season with the Isles organization after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Cornell in 2023. The 6’4″, 205-lb lefty had three points, 21 PIMs and a -2 rating with Bridgeport prior to last week’s summons. He’s in the final year of his entry-level contract and is ticketed for restricted free agency next summer.

The Islanders now have an open roster spot, so as things stand, they won’t need to make a corresponding transaction whenever their next injured player is ready to return. Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair, in addition to Pelech and Reilly, are all either on IR or LTIR.

There’s more from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Capitals fans got some concerning news when goaltenders Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson both left practice this morning, but both are good to dress tonight against the Avalanche, per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. Thompson, who’s pretty much rotated starts evenly with Lindgren, will get the start. Acquired by trade from the Golden Knights at the 2024 draft, Thompson has been the far better of the two netminders with an 8-0-1 record, .913 SV%, 2.63 GAA and 3.5 GSAA in nine appearances.
  • Devils goaltender Jacob Markström will start Thursday against the Hurricanes, according to the club’s Amanda Stein, marking his milestone 500th career appearance. He’ll become the 81st goalie in NHL history to cross the threshold, with Cam Talbot and Andrei Vasilevskiy likely to follow before the New Year. The 34-year-old has provided the stability to New Jersey’s crease they so desperately desired in his first season in the Garden State, posting an 8-5-1 record with a .907 SV% and 2.58 GAA while starting 14 of their 21 games.
  • Despite joining the team on the road, Rangers center Filip Chytil won’t return to the lineup tonight in Calgary, reports Peter Baugh of The Athletic. He wasn’t on the ice for morning skate as he’ll miss his third straight game with an upper-body injury. Previous reports indicate the 25-year-old avoided a concussion when he left a Nov. 14 game against the Sharks after colliding with teammate K’Andre Miller, a good sign for the youngster who was limited to just 10 regular-season games in 2023-24 with concussions. Through 15 appearances, the 2017 first-round pick has four goals and five assists for nine points.

New Jersey Devils| New York Islanders| New York Rangers| Transactions| Washington Capitals Charlie Lindgren| Filip Chytil| Jacob Markstrom| Logan Thompson| Travis Mitchell

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Devils Acquire Jacob Markström

June 19, 2024 at 11:03 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 23 Comments

The Devils have their goalie. New Jersey announced the acquisition of Jacob Markström from the Flames for defenseman Kevin Bahl and their 2025 first-round pick, which is top-10 protected. Calgary is retaining 31.25% of Markström’s $6MM cap hit in the trade, bringing it down to $4.125MM for the Devils.

Speculation about New Jersey picking up a high-end starter had run rampant as far back as midseason. The Devils looked like a team on a meteoric rise after last season’s 112-point showing, but below-average performances from all three goalies they started the season with (Nico Daws, Akira Schmid, Vítek Vaněček) were one of the many factors that brought them back below the .500 mark this year.

After shipping out Vaněček to the Sharks at the trade deadline and getting some stopgap solutions in Jake Allen and Kaapo Kähkönen, they now have their bonafide starter. It took the 2008 second-rounder quite a while to break out, but he took over the crease for the Canucks in the 2017-18 season and hasn’t looked back. The 6’6″ netminder has finished top 10 in Vezina balloting in three of the past six seasons, including a second-place finish in 2022. That was a statement year for him and the rest of the Flames, as he tossed up a .922 SV% and a league-leading nine shutouts in 63 starts as Calgary won the Pacific Division title, just its second since 2006.

Things turned south as he regressed to a .892 SV% in 2022-23, but he put together a nice rebound campaign this season despite battling through a handful of injuries. His 23-23-2 record isn’t impressive at first glance, but he returned to being a top-10 goalie in the league in terms of goals saved above expected with 13.7, per MoneyPuck. He had a .905 SV%, 2.78 GAA and two shutouts behind a Flames team that had its worst season defensively in quite some time under first-year head coach Ryan Huska.

Even still, Markström’s results last year were brought down by a poor stretch of post-trade deadline play – an understandable slump given the trade rumors connecting him to New Jersey at the time and the fact he was playing with a lower-body injury. From March 4 onward, he went 2-8-0 with a .869 SV% without putting up an SV% over .900 in any single game. To put it succinctly, Markström had a better year than a quick look at his results would indicate.

