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The New Jersey Devils added some much-needed depth to the goaltender room on Thursday, signing veteran David Rittich to a one-year contract worth $1 million.
Rittich owns a respectable .903 career save percentage through 260 regular season games.
He has posted a sub .900 SV% in back-to-back years, most recently recording an .894 over 30 games with the New York Islanders.
While those are not numbers to write home about, it’s worth noting league average was .896 this past year. He performed fine.
Even with mediocre save percentages the past two years, Rittich still tied Jacob Markstrom(!) and Connor Ingram for 48th among 69 netminders in GSAx per 60.
Nobody will confuse Rittich for a starting goaltender – or anything close – but he’s someone who can give you 25-30 games of passable goaltending.
He’s an innings eater, and that’s all the Devils want him to be.
Devils heading for three-goalie system
Jake Allen can play close to half of the schedule, exactly as he did last season. Rittich and Nico Daws will be responsible for the other ~half in what will surely be a three-goaltender room.
It would only cost $4 million against the cap to roster Allen, Rittich, and Daws. They’ll take up an extra roster spot, of course, but 13 forwards and seven defensemen should be adequate.
Carrying three goaltenders is rare and can lead to someone being unhappy with playing time. I don’t think that will be the case here.
This isn’t a situation where there’s a usual starter having his workload chewed up by others. There is room for all three goaltenders to carry the kind of workload they’d expect in their roles.
Let’s say Allen plays 37 games, just like last year. That leaves 47 games for Rittich and Daws to split (23.5 each), which is roughly what they would play behind a legitimate starter in a normal 82-game season.
On a team with two goalies, Rittich and/or Daws are only backing up if there is a clear-cut, established starter. They aren’t full-time platoon guys.
There is room for all three to play what would be their ‘usual’ roles.
