Following the trade of Jacob Markstrom to the Florida Panthers, it would appear that the Devils are slated to enter the 2026-27 season with Jake Allen and Nico Daws.
Earlier on Thursday when Devils GM Sunny Mehta met the media, he commented on the Devils goaltending tandem.
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Per Amanda Stein:
“Nico Daws has been a pretty big prospect for us for years now, and hasn’t really had the path to develop. For me, we’re pretty excited about the potential opportunity in front of him.”
Mehta would later add that this wasn’t necessarily going to be the goaltending tandem heading into the season, but if it is, he is comfortable with that.
Allen and Daws might indeed wind up being the NHL tandem for the Devils for this upcoming season, but that doesn’t mean Mehta’s work is done or that he’s not going to add more competition in training camp.
PuckPedia reported on Thursday night that the Devils would be signing UFA goaltender David Rittich to a one-year, $1M contract. The deal is reportedly a one-way contract and does not include any trade protection.
Rittich is a 10-year veteran goaltender with previous stops in Calgary, Toronto, Nashville, Winnipeg, Los Angeles, and with the New York Islanders. Rittich has a .903 save percentage over 260 career games at the NHL level.
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Last year was a tale of two seasons for the veteran. Rittich had a strong start this past season, with a .918 save percentage prior to January 1st while backing up Ilya Sorokin. From January 1st on, he had an .856 save percentage.
Still, a deeper look into the numbers would suggest there are things to like about Rittich’s game.
Rittich saved 4.2 goals above expected this past season. Among all goaltenders with 25 appearances, than ranks right between Connor Hellebuyck and newly minted Stanley Cup champion Brandon Bussi, and not too far behind Jake Allen. His save percentage on low danger unblocked shots is .968, which is well ahead of what Jacob Markstrom did last season at .949. Meanwhile, his high danger save percentage was .818, 6th in the league and again, well ahead of Markstrom at .734.
I don’t write that to pick on Markstrom now that he’s no longer in New Jersey, but one of the main critiques of Markstrom was that not only was he not making the easy saves…..he was also not making the tough saves. Last season, Rittich did that over the course of the season. He might’ve outkicked his coverage in the first half of the season, but overall, the body of work was solid.
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Rittich struggled in 2024-25 with an .886 save percentage and -11.4 goals saved above expected. But he played brilliantly in 2023-24 with a .921 and 13.8 GSAX. His performance has fluctuated between being good, bad, and perfectly cromulent throughout the course of his career. In many ways, he is the epitome of the modern-day goaltender where you don’t quite know what you’re going to get from year-to-year. Or in the case of this past season, from month to month.
With that out of the way, I think the Devils bringing him in makes sense.
If the idea going into the season is that the Devils want to give Nico Daws a legitimate chance to compete for, and earn, a roster spot, bringing in an experienced veteran like Rittich for him to beat out is the right move.
If one of Allen or Daws were to suffer an injury, I don’t blame the Devils if they don’t want to throw Jakub Malek directly into the fire. Having someone with NHL experience who could potentially play well for a stretch to serve as the #3 goaltender makes sense.
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Rittich’s $1M one-way salary is below the buryable amount, so it really doesn’t have any significant impact on the Devils books as far as salary cap space is concerned. Obviously, Rittich would need to clear waivers at the end of camp (unless the Devils are planning on carrying three goaltenders), but the Devils shouldn’t have much trouble doing so unless there’s a rash of injuries at the goaltending position across the NHL come September.
Perhaps most importantly, the pathway is there for Nico Daws to earn an NHL roster spot.
I would consider Rittich to be legitimate competition, but not an actual roadblock that is blocking him from an NHL job. Not like how Markstrom and Allen have been for the previous two seasons where no matter what Daws did in camp, he was not making the NHL roster outside of an injury.
If Daws, who is entering his age 26 season and his sixth season in North America, isn’t ready or capable of beating out a journeyman like Rittich for a roster spot, it’s probably never going to happen for him at this level.
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Obviously, I’m rooting for Daws to succeed. His limited appearances over the past two seasons have been encouraging. And if we’re asking the goaltenders to clear the comically low bar of what we got from Markstrom last season, the Devils should be better if they’re capable of doing that. But I’m also rooting for Rittich to succeed. How can you not root for a player with the nickname “Big Save Dave”?
Perhaps most importantly, the Devils don’t currently have any major commitments to the goaltending position beyond this season, unless you want to consider the four years remaining on Allen’s deal a major commitment.
If Daws doesn’t work out, he doesn’t work out and the Devils can let him play out his contract at the AHL level. If Rittich doesn’t work out, he doesn’t work out and the Devils can either terminate the deal or let it expire. If Allen doesn’t work out, he doesn’t work out and the Devils can explore a trade or try to convince him to retire.
These might not be great options at the end of the day, but at least they’re cheap options with a relatively clean long-term slate. If they don’t work out, Sunny Mehta can pivot at any point, whether it’s in season at the trade deadline or next summer. And while its unlikely the Devils bring in yet another veteran goaltender this summer after signing Rittich, I don’t think there’s anything in place that is blocking the Devils from doing so if an opportunity presents itself.
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At the end of the day, goaltending is voodoo. Rather than commit a bunch of money to one goaltender who was objectively bad last season, the Devils are opting to go for the strategy of throwing a bunch of options at the wall and seeing what sticks. It worked for an organization like Carolina last season with Brandon Bussi playing well and ultimately helping them win a Stanley Cup. It worked for an organization like Colorado where Scott Wedgewood outplayed Mackenzie Blackwood for the majority of the season.
We’ll see if this ultimately works for the Devils.
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