Since signing his six-year, $36MM deal with the Flames in free agency in 2020, Markström has a .907 SV% over 212 starts and one relief appearance. That’s good for seven goals saved above average, indicative of the peaks and valleys he’s shown during his time in Alberta. He’s one of four goalies to start more than 200 games over that timeframe, joining perennial Vezina challengers Connor Hellebuyck, Juuse Saros and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Landing Markström at $4.125MM against the cap for the next two seasons is a considerable discount for Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, as it’s much less than he would cost on the open market. He’ll form a formidable veteran one-two punch in net with Allen, who remains under contract with New Jersey next season at a reduced $1.925MM cap hit thanks to the Canadiens retaining salary when trading him at the deadline. The Devils, after dealing with younger, more inconsistent unknowns in Schmid and Vaněček for most of last season, now have an above-average backup and starter for a total of $6.05MM against the cap.

Calling Markström truly elite would likely earn you some pushback, given his year-to-year dips with Calgary, and that pushback would be fair. But he has the most established track record of any goalie the Devils have iced since Cory Schneider’s run of elite play in the mid-2010s. The deal has them much better positioned to make the playoffs next season and embark on a deeper run than in 2022 when they escaped the first round but were dispatched by the Hurricanes in five games in Round 2. The 23-year-old Daws and 24-year-old Schmid are also afforded some additional development time in the AHL after an inconsistent 2023-24 campaign for both.

Markström, 34, has two years left on his deal. He’ll become a UFA in 2026, and ideally, by that point, one of Daws or Schmid will have developed into dependable NHL options. While on the older side, he fits well with their immediate timeline. They’re now left with $16.05MM in projected cap space with eight open roster spots, per CapFriendly. Versatile forward Dawson Mercer is their only notable RFA in need of a new deal.

New Jersey pulling off this deal without surrendering a top prospect or their 10th overall selection in this year’s draft is a good piece of work by Fitzgerald, especially with the Flames retaining a considerable amount of salary.

Losing Bahl isn’t nothing, though. The 23-year-old was a second-round pick in 2018 out of OHL Ottawa. He did well this season, his first true full-time NHL campaign, posting 11 points in 82 games while averaging 17:24 a night. His 6’6″, 230-lb frame obviously draws appeal for Calgary, and GM Craig Conroy said today he was a “priority player” throughout discussions with the Devils (via Sportsnet’s Eric Francis). However, his possession metrics last season were subpar, logging a 48.3 CF% and 48.7 xGF% at even strength that both fell south of New Jersey team averages.

Bahl is still young, however, and carries legitimate top-four shutdown upside. He’s under contract next season at a reasonable $1.05MM cap hit and will be an arbitration-eligible RFA next summer. In 148 career games with the Devils since making his debut in the 2020-21 season, Bahl has four goals, 21 assists, 25 points and a -1 rating while logging 16:14 per contest.

If the Devils’ 2025 first-rounder does land within the top 10, they’ll transfer their 2026 first-round pick to Calgary instead, regardless of its placement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

TSN’s Travis Yost was first to report Markström was headed to New Jersey.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was first to report the trade return and salary retention.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was first to report the 2025 first-round pick was top-10 protected.

Calgary Flames| New Jersey Devils| Newsstand| Transactions Jacob Markstrom| Kevin Bahl

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West Notes: Markstrom, Jets, Oilers

June 18, 2024 at 6:32 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley 5 Comments

The Calgary Flames aren’t facing much pressure to move top goaltender Jacob Markstrom, with general manager Craig Conroy sharing with Sportsnet’s Eric Francis that the player hasn’t formally requested a trade. Markstrom was wrapped up in trade rumors throughout the season, even continuing into this summer as one of the top options on the New Jersey Devils’ trade radar. Markstrom expressed frustrations with the rumors around the Trade Deadline, bluntly stating that he thought the situation could have been handled differently.

