New Jersey Devils trade deadline review

I dove deeper into Tom Fitzgerald's remodelling between the pipes as well as the selling of pending UFAs Tyler Toffoli and Colin Miller.

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New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald was a busy man on Friday, checking off all the items I covered with my deadline preview.

He acquired a veteran between the pipes (two, in fact), traded one of his expirings on defense, and sold soon to be 32-year-old winger Tyler Toffoli.

Let’s take a closer look at his work.

A full reset in goal

I thought Tom Fitzgerald did as good of a remodel as he realistically could on deadline day.

Jake Allen is not someone who is going to come in and steal games but he is a solid goaltender who can be reliable and take the burden off of the kids, who have very clearly had too much thrown on their plates this season.

Allen’s surface stats are not impressive. A lot of that has to do with playing behind an undisciplined team that gives up power play goals in bulk.

He has been more than adequate at 5v5 this season, ranking 31st in save percentage and 32nd in high-danger save percentage among the 68 goaltenders to play at least 500 minutes.

His numbers are night and day to what the Devils have gotten out of their three netminders this season.

The same can be said of Kaapo Kahkonen, who the Sharks rather egregiously traded for Vitek Vanecek and a 7th round pick.

Kahkonen owns the league’s 15th highest save percentage vs. Grade A shots while Vanecek ranks dead last in that regard. Kahkonen is not as good as those numbers would have you believe but he is a clear upgrade on Vanecek.

Not only did the Devils get a second NHL goaltender to help them stabilize things down the stretch; they were able to get out from Vanecek’s contract and the $3.4 million he is owed next season.

Moving Vanecek, and getting the Canadiens to eat half of Allen’s salary, gives the Devils a clean slate to go out and add a legit No. 1 goaltender this summer, be it Jacob Markstrom, Juuse Saros, or another notable name who becomes available.

These moves also take all of the pressure off Nico Daws and Akira Schmid. They can both focus on developing in the AHL over the next 1.25 seasons and get ready to try and win an NHL job when Allen’s contract expires after 2024-25.

I thought Fitzgerald did a great job of reshaping the goaltending depth chart for this season and beyond. It’s just a shame it took so long.

Taking flight