New Jersey Devils: Individual Grades At The Halfway Point

Taylor Hall A+

I don’t feel a need to go into depth on Taylor Hall.  He has 42 points through 39 games.  He’s dominant at 5v5 and on the PP.  He’s established himself as a leader on this team and is far and away the best Devil this year.

Cory Schneider A

Some may disagree, but this was another easy A for me.  Cory Schneider has posted an all situation SV% of .918 but when you drill his numbers down they get even better.  He’s top 5 in the league in both GSAA and dSV% which are in my opinion two of the best stats for evaluating goaltending performance.  Cory’s back and he’s here to stay.

Nico Hischier A

Nico Hischier just turned 19.  He’s been the Devils first-line center and his scoring rates at 5v5 are phenomenal.  He’s not getting a ton of midseason consideration for the Calder Trophy, but he probably deserves some serious consideration.  While he’s only posted 5 PP assists his 5v5 numbers are on par with fellow rookies Brock Boeser and Mathew Barzal.  Hischier is the only one in that trio that centers a first line.  Consider this the start of my official #N1COforCalder campaign.

(A side note on both Hischier and Hall.  They’re posting P/60’s of 2.38 and 2.65 respectively.  You have to go back to Patrik Elias and Zach Parise in 2009-10 to find Devils that scored at that rate when they had P/60’s of 2.74 and 2.38)

Jesper Bratt A

Yes, the whole first line gets an A.  Bratt’s 5v5 numbers leave a little bit to be desired for me, but his overall play is outstanding.  He’s utilized on the PK, ranking 3^rd on the Devils when it comes to forward’s PK time.  This is all worthy of an A for the 2016 6^th round pick. We haven’t even discussed his 10 goals and 16 assists.  The future is bright folks.

Miles Wood A

I may grade Miles Wood slightly higher than anyone else simply because it seems he’s helped Pavel Zacha elevate his game.  Wood is actually 4^th on the Devils with a P/60 of 2.21 and has 11 goals and 8 assists so far this year.  Wood is a physical player who is willing to chase down any puck any time.  His compete level is always maxed out and it seems like the pairing of Wood and Zacha is something we can look forward to for years to come.

Will Butcher A

The Devils won the Will Butcher sweepstakes and that’s significant.  Butcher quarterbacks the Devils first PP unit and is one of only two Devils defensemen to play in all 41 first half games.  He’s second in CF%, 2^nd in FF%, 1^st in SF%, 1^st in SCF% and 1^st in HDCF%.  He may have started in a more sheltered role, but it doesn’t matter.  Kid can play.

Brian Gibbons A-

Brian Gibbons leads all Devils forwards with 129 TOI while shorthanded.  Despite getting essentially no PP time, Gibbons is 5^th on the Devils in points with 12 goals and 10 assists.  While he won’t be able to shoot 20% all season, his first half was outstanding.

His play has certainly fallen off a little bit at the halfway mark, but these are overall grades so Gibbons gets an A-.  Gibbons is only behind Hall and Hischier in 5v5 P/60.  Keep it up Gibby.

Brian Boyle B+

Brian Boyle has won 205 draws and lost 205 draws.  That’s ok though because he’s got 17 points in 31 games and looks like he’s going to post a 20 goal season for only the second time in his career.  I’m not a huge believer in “leadership” and “veteran presence,” but Boyle makes me think there may be something there.  You can tell everyone on this team respects him as a player and as a leader. We haven’t even mentioned how amazing his story is this year.

Boyle is the frontrunner for the Masterton Trophy and has been a huge part of the Devils early success.  He’s even carved himself out a nice role as a net front presence on the PP.

Pavel Zacha B+

The start to Pavel Zacha’s year was rough.  Once he was paired with Miles Wood, his play took off though.  He still leaves a little to be desired as I’d love to see Zacha carry the puck more because he’s a smooth skater with a ton of skill and more speed than people realize.  His 5v5 P/60 of 1.48 is acceptable, especially in the 3^rd center role.

I’ve written about it before, but I’d love to see a Wood/Zacha/Palmieri combo.  Zacha’s HDCF% of 60.83 leads the Devils and of all forwards with at least 300 minute TOI Zacha is 8^th.  For a team that clearly values high danger chances over just throwing the puck at the net that is substantial.

Blake Coleman B+

Coleman, much like Gibbons and Bratt, has carved himself out a huge PK role.  He’s actually 3^rd on the Devils with 74 iSCF through 41 games, only 4 behind Hischier.  While he’s shooting 6%, I’d expect that to move towards 10 and the points should start coming for Coleman.

Either way, he’s a contributor on this team no matter what rate he’s scoring at.

