Entering his fourth NHL season, Vanecek is coming off of his busiest campaign which saw him play 52 games (33-11-4) and record a 2.45 GAA and .911 SV%. Vanecek had an extremely strong start to last season before cooling down to a .896 SV% in his final 16 regular season games (9-6-1). His struggles continued in the postseason where he posted a 4.64 GAA and .825 SV% in seven games (4-1-3) and battled for time with Akira Schmid. The two goalies will likely share time in the crease this season unless one can pull away as the clear favourite. The New Jersey Devils are considered a serious Stanley Cup contender this season and open their campaign as -230 home favourites against the Detroit Red Wings.
