New Jersey
Devils Get A Goalie
The New Jersey Devils have acquired the goalie 99% of people expected: Calgary Flames’ Jacob Markstrom. They sent a 2025 first-round pick (top 10 protected) and Kevin Bahl. This trade has the majority of Devils fans excited, and this team needed a goalie badly. However, it’s not exactly a slam dunk.
Save percentages the last two seasons
Jacob Markstrom .905 / .892
Vitek Vanecek .890 / .911
What about this is elite? Fans just ran Vitek Vanecek out of town for his play, and while he was very bad and needed to go in the last two seasons. If all things stayed like this, it’s barely an upgrade. Disagree all you want, but the numbers speak for themselves for the last two seasons.
Calgary’s defense was better than the Devils’ this season. If the teams swapped defenders and systems, the Devils’ goaltender numbers would rise, and Calgary’s would fall.
34 is 60 in goaltender years. Cory Schnieder broke down before this. Jonathan Bernier broke down before this. Corey Crawford couldn’t even play. There is a long list of very recent reasons on just our little team that tell us how risky signing old goalies is, and we are banking the entire season on two older guys. Most goalies age like milk not wine and he is not Marty playing at 40 so the comparison to the best goaltender of all time is ridiculous.
Meanwhile, Kevin Bahl was a serviceable defender. He was the biggest, meanest guy, and this team was already the softest in the NHL. He needed to hit more and sure up the defensive side just a bit more, but he at least had an X-factor and probably would have done better outside of Ruff’s no-defense system. He was second on the team in hits and blocked shots, which is far more than can be said about the other guys who are at the bottom-pairing options. The team needs to get that grit back on the defense core since they have lost all of it from the one season we made the playoffs, and they need to get Zadorov to fill the role now, or they will get bullied yet again.
This is a stop-gap move for two seasons, likely, so they are still betting on Akira or Daws, and if this doesn’t work, they don’t have a lot of assets to move anymore, plus the other holes in the roster. They have moved out last seasons first rounder, the 2025 first rounder and former first rounders Smith and Mukhamadhullin to try and improve this lineup. On top of this, other players with value, like Fabian Zetterlund and Yegor Sharangovich, are thriving. While you can’t keep everyone and some of the trades were far better than others, the Devils, like all teams, have to draft, or they will have no one coming up. The only real assets they have left are Seamus Casey, this year’s 10th overall pick, and Alexander Holtz, all of which could be dangerous to move.
Markstrom does however look like he really wants to be in Jersey which is great to see and a fresh start might be good for him if the team can actually defend this season and he sounds like a guy fans will want to cheer for and we are itching to cheer for a goalie, just look at the massive love Jake Allen got.
For now, though, the Devils have a lot of work to do before they are a real threat to do more than a quick playoff appearance, and we just have to hope the team and general manager Fitzgerald make the big moves needed without blowing every future resource this team has.
New Jersey
Jersey City smash-and-grab earns thieves $1.5 million in just minutes
A jewelry store owner in New Jersey says a group of thieves managed to wipe out his entire inventory, stealing more than a million dollars worth of merchandise in mere minutes.
“Whatever I built in five years, disappeared in five minutes. Like nothing—boom,” owner Gustavo Sanchez said last week.
Sanchez was left picking up the pieces of what was left of his jewelry store, Gustavo Oro 14k, on Jersey City’s West Side Avenue. Inside, tubs of shattered glass and empty cases showed the signs of Thursday’s brazen heist — all of it, caught on camera.
Video shows at least four masked individuals approach and use large hammers to bust out the store’s front windows to gain access. Once inside, the crew smash cases and grab all the jewelry they can.
“They took a lot of jewelry, like 14 carat gold, diamonds, 18 carat gold,” Sanchez said.
In total, more than $1.5 million worth of merchandize was taken, Sanchez told News 4.
“I was crying yesterday like a baby because, you know, I’ve been working for five years and it never happened,” he said a day after the robbery.
Employees of the store were able to get to a safe space and were not injured, Sanchez said. In the meantime, he hopes Jersey City Police can track the thieves down as he figures out how to secure his business and make up for his loses.
“We’re going to be back. We’re never going to give up,” he said.
New Jersey
2 dead after car crashes into house in Harrison Township, New Jersey sparking fire, police say
A car crashed into a home in Harrison Township, New Jersey, Saturday evening, killing two people inside the vehicle after a fire broke out, police say.
The crash happened around 6:30 p.m. on Banff Drive in Mullica Hill, when a black SUV struck a house, trapping the driver and passenger inside the vehicle. Both the SUV and the house caught fire.
Emergency crews responded to the home and worked to extinguish the fire and rescue the two people trapped in the vehicle.
Police later said, both the driver and a passenger died. No one inside the house was injured.
CBS News Philadelphia was at the scene, where part of the home was damaged by the flames.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
New Jersey
Projected Lineup: January 17 at New Jersey | Carolina Hurricanes
NEWARK, N.J. – The Carolina Hurricanes will turn to Frederik Andersen between the pipes as they battle the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center.
After a tough run to wrap up 2025, Andersen has helped the Canes pick up three of four possible points across his last two starts. The veteran netminder has seen New Jersey once this season, turning aside 19 of 22 shots as Carolina took a 6-3 victory on opening night.
No other changes are expected to the group that tied a team record with nine goals in last night’s win over Florida. Unfortunately, that means another game missed for both Shayne Gostisbehere and William Carrier, who are both sidelined with lower-body injuries.
On a positive note, though, Jaccob Slavin is set to take part in both halves of a back-to-back for the first time this season. As part of his rehab from a lower-body issue that cost him 29 games earlier this season, the star rearguard had previously been held out when the Canes played their second game in as many nights, but Rod Brind’Amour indicated pregame that Slavin would remain in tonight’s lineup.
Tonight’s Projected Lineup…
Forwards
Svechnikov – Aho – Jarvis
Hall – Stankoven – Blake
Ehlers – Staal – Martinook
Robinson – Jankowski – Kotkaniemi
Defense
Slavin – Chatfield
Miller – Walker
Reilly – Nikishin
Starting Goaltender
Andersen
—
Injuries
William Carrier (Lower-Body Injury | Resumed Skating On Jan. 15)
Shayne Gostisbehere (Lower-Body Injury | Day-To-Day)
Pyotr Kochetkov (Hip Surgery | “Likely Out For The Year” as of Dec. 29)
Charles Alexis Legault (Hand Injury | Out 3-4 Months From Nov. 11)
Noah Philp (Concussion Protocol | No Timetable For Return)
Scratches
Joel Nystrom
—
PP1: Aho, Ehlers (Staal), Jarvis, and Svechnikov with Nikishin
PP2: Blake, Hall, Jankowski and Stankoven with Miller
Jordan Staal has been taking the faceoffs with the first power play unit. If he wins it, he’ll stay on the ice. When the puck comes out of the zone, he jumps off, and Nikolaj Ehlers jumps on.
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