Hall-of-Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur is confident that one of the team's most inexperienced goaltenders, Nico Daws, can compete for the starting role this upcoming season.
Sunny Mehta may have temporarily won over New Jersey Devils fans when the newly-hired GM managed to trade struggling goaltender Jacob Markstrom and his $6-million cap hit to the Florida Panthers on the second day of free agency.
But that feeling of euphoria quickly turned to unease when Mehta signed 33-year-old journeyman David Rittich a few days later.
Was that it? Were the Devils, who missed the playoffs last year mostly because their goaltending wasn't nearly good enough, really going to roll the dice with a three-headed monster that now includes veteran backup Jake Allen, unproven minor leaguer Nico Daws and Rittich, who is now on his seventh NHL team in six years?
Well, yes.
According to Hall-of-Fame goalie Martin Brodeur, who is the Devils' executive vice president of hockey operations, the team is "really comfortable" in the approach.
"The best starter is going to get the net," Brodeur, who was named the chief of athlete development for the online coaching platform Propel Pro, told The Hockey News in an interview this week. "I don't think there's a clear-cut No. 1 goalie in net."
That might be an understatement.
It's been four years since the 36-year-old Allen played more than 40 games. The last time that Rittich was a starter was during the shortened season in 2019-20. Meanwhile, Daws has just 55 games of NHL experience.
For that reason, the team might have been better off with another year of Markstrom, regardless of his past struggles or his ballooning cap hit. However, Brodeur is confident that someone will take the reigns — and the early betting is that it could be the goalie with the least amount of experience.
"Nico Daws is a kid who needs a chance," said Brodeur. "We've been developing him for four years. We didn't put great teams in front of him in Utica and obviously his development slowed down because of that. But we need to give him a chance to see what we have."
Daws was a third-round pick of the Devils in 2020. The 6-foot-4 German has spent the past five years bouncing up-and-down between the NHL and the minors, where he's put up middling stats. However, Brodeur believes he has the big-game mentality needed to take over the net.
All he needs is the opportunity, which is what Daws is finally being given.
"You put a lot of stock in drafting goalies, but if you never give them a chance it's kind of hard to know what you have," said Brodeur. "Sometimes, other goalies are going to get better on their second or third team. You want to make sure you have something.
"We put him into the Stadium Series game at MetLife Stadium in front of 70,000 people and he had 51 saves against the Flyers. He's got it, I really believe in him, we just never gave him a chance. So now he's going to have a chance to show us if he's a real NHL goalie and I believe he is."
Again, it's a gamble for a team that had the second-worst record in the Metropolitan Division last season. But after acquiring forwards Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist and Ben Steeves from Florida in the Markstrom trade, the team is hoping to rebound and get back into the playoffs.
A lot of that will depend on whether they can keep the puck out of their own net. Last season, the Devils ranked 16th in goals-allowed (3.09 per game).
"Jacob, it's going to be a tough loss," said Brodeur. "He's a real pro. He's a big, big goalie who had a tough year last year. It happens. He always bounces back so I'm sure he's going to have a great year in Florida.
"We just felt comfortable. Jake showed us a lot last year when he had to play. He played some solid minutes for us. We feel that both goalies are able to play. Again, Jake at his age, won't be able to play 60 games or 55 games, so obviously there will be room for Nico. And if Nico hits it out of the park, it is what it is.
"We're in the winning business. We're going to put the best goalie out there."
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