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New Jersey Devils: 5 Players Who Can Solidify Their Spot For Next Season

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 21: Jesper Boqvist #90 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his second goal of the game which became the game winner at 15:57 of the third period on the powerplay against the New York Islanders at the Prudential Center on September 21, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Islanders 4-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 21: Jesper Boqvist #90 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his second goal of the game which became the game winner at 15:57 of the third period on the powerplay against the New York Islanders at the Prudential Center on September 21, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Islanders 4-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

Joey Anderson

Joey Anderson was so close to solidifying his role on this roster last season, but a major injury forced him on the sidelines for months, and kind of reset his development. He started in the AHL for most of the season, and was called up in early February. This is much different from his first professional NHL season, when he was called up within the first month of the season.

He’s been much better this season, which is expected from a guy jumping from the college game. He has six points in 17 games, including four goals. Last season, he had just seven points in 34 games. Then, in Binghamton, he had 34 points in 44 games. He proved himself to be at least a borderline NHL player already.

Next season, we expect him to slot into the NHL right away. There are too many open spots, and he’s played well enough to prove himself worthy. He’s also playing close to two minutes of penalty kill time per game. On a team with dynamite penalty killers like Travis Zajac, Pavel Zacha and Kevin Rooney, it shows the trust coaches have in Anderson. In 31 minutes of penalty kill time, he’s only been on the ice for nine high-danger chances against.

Take a close look at Anderson’s numbers. He’s on the ice for a ton of total chances (186 against and just 140 for). However, of those chances, 32 of 140 for are of the high danger variety, and 23 of the 186 are high danger against (all at 5v5). To translate that for the common man (and most since this is a ton of numbers), around 23% of all of the chances the Devils had with Anderson on the ice were the best possible chances to score. Of the opponents chances, only around 12% were the most dangerous of chances. If Anderson stays on this path, we can’t see him playing in the AHL at all next season.

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