New Jersey Devils notes: On the need for a starter and Nemec's numbers vs. top competition

Watching goaltending hamper an excellent Oilers team only hammers home the Devils' need for a true starter. Plus, a word on Nemec vs. top-of-the-lineup players.

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A few New Jersey Devils notes as we continue to inch closer to the off-season fireworks:

Erasing all doubt

Tom Fitzgerald made it clear on deadline day that he intends to go big-game hunting for a goaltender this off-season.

It doesn’t matter if Jake Allen is a strong backup who could be capable of eating up plenty of games in some sort of platoon. Fitzgerald wants a legitimate, unquestioned No. 1 goaltender in front of him.

If there was any doubt that’s the right path for Fitzgerald to go down, it’s probably disappeared watching the Edmonton Oilers from afar.

They are one of the league’s best teams. Their 5v5 metrics are excellent and they have two historically good players in the prime of their careers atop the roster.

They’ve still enjoyed very little team success come playoff time and are at risk of squandering another season almost solely because of goaltending. Don’t get me wrong, the Oilers are not a perfect team. But goaltending is the biggest culprit right now.

The Oilers – similarly to the Devils last year with Vitek Vanecek – didn’t get creative to address their goaltending situation last summer. They determined it was reasonable to ignore Stuart Skinner’s alarmingly poor playoff performance and enter another year with him as The Guy.

Fast forward and the Oilers trail in a series in which they’ve conceded only 61 shots through three games. It doesn’t matter that they have a +33 shot differential or 3.4 more expected goals in that span.

Why?

Stuart Skinner owns a sub .800 save percentage and is giving the Oilers the worst goaltending imaginable.

The Oilers squandered a 4-1 lead in Game 1 against the Canucks on the back of a 19/24 goaltending performance from Skinner.

After tying up the series in Game 2, the Oilers dropped Game 3 despite outshooting the Canucks 45-18. Skinner stopped 11-15 before being pulled – and now journeyman Calvin Pickard is slated to start Game 4.

The last thing the Devils want is to be in a situation where they don’t have a proven starter, the wheels fall off, and suddenly their season is going down the toilet.

After seeing how the last few years played out, I don’t think Fitzgerald is willing to let that happen.

On Nemec vs. elite competition