David Rittich gives Sheldon Keefe a cheap, useful crease answer as New Jersey reshapes its goalie room.
The contract is simple and sharp: 1 year at $1 million. That tells you the Devils were not chasing a franchise fix here. They were buying insurance with no long cap drag.
Rittich still gives them a real NHL track. In 2025-26, he played 30 games and won 14 of them, which is enough proof that he can carry backup work without the room panicking.
The timing matters because New Jersey just moved Jacob Markstrom to Florida on June 30. Once that happened, the Devils needed another adult in the crease right away.
They also just re-signed Nico Daws for 2 years at a $1.1 million AAV. That is a nice piece of future planning, but it does not mean the club should throw too much on him too fast.
That is where Rittich fits cleanly. He can take games, settle the bench, and let the Devils sort out what Daws is without forcing the whole season onto a young goalie's shoulders.
There is value in the bigger résumé too. Rittich owns 260 NHL games and a career .903 save percentage, so this is not some camp-only body coming in on a hope-and-pray ticket.
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Another goaltender just signed with a new team this offseaso
That is the strongest read on this move. The Devils finished 42-37-3 for 87 points in 2025-26 and missed the postseason by 10 points, so Keefe did not need another question in net.
The goalie room already showed some uneven nights last season. Markstrom posted an .883 save percentage in 44 games, while Jake Allen gave the club a steadier .904 in 37.
Rittich's own 2025-26 line was a 2.76 goals-against average with a .894 save percentage. Those are not star numbers, but for $1 million they are usable numbers.
The cap side helps too. New Jersey still has $7,627,500 in projected cap space, so Sunny Mehta made this add without boxing the team in somewhere else.
That is why this signing works. David Rittich is not coming to Newark to steal the spotlight. He is coming to give Sheldon Keefe a veteran crease option while the Devils sort out the rest of a room that changed fast in 48 hours.
Did the Devils make the right low-cost move with David Rittich?
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