The New Jersey Devils finally got their man and number-one goalie, Jacob Markstrom. New Jersey sent Kevin Bahl and a top-10 protected 2025 first-round pick to the Flames for Markstrom, who will retain 31.25 percent of Markstrom’s salary. This deal was a long time coming.
NHL Trade: The New Jersey Devils Trade For Jacob Markstrom
As documented, both parties have been working on this deal since January. A deal was in place at the NHL Trade Deadline in March before it was off the table. The Devils and Flames would re-engage in trade talks in the summer as New Jersey wanted to address their goaltending. It was their top priority this offseason for President and GM Tom Fitzgerald.
As we know, Jacob Markstrom wanted to go to the Devils. He was willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to New Jersey, but the Devils wanted him. Now the Devils got him, but it took some work, as TSN Hockey Analyst Darren Dreger told Gino Reda on TSN’s That’s Hockey.
Gino Reda:
“For more on today’s big news, here’s our hockey insider Darren Dreger. Dregs it looked like things were really close at last year’s NHL Trade Deadline. It looked like Jacob Markstrom was on his way to New Jersey, and then things fell apart. Markstrom was not happy about it Dregs. I remember he said it could have been handled a lot differently from the people up top. Okay, so now it is done. He is going to Jersey. How did this finally all come together?”
Darren Dreger:
“Well, a lot of work by Tom Fitzgerald with the New Jersey Devils and management of the Calgary Flames, and let’s throw Pat Morris, who represents Jacob Markstrom, into that equation as well. A lot of parties were involved in this process, but I’m going to be specific here for a moment, Gino. So, as we have this conversation Wednesday afternoon, I’m going to take you back to Tuesday game day, Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final, and I’m doing my due diligence doing that prep work for the game. But in the meantime, as an insider, I’m also trying to keep tabs on some of the bigger stories and this is a huge story.
So I checked in with my New Jersey sources at 2:31 pm Eastern time yesterday, and I was told nope, all quiet with Jacob Markstrom and the Calgary Flames. So then it got less quiet after that. It got really busy in the afternoon. And the heavy lifting of the negotiations really took place last night to a point where it wasn’t wrapped up when Jacob Markstrom, because of his timezone difference, said you know what, I’m going to bed let me know how this all plays out in the morning. He got up this (Wednesday) morning that a deal had been agreed to between the Calgary Flames and the New Jersey Devils, and Jacob Markstrom waived his no-trade clause and is now happy to be part of the organization in New Jersey.”
NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils and Calgary Flames Still Talking About Jacob Markstrom
Again, Jacob Markstrom controlled the narrative, too. He had a say in where he wanted to go. In his mind, he was going to New Jersey despite other teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators being interested in his services. The Devils were also looking at other goalies like Linus Ullmark and Juuse Saros. But there was only one deal in place to make, and it was with the New Jersey Devils, as Dreger explained.
Dreger:
“But it also then goes back to what does Jacob Markstrom want? I think he was intrigued by the possibility of potentially getting traded to Toronto, but I also understand and believe that New Jersey was his first choice. So that’s all been settled. The goalie market remains very, very intriguing. Gino, I think what also kind of encouraged the deal between Calgary and New Jersey was the fact that Craig Conroy in Calgary knew that Tom Fitzgerald in New Jersey was more than kicking tires on some of the other potential goaltenders in play like Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins.
So Conroy wasn’t going to get caught holding the bag even though Jacob Markstrom has a very good and elite level NHL goaltender so he didn’t want to wait too long and poke the bear as they say. So he took the best deal available and that’s from the New Jersey Devils.”
Now Tom Fitzgerald and the New Jersey Devils have their man in Jacob Markstrom with other tools in the toolbox to upgrade the rest of their team.