John Moore, Damon Severson, and Sami Vatanen B

This is a blanket grade for three of the Devils most important defensemen.

John Moore won the Devils a couple games early with 3v3 prowess, but his overall defensive play was not great.  That was until the Devils acquired Sami Vatanen.  Vatanen and Moore pair well together, and despite one very bad game from Vatanen his play has been excellent.  He leads Devils defensemen in CF%, is 3^rd in SF%, and his HDCF% of 53.76 is 5^th but is still outstanding.

Now let’s talk about Damon Severson a little more in depth.  Severson has become somewhat of a scapegoat for Hynes.  With that said, his CF% is 3^rd on the Devils, his SF% is 2^nd, and his HDCF% is 3^rd.  He’s fine.  His play has been fine.  Clearly Hynes expects more, but the reality is that he’s still one of the Devils top three defensemen and is far from the cause of this teams defensive issues.

Stefan Noesen B

Stefan Noesen was given a crack at the lineup and never looked back.  When paired with Zacha and Wood, they’ve been one of the Devils most effective lines.  His P/60 of 1.61 is ahead of Jesper Bratt and Pavel Zacha.  Much like I’d like to see Palmieri with Zacha and Wood I think Noesen would slide in well next to Johansson and Zajac.

Those moves could give the Devils a nice 2A and 2B.

Kyle Palmieri C+

Palmieri has missed almost half the season with injuries and his grade really isn’t affected by that.  What’s hurting his grade is his 5v5 P/60 of 1.08 is the lowest he’s had in his career and is only above Travis Zajac and Drew Stafford on this Devils team.  It’s definitely tough finding your groove through injuries, but the second line as a whole has been disappointing.

I’ve suggested, and will continue to suggest, that Palmieri be placed with Wood and Zacha.  I think a shooter like Palmieri could benefit from where they generate chances and those two could benefit from having a highly skilled shooter on their line.

With all that said, Palmieri still has six goals and eight assists through 22 games.  That’s not bad at all and as a secondary scoring option is acceptable.

Marcus Johansson C+

Johansson is a similar case to Palmieri.  I had high expectations coming into the year and he’s been saddled with injuries.  His 5 goals and 6 assists in 23 games is okay but it’s just not meeting expectations.  With that said, his 5v5 P/60 is more than all right.  He is 5^th on the Devils with 1.97 P/60 which is a great secondary scoring rate.  I expect both Johansson and Palmieri to take off in the second half.

Ben Lovejoy C

Ben Lovejoy is far from a fan favorite, but his play this year has been better than expected.  All of his possession numbers are more than acceptable and his SCF% of 51.15 only trails Will Butcher.  He’s mostly been utilized as a 7^th defensemen, but when called upon his play has been solid and he’s even logged tough PK minutes.

Andy Greene C

Greene was a tough one to grade.  He’s the captain and Hynes has given he and Steven Santini the toughest minutes and zone starts possible but their numbers leave a lot to be desired.  With that said, despite being severely outshot on the ice Greene still posts a positive HDCF% of 54.34.  That’s better than both John Moore and Sami Vatanen and against opponents top lines.

Keith Kinkaid C-

I like Keith Kinkaid a lot as a backup.  However, his play this year has left a lot to be desired.  I understand it’s near impossible to get into a rhythm as a backup, but you have to wonder if moving Scott Wedgewood for a 4^th round pick was the right move.  The Devils turned Dalton Prout into Eddie Lack who provides a veteran presence in Binghamton and insurance if Kinkaid doesn’t regain his form, but I think Kinkaid will be fine.

His dSV% of -1.83 is bad and his GSAA of -4.71 is also very bad, but I think his most recent performances have him trending in the right direction.

Steven Santini D

We touched on Greene and Santini’s roles as shutdown defenders a little bit, but unlike Greene Santini’s HDCF% is ugly.  The worst on the Devils and the only one below 50%.  A full 7 points behind John Moore.  Santini has essentially been thrown to the wolves throughout the first half and it has not been good.

Travis Zajac D

I’m not letting recency bias get in the way on this one. Zajac had a great game against the Islanders, but before that he had been awful.  I fully understand he rushed back from a serious injury and I think it’s clear he’s finally getting his game back, but that was a rough first half.  I’m not going to get too deep into Zajac’s play, but I truly think that juggling the middle six would be essential to boosting secondary scoring.

Next: New Jersey Devils: Nico Hischier and Taylor Hall Among NHL’s Most Prolific Duos

Drew Stafford F

His 5v5 P/60 of .67 is bottom on the Devils.  It’s bottom 13 in the league of forwards who have played at least 250 minutes.  Not great Bob! He’s been scratched for almost a month now and I don’t see a way back into the lineup for him with the emergence of Stefan Noesen.