New Jersey Devils Grades For Terrible Month Of November

Miles Wood C-

Miles Wood had the look of building off his huge year last season when the season started. Travis Zajac looked like he was getting a second wind to his career. John Quenneville was doing the little things right, and the offense would come eventually. Then, Hynes sent Q down to the Binghamton for some reason, and we haven’t seen him since.

Wood has been a different player since going back on the fourth line. He’s taking too many penalties. He’s playing out of position more times than not. Worst of all, he isn’t scoring. He only had one point the entire month. It broke a scoreless tie with the Florida Panthers.

Wood didn’t get a worse grade because he’s still all over the ice. He’s in the face of the opponent on every play. When it looks like other players on the Devils are quitting, Wood still skates at 120%. We all wish he could use his speed and skill in a more controlled way, but when you pay the Tazmanian Devil this is what your get. He can’t have another month like this, however. Hynes will start benching him completely.

Mirco Mueller: C-

Mirco Mueller went from a top-line defenseman to the first player scratched on any given night. What a fall it was for the 23 year old. That’s the thing with Mueller, he’s still 23 years old. There’s so much career ahead of him. However, if this is what he is, then he’ll be in the Swedish league before we know it.

Mueller was never going to be an offensive dynamo, but we didn’t expect him to be useless. He scored zero points in the month of November. He couldn’t he get a pass to the net that got tipped. He did not get a puck up the ice and the team eventually scored, giving him a secondary assist. That’s hard to do when you’re trying not to score. Somehow, Mueller did it.

He also wasn’t great defensively. His Corsi is down big from the beginning of the season. His PDO is even worse than it was last season. He just hasn’t played well. He honestly could have a worse grade, but the Devils are putting him in really hard situations, starting in the defensive zone about 59 percent of the time.

Keith Kinkaid: C

Keith Kinkaid was better than Schneider, but not by much. He at least won some games, and watched others go to over time, so there was that, but he was average at best. Thus why he’s getting the grade he is getting.

There were nights were he kept them in the game, but there were much more like his game against the Capitals, where he allowed four goals on 29 shots. Again, like with Schneider, the defense is doing him no favors. Yet, we really just need him to make some saves.

The Devils have a slightly better chance to win with Kinkaid in net, but if they can somehow find a way to get Cory going, then the sky is the limit. Not sure if the sky is the limit for Kinkaid. He seems like he can go through stretches within a game where he’s the best player on the ice. Then, seconds later, he’ll let in a laughable goal. The Devils just need a little more in net.