Nico Daws, New Jersey Devils (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Devils Dodge Bullet as Nico Daws Goes Unclaimed

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Daniel Amoia | Last updated Oct 6, 2025 2:07 PM ET

At around 2:00 PM EDT on Sunday, the New Jersey Devils announced that 24-year-old goaltender Nico Daws was placed on waivers with the intent of assigning him to the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Today, it was announced by NJ.com’s Ryan Novozinsky that he did not get claimed. He will be assigned to AHL Utica.

Daws is 22-23-1 as at the NHL level with a 2.98 goals against average (GAA) and .898 save percentage (SV%). His overall time in the organization has been peculiar. At times, he’s shown flashes of complete brilliance, including etching his name in franchise history with a dominant performance in front of 70,328 fans at the 2024 Stadium Series. At other times, he’s struggled mightily.

His 2024-25 season was a microcosm of his past few seasons, leading to the question: Who really is Nico Daws? He had a dreadful time in 34 AHL games last season, winning just 11 of 34 with a 3.16 GAA and .893 SV%. But in a short stint in the NHL, he went 3-1-0 with a remarkable 1.60 GAA and .939 SV%.

Small sample size, sure, but those NHL results put him second out of 81 goalies to play 5+ games with +1.12 goals saved above expected per 60 minutes (via MoneyPuck). That ranked ahead of some of the game’s best netminders: Anthony Stolarz (+0.78), Connor Hellebuyck (+0.64), Logan Thompson (+0.62) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (+0.47), to name a few.

With Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen forming a very solid tandem for New Jersey, there was no room for Daws on the NHL roster. As he was no longer exempt from waivers, the Devils were left with not much of a choice. Thus, it’s a huge sigh of relief that he went unclaimed — somewhat surprisingly so — and can remain in the organization.

However, they aren’t entirely out of the woods. If the Devils need to call up Daws in the event of an injury, he cannot stay in the NHL longer than whichever comes first — 10 games or 30 days — without once again needing waivers to be sent back down.