How will the Devils’ deploy Markstrom and Allen as they get older?
For most, the New Jersey Devils are a team defined by their young, mid-20s stars. Centers Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier are in their early primes, and should form the core of this team for years to come. That youthful identity stops short of the Devils’ crease, however, as New Jersey has one of the oldest goalie tandems in the NHL. Jacob Markström and Jake Allen are each 35-years old, making it a little worrisome to hand either the workload of a full-time NHL starting goaltender.
Markström has already missed time this season with a lower-body injury. Between the two, Allen has been the more effective option so far, sporting a .904 save percentage and and 2.48 goals-against average, compared to Markström’s .875 SV% and 4.17 GAA. It raises the question; how will the Devils split time between these two elder statesmen of the goal?
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by New Jersey Hockey Now’s James Nichols to discuss the Devils’ plans in net this season.
Carter Hutton: For this platoon of goalies, you have two older goalies. Jake Allen obviously held the fort down when Markström was out, he was very good, and he always has been. Markström had that 43-save performance. I think that’s his high side, he can steal you games and be a difference maker. But what is the plan as they’re both a little bit older? Is to kind of go back and forth to try to manage that depth? Because Jake Allen did a great job when he was with the Canadiens getting them to the playoffs when Price was out as well, so he’s been in that role. But how do you platoon these guys to make sure they’re healthy come playoff time?
James Nichols: I think it’s going to be a 60/40 split. The Devils are still a believer in Jacob Markström being the number-one guy. Obviously they paid him to be like that. The thing is, they brought him in because they think he’s the difference maker. Jake Allen, in my opinion, is a luxury as a backup goaltender. You could maybe even call him a “1B” depending on how they do deploy them. But it does look like it’s going to be a 60/40 split. They’re going to give Jacob Markström the toughest matchups, but it’s a luxury to have Allen in their back pocket if another injury to Markström happens. They have a goaltender, any given night, that can give them a win and steal a game for them. It look like it’s going to be Markström’s net moving forward, not in the sense that he’s going to take 60 games, but you might see him take 50 with Allen taking the rest.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…