Devils & Flames Discussing Jakob Markstrom Deal

The New Jersey Devils are looking into the goaltending market and according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Devils and Calgary Flames have had conversations surrounding Jakob Markstrom.

Friedman in Saturday Headlines says the #Flames and #NJDevils had legit conversations about Jakob Markstrom.

However...

-Markstrom was never approached about this possible deal
-Issues with package to get him and retention. Difficult to do, deal stopped in its tracks.

— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) February 11, 2024

Markstrom has yet to be asked to waive his no-movement clause, however talks continue and are expected to go right up until the March 8 trade deadline. Flames GM Craig Conroy is trying to move several of his pending free agents as well ahead of the deadline, meanwhile Markstrom is in a different boat, as he has two seasons left on his deal at $6 million.

The Devils are projected to have $9.6 million in available deadline cap space, however GM Tom Fitzgerald isn't necessarily interested in pay full price for Markstrom the next two seasons. The Swedish netminder is having a nice bounce-back season, posting a 2.54 GAA and .915 Sv.%. Calgary has top prospect Dustin Wolf, who they are ready to give more playing time to.

New Jersey is rumored to be offering Alexander Holtz and Vitek Vanecek in trade packages, so we'll have to wait and see what the two teams can agree on before March 8. Conroy has hit nicely on his recent trades and Calgary is starting to turns things around, looking to sneak into the playoff picture in the Western Conference.

Photo credit:   Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports