New Jersey Devils Grades For Terrible Month Of November

Sami Vatanen C

Sami Vatanen did his best trying to carry the Devils defensive unit all by himself last season. He helped carry this Devils team all the way to the playoffs when John Moore or a regressing Damon Severson was the second best defender. This year, something is different.

Vatanen was a bonafide 1B on any team the way he played last season. This year, he looks like he’d be a fourth on a really good team. We know his skill set is better than that, but he just isn’t playing better. He’s making mistakes on the ice, especially in the defensive zone. He’s done a good job of making up for mistakes in the offensive zone by getting back and stopping chances, but his mistake put him in the position in the first place.

He needs to step up in a major way. He needs to be much better than an average defender. He’s definitely not the biggest reason the Devils season is going in the toilet, but he’s not helping either. He’s got a case of the Andy Greenes when it comes to getting the puck out of the defensive zone. He’s been getting too many icings, and he throws a puck up, but it doesn’t get past the line.

Pavel Zacha: C

Pavel Zacha came back into the Devils lineup with a vengeance. He scored four goals in three games, his first four goals of the season. However, we can’t just ignore why he was taken out of the lineup at the start of the month.

Zacha was terrible to start the year. He spent some time in the minors, and gained a little confidence back. He’s been playing much better than he was to start, but there is still some inconsistency. He did return in time to fix the team’s penalty, that is now the best unit on the team.

If he plays like this throughout December, he will have a much better grade. We are choosing to hold the fact that he was taken out of the lineup against him. He should take the C, because he got an F in October.

Ben Lovejoy: C

Ben Lovejoy isn’t the trash defenseman he was in his first season with the Devils, but he’s also not as good as he looked to start the season. He had two assists this month, which is fine for him. He was playing on the team’s penalty kill, which has done its best keeping the team in games.

Yet, he’s still on a defense that’s being killed by mistakes and is leaving their goalies out to dry. He has his own issues pushing the puck up the ice. He spends a lot of time with Butcher, so he doesn’t take as many faceoffs in the defensive zone, but when he ends up there his outlet passes aren’t exactly crisp.

That is bad twofold. For one, the Devils have to immediately turn around and play defense again. They thought an offensive chance was on the horizon, but that changed. Also, it means the lines can’t change. That leaves tired players on the ice, and that leads to mistakes.