Huge blockbuster heating up to send Jacob Markstrom to playoff contender

With a substantial amount of contenders looking for goalies to buy on, the market for goalies at the deadline is very interesting to watch. It seems like the team that has been the most vocal about a change in net have been the New Jersey Devils, and today David Pagnotta has made a huge leap in putting out a rough outline for them acquiring Jacob Markstrom.

From PuckEmpire on Instagram, the Devils seem to be deep in talks with the Calgary Flames. If they acquire Markstrom, Pagnotta says it'll cost them Vitek Vanecek and 7th overall pick in the 2020 draft, Alexander Holtz.

This would be a huge trade, as Jacob Markstrom was a vezina runner-up just two seasons ago. Jacob Markstrom has a 3 year 6M dollar contract, meaning that New Jersey would still have his services for 2 years after this one. Jacob Markstrom has a phenomenal .915 save perncentage and a 2.54 goals against average, and could be a huge way to swing their goaltending situation in their favour.


On the flip side, the Flames have 3 NHL caliber goalies right now and taking Vitek Vanecek wouldn't help Dustin Wolf get any playing time. It's very interesting to see that they would accept the deal with Vanecek in it, which makes you wonder if Daniel Vladar could be out the door for the Flames as well. There are a lot of teams that would need a competent NHL backup and the Flames could seemingly find a trade partner if they wanted to run with Wolf full time.

It's interesting to wonder if this is the full trade either, as Calgary could potentially also get some picks out of the Devils. It'll be interesting how Holtz develops in Calgary, as he only has 23 points in 50 games with the Devils. This trade would be insane for both teams, and could have league wide impact on this upcoming or next deadline.