Pucks and Pitchforks
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New Jersey Devils: Individual Grades At The Halfway Point

By Tyler Kelley

NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 23: The New Jersey Devils celebrate after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 at Prudential Center on December 23, 2017 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 23: The New Jersey Devils celebrate after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 at Prudential Center on December 23, 2017 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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NEWARK, NJ – DECEMBER 29: Taylor Hall
NEWARK, NJ – DECEMBER 29: Taylor Hall /

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 3rd on the Devils when it comes to forward’s PK time.  This is all worthy of an A for the 2016 6th 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 4th 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%, 2nd in FF%, 1st in SF%, 1st in SCF% and 1st 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 5th 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.

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