Markstrom’s value as a top goaltender is readily apparent, even through his highs and lows. He posted a stout 23 wins and .905 save percentage in 48 games this year, both improvements from his tallies last year despite playing in 11 fewer games. Last year’s .892 save percentage marked Markstrom’s first time recording a save percentage under .900 across his seven years as an NHL starter. He rebounded admirably this season, bringing his career totals up to 196 wins and a .909 save percentage across 483 games. Markstrom has two years remaining on a six-year, $36MM contract signed with the Flames in 2020 – pricing him in the middle of the goalie trade market, costlier than Linus Ullmark’s $5MM cap hit but cheaper than John Gibson’s $6.4MM cap hit.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Winnipeg Jets have extended their ECHL affiliation with the Norfolk Admirals. The Admirals are coming off their first year partnered with the Jets, seeing historic success as they made the league’s postseason for the first time in their eight-year history. The Admirals were bounced in the second round but still enjoyed a year built around strong goaltending, featuring Carolina Hurricanes prospect Yaniv Perets, on loan, and Jets prospect Thomas Milic.
  • The Edmonton Oilers will, unsurprisingly, be sticking with the same lineup that dominated in Game 4, shares Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic (Twitter link). Edmonton came back from the brink of elimination with a resounding 8-1 win over the Florida Panthers. The team’s depth bolstered the performance, with Mattias Janmark, Adam Henrique, Dylan Holloway, and Ryan McLeod each contributing to the record-rivaling win. The Oilers will hope they can catch lightning twice, and avoid gifting the Panthers a Stanley Cup on home ice.

Calgary Flames| ECHL| Edmonton Oilers| Winnipeg Jets Jacob Markstrom

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Evening Notes: Myers, Lafferty, Kylington, Markstrom

June 11, 2024 at 8:37 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain Leave a Comment

Heading into the offseason, the Vancouver Canucks have several quality players heading for unrestricted free agency. In an article today by David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod, he touches on the organization’s negotiations with defenseman Tyler Myers and forward Sam Lafferty.

A little over a week ago, it was reported that both Myers and the Canucks wanted to pursue an extension — but it will need to be for a much lower AAV than his previous $6MM salary. It does not appear that the two sides have even started exchanging salary figures, which could push Myers towards unrestricted free agency on July 1st. Vancouver has four defensemen set to hit the open market with an additional restricted free agent to worry about, and the Canucks would be wise to extend some of them well before free agency kicks off.

Unlike Myers, it does not appear that Lafferty wants to extend his stay in Vancouver, but Pagnotta points out that the two sides haven’t shut the door completely. After completing his two-year, $2.3MM contract that he originally signed with the Chicago Blackhawks, Lafferty has earned a shot at more earning power this summer after posting 13 goals and 24 points with the Canucks this season.

Other notes:

  • In the same article from Pagnotta, defenseman Oliver Kylington and his camp are still waiting on a contract offer from the Calgary Flames. It was only a few weeks ago that Pagnotta originally confirmed that the Flames organization was preparing an offer for the Masterton Trophy finalist. After missing nearly two years, Kylington’s arrival back in Calgary was well received, especially after the team made significant changes to its blue line. If he does extend, Kylington should be able to fetch nearly identical value to his recent two-year, $5MM contract with the Flames.
  • Staying in Calgary, Pagnotta indicates that the Flames and New Jersey Devils are working hard towards a Jacob Markstrom trade. The two sides were nearly in agreement on a trade that would send Markstrom to New Jersey at the trade deadline, but the deal collapsed in the final stages. Although Markstrom remains the ideal candidate for the Devils, there will be other options available this summer if Calgary’s asking price exceeds expectations.

Calgary Flames| New Jersey Devils| Vancouver Canucks Jacob Markstrom| Oliver Kylington| Sam Lafferty| Tyler Myers

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Senators Aggressively Pursuing Goaltending Upgrade

June 10, 2024 at 11:24 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 17 Comments

The Senators may add their name to the goalie carousel this summer. As the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch writes, general manager Steve Staios is becoming intent on upgrading the club’s situation between the pipes.

The Sens thought they had their man last summer when previous GM Pierre Dorion inked Joonas Korpisalo to a five-year, $20MM contract in free agency. The 30-year-old’s market value was at an all-time high after a strong stint to finish 2022-23 with the Kings, but he was unable to keep it going in Ottawa in his first full season as a true starter.

His 49 starts and 21 wins were career-highs, but there wasn’t much else to write home about his season. Korpisalo’s .890 SV% and 3.27 GAA both ranked near the bottom of the list of starters, and his -16.1 goals saved above expected was second-worst in the league to Chicago’s Arvid Söderblom, per MoneyPuck.

With new management in town and a clear directive to end the Sens’ seven-year playoff drought, one season of below-average play appears enough for a serious change to be considered. They’ve been “one of the most aggressive teams” in trade discussions for Flames netminder Jacob Markström, a league executive told Garrioch, and they’ve also contacted the Bruins about trading for 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark.

