NHL Mid-Season Grades: Metropolitan Division Breakdown
By Trin Potratz
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Current Record: 19-18-9 (47 points)
The New Jersey Devils made a big splash in the offseason acquiring Taylor Hall from the Edmonton Oilers. However, with the added offense, the team still hasn’t found a way to push the pace and that has made their playoff hopes look dim. If this team didn’t have Cory Schneider we may be looking at a lottery pick.
FORWARDS: C-
Taylor Hall is doing all he can and what he was expected to do, but the rest of the group just simply haven’t given him enough support.
is starting to regress as he reaches his mid 30’s.
While Travis Zajac has found another gear in his offensive game, Adam Henrique has come back to the ground in his.
Beau Bennett, Devante Smith-Pelly, and Sergei Kalinin haven’t rediscovered their games to the point of being effective either.
When your entire group is only scoring 2.22 goals per game, you can’t get all that high of a grade.
Not all things are terrible though as Miles Wood and Nick Lappin have shown to be decent effective players with some upside.
DEFENSE: C
When the Devils acquired Taylor Hall, the player they swapped out was young Swedish d-man Adam Larsson. Apparently, Larsson meant more to the team than NHL outsiders would have believed.
The Devils play a defensive style game, but they have allowed 2.83 goals against per game. That puts them in the bottom ten in the league.
Damon Severson is finding offense, but he bears an ugly -23 at the halfway point. Worst in the league.
John Moore, Ben Lovejoy, and Kyle Quincey were expected to help aid the team in Larsson’s absence, but the early returns are not looking all that great.
GOALIES: B-
This is a bit of a pity grade.
Cory Schneider is only sporting a .910 save percentage, but a lot of that has more to do with the team in front of him than himself.
Schneider is totally capable of winning games on his own, and aside from a few poor outings (the recent Toronto game comes to mind), he is normally solid between the pipes.
BIGGEST SURPRISE: MILES WOOD
While it’s still early, Miles Wood has been pretty impressive since his recall.
The 21-year old rookie is a fourth round pick from the 2013 Draft and he only played one season of college hockey at Boston College before turning pro this year.
He has a lot of speed and it has been on display in a few of his five first NHL goals.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: DEVANTE SMITH-PELLY
While Smith-Pelly never really set the world on fire with his offense, many believed he had the potential to be a decent top six forward.
Smith-Pelly was traded to the Devils by the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Stefan Matteau. After the trade, Smith-Pelly produced at a career rate scoring 13 points in only 18 games with the Devils at the end of last season.
He only has two goals, seven points through 40 games this year.
OUTLOOK:
GM Ray Shero has been vocal about his disappointment in the team as a whole, and you can’t blame him.
The Devils have become a very mediocre team since their surprising run to the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals and it looks like it may be a few years before they find an identity again.
It will be long summer in Jersey once again.