New Jersey Devils: Mirco Mueller Needs To Sit Down For A While
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils have constantly tried to make Mirco Mueller work after sending the San Jose Sharks more than he is worth. It’s time to finally put him in the position he deserves; as a seventh defenseman.
We’re sure Mirco Mueller is a good guy. He’s been a very good teammate since he was traded to the New Jersey Devils. Ray Shero sent a 2nd and a 4th-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft to get Mueller. Then, he protected Mueller over Jon Merrill in the Vegas expansion draft. This is all looking very, very bad for Shero.
Right now, the 2nd-round pick the Sharks got was used to take Mario Ferraro, who’s a 21 year old who’s already played 39 games this season. The other pick was traded to the New York Rangers, and they used it to take Brandon Crawley, who still has a long way to go. It’s safe to say the Devils would likely rather have Merrill or Ferraro over Mueller the way he’s been playing.
Mueller has one point this season. In 28 games, he’s literally never been able to mistakenly fall into an assist. He scored a goal on December 13th against Colorado, but besides that he is inept offensively. That would be fine if he was a shutdown defender. The thing about that is he’s actually the worst defender on the team.
Only four players on the team have a worse CF% than Mueller. Two of them have played less than ten games and the other two are Pavel Zacha and John Hayden. No other full-time defenseman has a worse high-danger chances against percentage than Mueller. Basically, he’s allowing way more chances with a high scoring percentage than the team gets with him on the ice when teams are at full strength.
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That’s the big issue with Mirco Mueller, when he allows the other team to get chances, they are of the high-danger variety much more often than other defensemen on the team.
Admittedly, this is being written right after the first period of the New York Rangers team. It might have been the worst period we’ve seen from a defenseman all season. Mueller was on the ice for two goals against, and was on the ice for what should have been a third, but it hit the crossbar on a breakaway.
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It just feels like it’s time to see what the other options are. Mueller is on a one-year contract, and we don’t see him being here next season. Maybe the Devils are looking to showcase Mueller to possibly trade him at the deadline, but he’s definitely not helping himself right now.
Connor Carrick has been equally bad this season, but he’s been injured for most of it, and we believe he’s finally healthy right now. Also, he’s on a two-year deal, so the Devils have more incentive to give him a true look. They also have Josh Jacobs and Colton White in Binghamton. They aren’t the best prospects, but it could be good for their future to at least get a couple games in the NHL.
The one thing that’s clear is Mueller is more part of the problem than the solution. Win or lose, we learned that the Devils defense is addition by Mueller subtraction.