Ranking Devils' Goalie Tandem vs. Metro Opponents

Jacob Markström and Jake Allen are an upgrade for the New Jersey Devils, but how do they stack up against the rest of the Metro?

---

Follow us on Twitter: @AlexC_NJD, @NJD_OnTheRush

---

Goaltending has been the New Jersey Devils' downfall more often than not over the last few seasons. But hopefully, that will change for the upcoming 2024-25 campaign.

Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald was aggressive in upgrading the team's tandem over the last few months, acquiring Jake Allen and Jacob Markström in separate trades. Finally, the Devils have a reliable NHL tandem, but where does it rank against the rest of the Metropolitan Division?

Rangers & Islanders Will Be Hard to Top

Unfortunately for the Devils, their two local rivals have arguably the two best goaltenders in the NHL. Ilya Sorokin leads the way with the New York Islanders, while Igor Shesterkin consistently helps the New York Rangers overachieve some middling five-on-five results.

Shesterkin was again one of the best goalies in the NHL last season, finishing with a .912 save percentage while saving 12.1 goals above expected. It wasn't just Shesterkin who kept pucks out of the net for the Rangers last season, though.

Jonathan Quick had a bit of a late-career renaissance, finishing with a .911 SV% while saving 9.8 goals above expected in 27 games. In fact, he was the better of the two Rangers goalies for the first half of the season. Had it not been for him, the Rangers wouldn't have gotten off to the hot start they did.

Sorokin didn't have a typical Sorokin season in 2023-24, but he was still solid, finishing with a .908 SV% while saving 1.4 goals above expected. That's a well above-league-average goaltender in today's NHL, and it helps that he has one of the best 1Bs to complement him.

Semyon Varlamov finished with a .918 SV% and saved 9.1 goals above expected in 27 games last season. He's consistently posted save percentages above .910 over the previous few years, and even though he's 36, he isn't showing signs of slowing down yet.

You can never say never, but it'll be hard for Markström and Allen to top the Islanders and Rangers' tandems. You could argue that Shesterkin and Sorokin are the No. 1 and 2 goalies in the NHL, and that alone makes it hard for the Devils to have better goaltending. But add competent backups in Quick and Varlamov, and the Islanders and Rangers should have the two best tandems in the Metro.

The Second Tier

The Washington Capitals had a busy offseason, and reshaping their goaltending was one of their moves. First, they moved Darcy Kuemper to the Los Angeles Kings in the trade that brought Pierre-Luc Dubois to the nation's capital. They then acquired Logan Thompson from the Vegas Golden Knights.

Thompson has been a solid NHL goalie, totaling a .912 SV% across 103 career games. He had a good 2023-24 campaign with the Golden Knights, finishing with a .908 SV% while saving 4.6 goals above expected.