New Jersey Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald recently discussed his acquisition of Jacob Markstrom. What did he mean about high-danger shots?

General Manager Tom Fitzgerald spoke to the media at Wednesday’s New Jersey Devils development camp.

During his discussion, he mentioned that his team was dedicated to finding a “true” starter, and they achieved that goal by acquiring Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames.

He mentioned that the Devils tried to trade for him last season, but his no-movement clause prevented a deadline deal. However, things changed a couple of weeks ago, and Fitzgerald was able to land his guy.

Devils’ Fitzgerald Provides Status Updates for Hughes, Hamilton, and MeierDevils’ Fitzgerald Provides Status Updates for Hughes, Hamilton, and Meier

When discussing Markstrom’s capabilities, he explained that the Swedish-born netminder is one of the top goalies in the NHL when facing high-danger shots.

According to NHL Edge, the high-danger area is within 29 feet of the center of the goal and bound on both sides by an imaginary line drawn from the faceoff dot to 2 feet outside the goalpost.

Data courtesy of edge.NHL.com

During the 2023-24 season, Markstrom had a .856 SV% in the high-danger area, which led all goalies. His numbers were better than those of Thatcher Demko (.845), Semyon Varlamov (.836), Jordan Binnington (.835), and Adin Hill (.834).

Furthermore, he finished the campaign with the eighth most high-danger shots, 419, while making the fifth most saves, 359.

For efforts in those situations, Markstrom did not rank within the top 10 for goals against.

As many fans will remember, the Devils had the seventh-worst GAA in the NHL, 3.43, and ranked 27th with a .896 SV%.

When we look inside the numbers, here’s a breakdown of how New Jersey goalies fared in high-danger situations:

Kaapo Kahkonen: .830 SV%
Jake Allen: .807 SV%
Nico Daws: .803 SV%
Akira Schmid: .793 SV%
Vitek Vanecek: .752 SV%

Collectively, the Devils goalies averaged .797 SV% in high-danger areas.

As soon as free agency began, Fitzgerald hit the ground running, signing Brenden Dillon and Brett Pesce to shore up New Jersey’s defensive structure and reduce high-danger opportunities.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald is confident in his new goalie’s ability to make the stops when there are defensive breakdowns since he considers Markstrom a top goalie in the league, someone who plays like a Vezina Trophy candidate.

Overall, Fitzgerald is pleased with how the goalie situation worked out since Markstrom expressed a desire to be with the Devils, which the general manager said was a significant reason behind his acquisition.