Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska isn’t surprised that goalie Jacob Markstrom has authored one of the NHL’s biggest comeback stories of the season.
Markstrom, 33, leads league goalies in five-on-five high-danger goals saved above expected (10.45) and is third in five-on-five high-danger save percentage (.878) among the 68 goalies with at least 300 five-on-five minutes played this season. Since returning from an injury Dec. 18, he is second in overall goals-against average (2.02) and fourth in save percentage (.936) among the 38 goalies with at least six starts in that stretch. A season ago, Markstrom was near the bottom in some of those categories.
After he was named the club’s new head coach last June, Huska could tell from the first phone call they had that Markstrom, a Vezina finalist in 2021-22, would return to Calgary with a chip on his shoulder.
“You knew he was going to come back a different person,” Huska said.
“He was edgy. Right away, he got to the point. And he was edgy…when I got off the phone, I went, ‘Okay. We’re going to get a different guy.’”
“I only care about wins,” Markstrom replied recently when asked of his improved play.
The eye test backs up the stats for the big Swede and while another Vezina nomination may not be in the cards this season, he’s played himself into that next tier of goaltenders.
He rarely allows bad goals and often makes game-changing saves. His Flames teammates look far looser in front of him and he’s benefited from the team’s switch to zone coverage from man-on-man. Markstrom’s also rarely lost his cool this season after a 2022-23 campaign where broken goalie sticks were the norm in practice and he infamously called himself out after a game by saying he “sucks at hockey.”
“We all know how competitive he is,” Flames leading scorer Blake Coleman said.
“He might have had a record for breaking sticks on crossbars last year, because he wants to win and wants to compete.”
Those stick smashes and post-game self critiques had an effect on the team’s play in front of him, as has the demeanour he plays with in 2023-24.
“I think he’s just come in a lot calmer this year,” Coleman said.
“His composure has gone through the room. When he’s playing that composed game, he looks so confident back there. You don’t really see him get rattled like he did last year. It’s a big part of why he’s playing so well. He’s so dialed in every night.”
“I think he’s got a clearer mind,” Flames goalie coach Jason LaBarbera said.
Markstrom has also been encouraging his teammates. Calgary is seventh in blocked shots and the goalie is constantly thanking Flames players for putting their bodies on the line.
“When we block a shot or go down, he’ll come back and say, ‘That was going in, good blocked shot,’” defenceman MacKenzie Weegar said, “but it probably wasn’t going in. He’s always there to make you feel better and pick you up.”
Markstrom bristles when asked about his own play and reasons for the turnaround, constantly deferring to the team concept and lamenting the goals that did get past him. LaBarbera, however, allows that he has adapted in the position.
“Just being more patient [in the crease],” LaBarbera said.
“Being a little deeper [in the net]…you always talk about playing in the middle of the ice, not chasing the game, not getting yourself outside. When you’re 6-foot-6 and you’re big like that, you’ve got to let the puck and the play come to you instead of going to go get it…he’s adapted to that really well this year.”
Markstrom comes from a lineage of goaltenders, which helps explain how he approaches the position.
His brother, Tim, and late father, Anders, both played in Sweden’s highest soccer league, while his mother, Lena, was a handball goalie. Tim, four years older, saw Jacob’s potential as a junior player while refereeing one of his games.
“I think they won 2-1 and the shots were like, 74-12 [for the other team],” Tim said.
“You could tell from his early days he could be something, but you never really knew what his ceiling was.”
The two talk almost everyday, with Tim having a special appreciation for the stresses of Jacob’s role.
“We understand each other if we have a bad game and when to talk and when not to talk, when to text, what to text,” he said.
“I totally understand if he’s not picking up my calls after a game.”
Despite being the older brother, Tim looks up to Jacob.
“He’s always been greater than me,” Tim said.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re the best goalie in the world, you still let goals in,” he said when asked what brotherly advice he gives.
“S**t happens. He has a better mindset than me for that. He’s the one giving me advice.”
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