Jakub Malek

1:03 p.m.: New Jersey plans to loan Málek back to Ilves for the 2024-25 season, reports the Daily Sentinel’s Ben Birnell.

12:29 p.m.: The Devils have signed goaltender Jakub Málek to a two-year, entry-level deal, per a club announcement Monday.

Málek, 22, was the Devils’ lone fourth-round selection in the 2021 draft, going off the board at 100th overall. The 6’4″, 190-lb netminder just wrapped up his fourth season spent primarily in the professional ranks, the last two of which have come in Finland with the Liiga’s Ilves.

In 27 appearances last season, Málek was strong with a 2.32 GAA, .915 SV%, two shutouts and a 16-4-5 record. He started three playoff contests for Ilves as well, posting a 1.87 GAA and .910 SV% as they were upset in five games in the quarterfinals by seventh-place KalPa after finishing with a 33-13-7-7 record in the regular season, second in the Liiga.

In his rookie campaign with Ilves last season, Málek posted a 9-7-4 record in 22 appearances with a .903 SV%, 2.15 GAA and two shutouts. The Czech netminder had spent his entire career in his home country up to that point, getting nearly all of his professional experience with VHK Vsetín in the 1. liga, Czechia’s second-tier pro league behind the Extraliga.

He made his debut there as a 16-year-old all the way back in 2018-19, accumulating a 2.13 GAA, .923 SV%, four shutouts and a 30-16-0 record in 47 appearances across four seasons. In 2021-22, his final season with Vsetín before making the jump to tougher competition in Finland, he was named to the 1. liga’s year-end All-Star Team, as well as taking home Best Goaltender and Best Junior Player honors.

Málek has flown under the radar when discussing Devils prospects, but his overall showing overseas against professional competition has been promising. He outperformed 32-year-old Jonas Gunnarsson in the Ilves crease this season and worked his way into a 1A role, suggesting he should be ready to face AHL action in Utica immediately upon arriving in North America.

New Jersey’s goaltending depth will be in flux this summer as the team looks to find an above-average starter on the trade market, but Málek’s signing indicates that their two pending UFAs at the minor-league level, Erik Källgren and Keith Kinkaid, won’t be back. Even so, it will be a crowded crease in Utica and in ECHL Adirondack. The Devils are expected to retain trade deadline pickup Jake Allen as a backup to their new addition, which still leaves Tyler Brennan, Nico Daws, Isaac Poulter and Akira Schmid under NHL contract at the minor-league levels. Daws or Schmid will likely be moved out in an eventual trade for a starter, though, likely leaving Málek and either Brennan or Poulter manning Utica’s crease with one odd man out starting games for Adirondack.

Málek will be a restricted free agent upon expiry in 2026. He’ll remain waiver-exempt for the life of his ELC unless he plays more than 60 NHL games. He was under contract with Ilves next season, one which the Devils have evidently bought him out of.