The New Jersey Devils are trading Jacob Markstrom and Angus Crookshank to the Florida Panthers for Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist and Ben Steeves, a move that puts a familiar name back in South Florida and reshapes both clubs’ depth charts. The deal was not finalized when league sources spoke, but the framework is clear: the Panthers are bringing back the goaltender they drafted in 2008, and the Devils are getting three players in return.
Markstrom is 36 and returns to the Panthers after being a 2008 second-round pick by the club and playing 43 games for them before he was moved to Vancouver. His contract matters as much as his name. The Devils will not retain any of his salary, and his two-year extension rises to $6 million annually next season, a price the Panthers are taking on while they keep turning over the crease.
That is the part that makes the move more than a simple reunion. Markstrom has a.907 career save percentage, but he is coming off a down year in New Jersey in which he went 23-19-1 with a.883 save percentage and finished his Devils tenure at.892. He still started for the Devils in the playoffs in 2025, posted a.911 save percentage there, and watched that run end with a five-game loss to Carolina. The Panthers are buying a proven track record, but they are also betting that last season was the exception rather than the new rule.
The return going back to New Jersey gives the Devils immediate NHL depth and more than that. Evan Rodrigues has produced at least 11 goals and 31 points in each of the past four seasons, while Jesper Boqvist scored four goals in 73 games for the Panthers in 2025-26. Ben Steeves spent the season with AHL Charlotte and had 45 points and 100 penalty minutes in 72 games, and Angus Crookshank comes over after putting up 24 goals in 60 games for AHL Utica. It is the kind of trade that changes two rooms at once.
There is still a practical problem sitting underneath the optimism in South Florida. Bill Zito has around $4.44 million in cap space, and the Panthers already added Akira Schmid from the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday as they prepare for Sergei Bobrovsky to walk when free agency opens Wednesday. That leaves the Panthers with a remade goalie picture and one unresolved question that matters more than sentiment: whether Markstrom and Schmid can carry the net after the club moved on from a long-time starter and took on Markstrom’s full contract without any salary relief from New Jersey.
For the Panthers, this is a gamble on familiarity, age and timing. For Markstrom, it is a return to the team that first chose him, now with a larger contract and a much larger expectation attached to it.
