Armchair Hockey Scout Beta

This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →

25

Jacob Markstrom

New Jersey Devils Goaltender

A .9003 across 49 games at 35, and a goaltender the club paid a first-round pick for.

SeasonTeamGPWLOTLGAGAASOSASV%
2010-11FLA101023.01014.857
2011-12FLA7241172.660222.923
2012-13FLA238141683.220685.901
2013-14FLA/VAN16283463.390361.873
2014-15VAN311043.09033.879
2015-16VAN3313144842.730988.915
2016-17VAN2610113622.630692.910
2017-18VAN60232671542.7121745.912
2018-19VAN60282391662.7711896.912
2019-20VAN43231641172.7521420.918
2020-21CGY43221921112.6831161.904
2021-22CGY63371591372.2291754.922
2022-23CGY592321121662.9211542.892
2023-24CGY48232321312.7821379.905
2024-25NJD49261661212.5041214.900
2025-26 so far
Career5342412126313862.712415106.908

This Season So Far

The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

26-16-6 in 49 games, .9003 with a 2.50 average and 4 shutouts on 1,214 shots.

New Jersey’s goaltending came in 8.4 goals better than the chances faced, 13th in the league, behind a defence that was 12th at suppressing them. A .9003 in that context is a modest season, and the 2.50 average is the more flattering number.

The Physical Game

6-6 and 207, and he plays large and positional. He takes away the top of the net, is square more often than not, and tracks well through traffic.

The lateral recovery is where 35 shows. A puck moved across the slot finds him late and the second save in a sequence is slower than it was, and the rebound control is adequate rather than good. A knee injury cost him time in January.

The Mental Game

Fifteen seasons, four organisations, a Vezina finish in Calgary, and a career of one excellent year followed by two ordinary ones.

He does not carry a bad goal into a period. There is no record of a collapse and no stretch of sustained excellence in three years either.

The Intangibles

Acquired for a first-round pick and a prospect at 34, to be the goaltender who takes this club past a first round.

At 35 the projection is 45 games and a .903. That is not what a first-round pick buys, and the club has Jake Allen at 35 behind him stopping .906 — two goaltenders the same age with the same numbers is not a plan.