Even with the salary cap’s upper limit increasing to a record $88MM, the Sens may find themselves in a little bit of a cap crunch this summer. They’ve got $12.5MM in projected space with anywhere from five to seven roster spots to fill, including a new deal for pending RFA Shane Pinto. Offloading Korpisalo with four years left on his deal may be unrealistic in a goalie trade, but repurposing backup Anton Forsberg’s $2.75MM in a trade, along with many other parts for a starter, could help ease any financial considerations.

They’re not viewed as the favorites for either Markström or Ullmark, though. The Devils have positioned themselves as the frontrunner in Markström talks. While it’s not clear who’s put together the most competitive offer to the Bruins for Ullmark, he’s got a 16-team no-trade list. The stuck-in-low-gear Senators might very well be on it. Even if Markström wasn’t so closely tied to New Jersey, he boasts a full no-move clause and could block a trade.

Nonetheless, it would be smart to count the Sens in for nearly every netminder who finds himself on the block this summer.

Newsstand| Ottawa Senators Jacob Markstrom| Linus Ullmark

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Latest On Jacob Markstrom

June 9, 2024 at 1:55 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley 19 Comments

The Calgary Flames are trying to move former Vezina Trophy runner-up Jacob Markstrom as discretely as possible, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast. Friedman adds that the team was aware of the theatrics brought on by Markstrom’s trade rumors earlier this season. Markstrom publicly expressed his frustration with the team over his pre-Deadline speculation, amidst rumors of a pending move to the New Jersey Devils being reversed after Calgary went 9-3-0 throughout February. Markstrom posted a .928 save percentage while appearing in 10 games during the hot streak. He’d go on to post a measly .869 save percentage in 10 games following the strong stretch, floundering on a Flames lineup that went on to miss the postseason by 17 points.

The second half of season felt like an encapsulation of Markstrom’s play over the last few years – with dramatically up-and-down stretches culminating in a modest stat line. He posted 23 wins and a .905 save percentage in 48 games this year – finding the same number of wins and a stronger save percentage than he did last season, despite playing in 11 fewer games.

Markstrom has been a no-doubt starter for much of the last eight seasons, after joining the Vancouver Canucks in 2014 in the trade that sent Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers. Markstrom would make his first stand as a full-fledged starter in the 2017-18 season, posting 23 wins and a .912 save percentage in 60 appearances with Vancouver. He’s played in 40 or more games in every season since, totaling a .910 save percentage in 376 games. And while last season’s sub-.900 save percentage – and a tally this year that came close –  have caused some to pause, it’s hard to think Markstrom isn’t bound for the lion’s share of games with whoever he may suit up for next season.

That could be the New Jersey Devils, who have Markstrom as one of their top trade targets this summer, but Friedman notes they’re not the only teams involved. Friedman specifically named the Toronto Maple Leafs as a strong candidate for trade, largely thanks to Toronto now being manned by Brad Treliving, the general manager who signed Markstrom to the six-year, $36MM contract he’s currently on with the Flames. The price of a Markstrom trade could quickly test Toronto’s budget – especially as they approach a summer with just $18.83MM in cap space and 12 pending free agents. The Leafs are also woefully juxtaposed by a Devils team willing to move the 10th-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft for lineup improvements. That offer could be tantalizing for a Calgary team looking for a breadth of young talent. At the very least, it’s an exciting bar in a goalie market that, per Friedman, has plenty of invested teams.

Calgary Flames| NHL Jacob Markstrom

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Jacob Markstrom, Linus Ullmark Are Devils’ Top Goalie Targets

June 5, 2024 at 10:53 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 18 Comments

The Devils’ pursuit of a bonafide starting goaltender has been a dominant storyline for months and remains one of the few certainties of the summer. While there are more than a handful of qualified names on the trade block, the Flames’ Jacob Markström and the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark are the two likeliest names that New Jersey general manager Tom Fitzgerald would swing a deal for, sources told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic on Tuesday.

Fitzgerald also confirmed to reporters yesterday that he would make the Devils’ 2024 first-round pick, 10th overall, available in trade talks. In what’s viewed as a deep class of high-end talent, that pick could very well be enough to pry Markström or Ullmark away from their respective teams, although a low-to-medium-value asset may also be required.

The other big fish on the goalie trade market, 2022 Vezina Trophy nominee Juuse Saros, doesn’t appear likely. He’s only been connected to the Devils sparingly in recent weeks and wasn’t mentioned at all as an option for New Jersey in LeBrun’s reporting yesterday.

