Between him and big Mike, hopefully we have something for the big team.
Prospect Info: Jakub Malek (100th Overall)
- Thread starter RememberTheName
- Start date
Leading the league in GAA, SV%, and Shutouts
They have to bring him over and let him get ahl time next season, right?
That would be the most intelligent thing for the Devs to do. However, it does bring to question what they do with the sudden overload.
Poulter is outshining Daws on a s**t Comets team.
Daws is going to a one way contract next season, but unless he has an epitome, I don't see him shining in NJ and as a backup he won't get much play.
Malek belongs over here. Would he possibly outshine the other 2 in training camp and be the the backup or would NJ send him to Utica for seasoning first and keep him there for as long as Daws can hold his own?
That's all assuming that Poulter doesn't do as he has been doing and improving year to year. He then impresses big time in training camp? Then what?
What if Fitz is not confident that any of the 3 can step in immediately and he goes after another proven backup like he did with Allen?
Speaking of Allen, what if he takes advantage of the time Marky is out and does a real good job. Might he get another year of Backup while the others percolate? Problem! You can't percolate 3 keepers in NJ and none of them deserve to be in Adirondack where there is another NJ selection already in Tyler Brennan
(unimpressive so far).
Could one of Poulter or Daws be used in a deal?
Does Yegorov impress the hell out of people and sign at the end of next year's NCAA season and put his stock in the mix?
Some might say the closet is full. I am skeptical of that.
I don't trust Daws.
Poulter was not drafted.
Brennan appears to be a bust.
Yegorov is way too young to warrant a place now. (Dryden came out of Cornell in 1969 with a huge list of awards. The following season (1969-70) he played exclusively with the Canadian National team. The next year (1970-71) he signed with the Canadians and played for the AHL Montreal Voyagers. He was called up to Montreal late that season, played 6 games, won the starting job for the playoffs, and led the Canadians to the Stanley Cup with only 6 games of NHL experience.
Tom Barrasso played for the Buffalo Sabres right out of high school and he would play 18 years in the AHL with only 5 games in the AHL with Rochester in his 2nd season, 3-1-1/1.35/.936.
Many other youngsters have made it to the NHLK with little preparation elsewhere. Yegorov and Malek could follow that track, but could also bust.
The Devils have promising keepers in their pipeline, but most would assume they will require development first as Daws and Poulter have been doing. Malek and Yegorov could pass them by if the talent is there. Since Brodeur the Devils have had a parade of keepers and not one has settled in to be a very good keeper with longevity. We'llhave to see if that can happen after marky and Allen are done. It starts next season. Who will back up Marky and will he be good enough to step in immediately the following season? Is that guy even in their system to date?
This may be the biggest task Fitz will have to manage in his career as the Devils GM.
“Hey ChatGPT, can you give a synopsis of this post?”
“Sure! The New Jersey Devils’ future in goal is still unclear”
“Thanks!”
Don't read it if it doesn't interest you. I was a goalie and watching them is the main reason I still follow the game.
Still a lot of unknowns with how the goaltending situation will play out for next year - having Poulter up and getting a few NHL games under his belt should provide a bit more clarity.
I think that Fitz's plan (hope) in acquiring Allen was to be a bridge until one of Daws/Poulter was ready to take over as the backup for the 2025-2026 season. Hard to have too much confidence in either one taking the reigns right now though. Poulter has the better chance - not only is he younger, but he's outplayed Daws the past two seasons in Utica...but he's still not played an NHL game and I'm not sure Fitz wants to gamble on the backup role next season, especially given Markstrom's age.
Allen will certainly be in the mix, though he's currently at a $3.85M cap hit which I'm not sure would come down and I have to figure he's looking for a multi-year deal. Devils are going to be tight against the cap and with the pipeline of young goalies I doubt Fitz wants to lock him up for multiple seasons.
Malek should absolutely be over here next season. He leads Liiga in both SV% and GAA - not sure what else there is for him to prove there. He also turns 23 at the end of this season.
Brennen no longer factors into the mix in my opinion and it's unfortunate that he is still signed for next season. His stats have been very poor the past two seasons in the ECHL and were never that good in the WHL either.
Best case scenario is that Poulter has a good showing at the NHL level and down the stretch for Utica this season - enough to feel confident in him for a backup role next season, knowing that you'll also have Daws and Malek in the mix at Utica. Daws will at least have a bit of a veteran presence and does still have 46 NHL games under his belt, while you have the upside with Malek. If NJ goes with a veteran backup, I think you just need to cut the cord on Daws at that point or you let Poulter/Daws/Malek all battle it out for the two spots in Utica and option the 3rd guy down to the ECHL.
FWIW, Schmid's stats in the AHL have not been good this season - same SV% and higher GAA than Daws - and he's been outplayed by his goaltending counterpart (a 7th round pick from 2021) by a good margin.
Utica is pretty bad so tough to judge Daws or any goalie there...I think Fitz said they wanted Daws to stay down all year in the AHL to develop...Marky and Allen stay healthy in a perfect world that just didn't happen...I am hoping Poulter gets a shot to show if he has anything while Markstrom is out...
season is over for him, and he ended up leading Liiga in GAA and was 5th in SV%.
He has an ELC doesn’t he? Curious if he flies over for the last month for Utica
