Jacob Markstrom is a problem for the New Jersey Devils

His play has consistently underwhelmed all season, even when things were more stable around him.

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Jacob Markstrom’s season has been an unmitigated disaster. There is no other way to put it.

The 35-year-old has struggled mightily from the word go, seemingly unable to find any sort of rhythm between the pipes.

Consistency wouldn’t be the right word because he is consistent. Consistently bad.

He allowed five goals on 32 shots in the season opener – although the team didn’t exactly play well in front of him – and pucks have found the back of the net at an alarming rate since.

Markstrom has made 15 starts to date. He allowed at least three goals in 13 of them, equating to nearly 87% of the time.

He has posted a save percentage of .900 or better in just four of his starts. Only once was he able to do so in consecutive games.

Those came against the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues, who own goal differentials of -9 and -35 on the season. Not exactly a pair of powerhouses.

Taking things a step further, his other .900+ SV% performances were in Ottawa and Los Angeles. The Senators sit 14th in the Eastern Conference while the Kings rank 27th in goals per game.

Only the Kings (+2) have a positive goal differential among the teams Markstrom posted good numbers against and they can’t score.

Markstrom perhaps had a little extra juice in that game after having $12 million more committed to him despite a poor start to the season.

Zooming back out, Markstrom’s profile is littered with red flags across the board.

Of the 49 goaltenders who’ve appeared in 11+ games, Markstrom ranks 45th in Goals Saved Above Expectation per 60.

He also sits 47th in delta save percentage – the difference between SV% and expected SV% based on the shots faced.

Only Linus Ullmark and Jordan Binnington have fared worse. Oddly enough, two of Markstrom’s four quality starts came against those guys.

Markstrom is rocking a Quality Start rate of 26.7%. That’s just over half of his career average (52.4%) and less than half of last season’s output (59.2%).

He has lots of Really Bad Starts, though. He has posted six through 15 starts after having just seven over 49 a year ago.

Only one (1) season has Markstrom ever had more than eight Really Bad Starts, finishing with 14 over 58 starts (24.1 RBS%). He’s on pace for 16 this year…in 40 games. That’d be a 40 RBS%.

I’m not going to sit here and pretend the Devils have defended lights out and made things easy on him. But he isn’t some victim here.

Markstrom has faced high-danger chances at the 22nd highest rate among the 50 goaltenders to play 600+ minutes. It’s not open season to the extent he makes it feel.

And, quite frankly, Markstrom struggled even when the Devils were healthy and more buttoned up defensively.

He allowed three goals on 17 shots against Tampa Bay in early October. He allowed three goals on 19 shots against Montreal. He allowed three goals on 24 shots against the New York Islanders. He allowed three goals on 20 shots against the Chicago Blackhawks. On it goes.

This is a goaltender making $6 million this season (and for two more!). He is paid well to stop pucks. He is paid well to mask mistakes. He is paid well to step up when injuries arise and more is on his plate. And he’s not doing it.

The guy has stopped more goals than expected three times, according to NaturalStatTrick. We’re in the middle of December.

Call me crazy but I’d expect more than one good start per month from an established veteran carrying the 13th highest salary at his position.

Markstrom just hasn’t played well enough. Not even close. And, if things don’t improve considerably, his new two-year contract will look completely egregious well before it begins.

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numbers via CapWages.com, NaturalStatTrick.com, Hockey-Reference.com, and HockeyStats.com