As we all begin to truly accept that the New Jersey Devils offseason is upon us, it’s time to evaluate the roster and find ways to improve it. It’s unlikely whoever the Devils draft at 17 will make an impact this year, and teams aren’t traditionally built through Free Agency.
Ray Shero has done well adding valuable pieces through trades, but the recent expansion draft has unveiled a different option. The Vegas Golden Knights are a prime example of how utilizing players properly and giving them increased roles can build a successful team.
Let’s start by identifying major holes in the Devils roster from last year. I recently posted my end of season grades. Those grades were largely based off preseason expectations, which almost every Devil skater greatly exceeded. Inspired by Bill Comeau, @billius27 on twitter, I decided to use Corsica.Hockey’s GS/60 to identify how Devils players stacked up compared to the rest of the league.
While the Devils ultimately scored well compared to preseason expectations there are some pretty clear needs on this roster. I only looked at 5v5 numbers because the focus is on building a 5v5 lineup. While special teams contributions are important, the goal should be finding players who produce well at 5v5 that can then fill power play and penalty kill roles.
This chart is relatively simple. I took 5v5 GS/60 from Corsica and divided it into forwards and defensemen and then turned the scores into percentiles. We’ll go line by line addressing forwards, where they stood versus where they ended up and how it should be addressed in the offseason.
Inspired by @billius27 here's the Devils rated by 5v5 GS/60 from @CorsicaHockey.
— Tyler Kelley (@DocKelley41) April 30, 2018
You can see the clear holes in the middle 6 with centers and defensively lacking a true 1st pair RD.
I'll be using this for an article in the very near future. pic.twitter.com/7nKwUxl1Xa
Using this chart there are two major needs offensively and two major needs defensively.