New Jersey Devils: Miles Wood Needs More Time On The Ice

The New Jersey Devils have a great asset in Miles Wood. However, they’ve bungled his great season with inconsistent ice time.

Miles Wood is like a secret weapon for the New Jersey Devils. His speed is unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time, and he can get a breakaway every single game. This is why the Devils lineup for today was confusing at best.

Now, if this was the line combinations earlier in the season, then everything would be fine. Brian Boyle was a playmaker in November and December, and could help drive the offense. The Devils were putting out four lines that could score at will.

That was then, and this is now as they say. Boyle is either playing hurt, or something else is wrong, because he is playing like a typical fourth line center. He hasn’t scored since January 4th. More than two months since he’s hit the back of the net. What he’s best at, winning faceoffs, has been bad as of late.

Outside of Taylor Hall, the offense has been missing completely. I understand John Hynes wanting to make some changes, but why put one of your fastest players who proved he can score on the bottom line?

Wood hasn’t scored since he netted the game-winning goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was also suspended after that game for an illegal hit. The Devils had a conversation with him about the hit, and everything seemed to be fine.

Now, he sees himself on the fourth line.

Wood played around 14 minutes against the Vegas Golden Knights. The only players who played less were Pavel Zacha and the fourth line. With Boyle’s line, he’s looking at around 10-11 minutes per game. That really takes away any opportunity he has at getting big chances.

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With Kyle Palmieri moving down to Zacha’s line, it seems like it would make sense to add Wood to that line. He’s had great chemistry with those two. They’ve really driven play together, and got good offensive chances. Palmieri has his scoring confidence back, and can help this line add the secondary scoring this team desperately needs.

The Devils could easily put Wood on the second line, move Michael Grabner on a line with Patrick Maroon, in which they could build chemistry together, and have a fourth line of Stefan Noesen – Boyle – Blake Coleman.

We’ve second guessed Hynes’ lines before, and we’ve been wrong. Lately, however, nothing seems to be working outside of Hall. Give Wood the chance to get a break, let Boyle work with players he’s used to working with, and let the new guys play with each other. It seems like this makes sense on paper. We’ll see if Hynes decision will work out on the ice tonight against the Montreal Canadiens.