Markström and Ullmark are the elder statesmen of the group, but as such, could cost less to acquire than the sub-30 Saros. Ullmark finds himself in the conversation after throwing up a .924 SV% average over three seasons with the Bruins, but he’s only started more than half his team’s games in a season once. That was Boston’s record-setting 2022-23 campaign when he won the Vezina Trophy after recording a 40-6-1 record, .938 SV% and 1.89 GAA.

Markström’s numbers have been more inconsistent over the past few seasons, but he has a much longer track record of being a true starter. The 34-year-old Swede has started more than half his team’s games in each of the last seven years and is two years removed from a league-leading nine shutouts that helped him earn his only career Vezina nomination in 2022.

He’s coming off a verifiably above-average season, too, posting a .905 SV% and stopping 13.7 goals above expected (MoneyPuck) despite a .500 record. The other advantage is his contract – he’s got two seasons left at a $6MM cap hit compared to Ullmark, who’s only signed through next season.

Markström isn’t the higher-ceiling option, but he may be the safer one. He carries a full no-move clause, but multiple reports indicated he waived it for a move to New Jersey before this season’s trade deadline that ultimately fell through. LeBrun confirmed that notion yesterday.

Boston Bruins| Calgary Flames| New Jersey Devils| Newsstand Jacob Markstrom| Linus Ullmark

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Flames Notes: Markstrom, Weegar, Kylington, Pospisil

April 20, 2024 at 8:54 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain Leave a Comment

In an article from Salim Valji of TSN, all signs indicate that goaltender Jacob Markstrom has played his last game as a member of the Calgary Flames. After almost being traded to the New Jersey Devils at this year’s trade deadline, the schism between Markstrom and the front office does not have evidence of it being an issue that can be rectified internally.

When asked where he envisioned himself next season, he bluntly responded, “I don’t know“. Not appreciating the idea of being a part of the inevitable retool of the Flames roster, Markstrom continued, “What I do know is I love winning hockey games. I think that’s the competitive side of me. Every time I lace up the skates, that’s something I want – to win hockey games“.

With the Devils maintaining their interest in acquiring Markstrom this offseason, his market may be more robust than just a singular disappointing team from this season. With each team preparing for next year at this moment, or at some point throughout the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, Markstrom’s market could extend to the Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, or the Philadelphia Flyers over the next couple of months.

Other Flames notes:

  • In somewhat of a malcontent response to Markstrom’s approach to the offseason, one player has no intentions of leaving Calgary any time soon. According to beat reporter Wes Gilbertson, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar not only wants to stay with the Flames organization but believes that the future is very exciting for this team. Finishing off the first season of an eight-year, $50MM extension with Calgary, Weegar was a boon to the Flames this season, scoring 20 goals and 52 points in all 82 games.
  • Another player who wishes to remain in southern Alberta is defenseman Oliver Kylington, who Daniel Sun of the Calgary Sun writes is hoping for an extension with the only organization he has ever known. After taking nearly a year and a half away from the game, Kylington was able to suit up in 33 games for Calgary, scoring three goals and eight points in the process. With a thinned-out defensive core from the trade deadline, the Flames should be amicable in bringing back Kylington for the next few seasons.
  • Now that Calgary’s season has come to an end, some players on the team may opt to join their respective international clubs for this summer’s rendition of the IIHF World Championship. Per a team announcement, forward Martin Pospisil will be doing just that, as the Flames announce he will be rostered on Team Slovakia for this year’s tournament. It will be the first time since the 2018-19 season that Pospisil has suited up for Team Slovakia in an international event, with the last coming during that year’s IIHF World Junior Championships.

Calgary Flames Jacob Markstrom| MacKenzie Weegar| Martin Pospisil| Oliver Kylington

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    Bruins’ Elias Lindholm Out Multiple Weeks

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    Stars Sign Thomas Harley To Eight-Year Extension

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    Devils’ Brett Pesce Out At Least One Month

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    Flyers’ Tyson Foerster Out, Sean Couturier Returns

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    Cole Smith Out Three-To-Six Weeks With Upper-Body Injury

    Senators Reassign Hunter Shepard, Recall Leevi Merilainen

    East Notes: Volokhin, Guryev, Greenway

    Injury Notes: Benson, Strome, Nylander

    Flyers Recall Jacob Gaucher, Reassign Emil Andrae

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