New Jersey Devils: Drew Stafford Playing Himself Into Lineup
By Nick Villano
New Jersey Devils forward Drew Stafford has been decent for the team since slotting into the lineup. He’s been playing good enough to stay in the lineup, but that causes John Hynes to make some hard decisions.
Last night, Drew Stafford won the New Jersey Devils their game against the Arizona Coyotes in his 800th game of his career. It earned him the coveted yellow helmet, given to the player of the game for each win. His performance as of late is forcing head coach John Hynes make a very tough decision.
Stafford was the second man on the shootout against the Coyotes. He made a beautiful move to fake out Darcy Kuemper and roof it to send Devils home happy. It was a great move that we only expect from the likes of Taylor Hall, not the last man on the roster.
Speaking of Hall, when he returns from injured reserve, Hynes is going to have a hard decisions to make. When Marcus Johansson returns, that decisions grows even harder. The first player out of the lineup will likely be Blake Pietila. He made his NHL debut on Friday night, and he was pretty good. However, he was a little inconsistent. He took a penalty on his first shift, but he also scored a goal that was called off. That isn’t enough to keep him in the lineup when the Devils stars return.
That still leaves on spot to knock out of the lineup. The Devils would have to choose between Stefan Noesen and Stafford. Everyone else is sticking in the lineup for the foreseeable future.
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Stafford ended last night’s game as the first star. This wasn’t the first game where he played well. He’s been in the lineup since December 14th. In those 10 games he has two goals and two assists, not including his Friday night shootout winner. That’s pretty good for Stafford.
Stafford has also been very good at the intangibles. Against the Dallas Stars, he was even or positive in just about every advanced stat, including high-danger chances against. He was on the ice for the Devils four wins in the last five games, all without star Taylor Hall.
Obviously, Stafford is not the main reason the Devils are winning, but unlike last year he’s not hurting them. He’s contributing in his limited ice time. This could keep him in the lineup while he still plays this way.