Flames trade goaltender Jacob Markstrom to Devils

 

Star goalie Jacob Markstrom of the Calgary Flames has agreed to be traded to the New Jersey Devils.

In exchange for the 34-year-old, the Flames are getting defenseman Kevin Bahl and a top-10 protected 2025 selection.




Three quarters of Markstrom's remaining contract will stay with Calgary. The goalie, who signed a six-year, $36 million contract with the Flames in 2020, is entering his fifth season. The agreement in New Jersey will have a $4,125,000 seasonly cap hit.

 

Thank you for everything Marky! pic.twitter.com/Pr0vLH2PNA

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) June 19, 2024\

 Since moving to Calgary, he has been one of the best goalies in the NHL and was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in 2021–2022. Markstrom had a 23-23-2 record and a.905 save percentage in the previous campaign.

Markstrom is third in shutouts and seventh all-time among Flames goalies in terms of games played and victories.

Despite some of the rumors that have surfaced surrounding the goalkeeper over the previous several months, Craig Conroy, general manager of Calgary, stated in a Tuesday Q&A with Sportsnet's Eric Francis that Markstrom has not asked for a transfer.

 

“It’s part of the game, but it does bother me because it’s always out there — there’s something about the goalie all the time and I don’t think it’s fair to the goalie either,” Conroy told Francis of the chatter around Markstrom.

“I feel more for him because I’ve been on the other side of this.

“Everyone wants to speculate and throw things out there and I don’t think it’s fair to him.”

It has been reported that the Flames and Devils came close to a Markstrom deal at the trade deadline, but Calgary opted to keep their top goalie after a strong stretch of play.

The trade clears up the Flames to give the crease to 23-year-old Dustin Wolf.

Wolf, a seventh-round pick by Calgary in 2019, has emerged as one of the top goalie prospects over the past two seasons. With the Flames' AHL affiliate, in Stockton and Calgary, the six-foot-tall netminder has won the league's MVP and two Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Awards as the top goaltender.

He made his NHL debut in the final game of the 2022-23 season and appeared in 17 games with the Flames this past year. With Calgary in 2023-24, Wold posted a 7-7-1 record with a .893 save percentage and 3.16 goals-against-average.