New Jersey Devils notes: On preseason goaltending, Casey, and more

JP Gambatese shares his take on early goaltending struggles, Casey shining, and tracks a few former Devils.

Be sure to join the Discord channel to talk hockey with our writers and subscribers.

---

By JP Gambatese (@JP_Gambatese)

A few New Jersey Devils notes after a week of preseason play:

Goaltending struggles in preseason

The New Jersey Devils’ presumptive NHL squad has shipped over to Prague to prepare for next weekend’s season opener, leaving the Utica Comets to finish the rest of the scheduled preseason games. 

And what a disappointing preseason it was. 

The Devils, who iced a majority-NHL-based team in 75% of the preseason, lost all four of the games they played. They were outscored 17-6 and netted two or fewer goals in three of the four games.

Perhaps they took note of what happened after last season’s undefeated preseason and are trying to reverse the voodoo, but they’ve been downright abysmal. 

Their “best” of the four games was the most recent, a 5-1 loss to the New York Islanders. The Devils won the all-situations xG battle 2.48 to 2.00, but still remained outplayed at even strength, where they held an xGF% of just 45.75%. 

I’m not necessarily a proponent of taking preseason games overly seriously. At the very least, goaltending has been a concern for me, especially after dealing with what everyone went through for the entire last season.

Jacob Markstrom was brought in to steady the ship in net, finally being that big-name goaltender that just about everybody thought was the missing piece holding the team back from Stanley Cup contention. 

After a 2023-24 regular season that saw him place fourth among goaltenders with at least 20 games played in high-danger save percentage (.836), Markstrom has allowed four goals on 11 high-danger chances in preseason. Sure, the Devils didn’t help him out by any means, with the new netminder having faced the most 5v5 xG of any goaltender, but his play is an orange flag. 

Seamus Casey