General manager Sunny Mehta completed his second big trade of his young reign on Tuesday. The New Jersey Devils announced they traded goaltender Jacob Markström and forward Angus Crookshank to the Florida Panthers in exchange for forwards Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, and Ben Steeves. Importantly, there is no salary retention in the deal.

Each Rodrigues and Boqvist are unrestricted free agents following the conclusion of the 2026-27 season. Steeves is currently a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. Meanwhile, the first year of Markström’s two-year, $12 million extension is set to begin this upcoming season. The Devils, at the NHL level, are saving roughly $1.5 million this year and, importantly, the full $6 million of Markström’s contract next year.

Markström, Crookshank

Unfortunately, it was not the Devils’ tenure that veteran Jacob Markström was hoping for.

The Devils bought Markström to New Jersey in June of 2024 in a package that included defenseman Kevin Bahl and a 2025 first-round pick. Bahl has had a rough go of it in Calgary, but signed a six-year, $32.10 million extension with the team in June of 2025. Meanwhile, Calgary selected forward Cole Reschny with the 19th-overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

During his team with the Devils, Markström appeared in 93 games posting a 49-35-7 record with a 0.892 save percentage. He stopped 5.68 goals above expected (GSAx) according to Evolving Hockey. This figure is far off the 46.04 GSAx figure he posted from 2021 through 2024 prior to joining the Devils. Markström did however perform admirably in the team’s first-round loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. He posted a 0.913 save percentage and 5.07 GSAx figure across that five-game series.

In all, Markström did not perform near the level he did prior to coming to the Devils in his two seasons with the club. To add to that, in a risky move former general manager Tom Fitzgerald extended his veteran goaltender. The thought process was to extend Markström at a semi-reasonable figure before he has a potentially bigger season in a contract year and has the freedom to hit the open market and command more than the figure you signed him to. Unfortunately, that risk backfired and the Devils were slated to be stuck with a 36-year-old goaltender, albeit one who was probably due to bounce back at some rate, coming off the worst season of his career at a price tag of $6 million the next two seasons.

Now, instead of that being the case, Mehta was able to ship Markström, and his full contract, away to Florida.

The other piece to the deal New Jersey included was Utica (AHL) forward Angus Crookshank. Crookshank played in 60 games for the Comets last year and scored 24 goals (36 total points). Crookshank also played in eight NHL games and notched an assist. The 26-year-old is a veteran of 262 AHL games and 29 NHL games. He was a former fifth-round pick of the Ottawa Senators in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and came to the Devils’ organization as a free agent prior to last season.

The Return

The Devils were terrifically able to get two NHL-level players and a minor-leaguer in return for Markström. The prize of the trio is veteran top-nine forward Evan Rodrigues.

Rodrigues has quietly emerged as one of the better two-way, middle-six forwards in the league. Over the last five seasons, he has scored at a 39-point rate over an 82-game season. He has done this while maintaining extremely strong defensive on-ice metrics. According to Evolving Hockey’s goals above replacement metrics, Rodrigues’ defensive on-ice metrics ranked in the 80th percentile over the last three seasons.

The 32-year-old is a versatile player who can play up and down the lineup and can also play down the middle or on the wing. His face-off success rates aren’t the best (45.9% career, 47% in 2025-26), however, he provides terrific defensive play no matter the position. He is also known to throw around his 5-foot-11, 182-pound frame, averaging about 98 hits per season over the last three years, for whatever that is worth.

Rodrigues also played an integral part in each of Florida’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championship runs. He posted 15 points in 24 games the first season. He then followed that up with 15 points in 21 games during the 2024-25 run.

The Devils are getting a veteran forward who excels at both ends of the ice. And one who also has more than enough experience when play gets turned up a notch in the playoffs. He should play an integral role, whether as a center or on the wing, for a New Jersey middle-six that desperately needed some depth.

Jesper Boqvist is the other NHL player New Jersey got in the deal. Boqvist, 27, was drafted by the Devils in the second-round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. He played 189 games across four seasons with the Devils registering 55 points (28 goals). New Jersey chose to non-tender Boqvist when he was a restricted free agent following the 2022-23 season. He then moved on to Boston, signing a one-year deal with the team as an unrestricted free agent.

Since leaving the Devils, Boqvist has played in 198 games and tallied 50 points. The on-ice metrics have Boqvist below replacement level five-on-five offensively and defensively over that span. However, he has always performed extremely well on the penalty kill and drawing/not taking penalties.

Boqvist has seemingly shifted to more of a wing role as his career 36.4% success rate on the dot is troublesome. The Swedish-born forward also seen his hit numbers sky rocket the past two seasons, registering 191 hits in 2024-25 and 141 this past season. Those figures would be near the top among Devils players in recent years.

Boqvist is your traditionally fourth-liner who will help a ton on the penalty kill. You can likely pencil him into a fourth-line winger role or a 13th-forward role. For someone making a mere $1.5 million, that is more than acceptable.

The last piece the team acquired in the deal is young forward Ben Steeves. Steeves was an undrafted free agent after playing college hockey at the University of Minnestoa-Duluth. In his final season, he posted 34 points in 37 games which earned him a contract in the Panthers’ organization. Over the last two seasons for the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL, Steeves, listed at a mere 5-foot-9, has posted 73 points across 132 games. He had 45 points (23 goals) in 72 games this past season.

Steeves figures to play a key piece for Utica (AHL) this upcoming season. Utica is reshaping their roster so his presence will be a welcomed one. The 24-year-old winger is a restricted free agent, with arbitration rights, so he is due a new contract.

Final Thoughts

It was another piece of tidy business for Mehta on Tuesday. Although a strong bounce-back candidate in Florida, clearing Markström’s $6 million cap hit the next couple seasons was critical. Not retaining any of that money is a huge win for the organization.

In doing so, they were able to obtain a valuable asset in Rodrigues. The Devils’ lack of depth last season was one of their main issues for a large part of the year. Rodrigues, and Boqvist, should both help that. The team also got a nice boost for their AHL club in the young Steeves.

With the trade, the Devils will surely now be active in the goaltending market. Free agency is set to begin July 1 at noon ET. We will have all updates across our social media pages.