New Jersey Devils: Grading Another Michael McLeod Chance

The New Jersey Devils have Michael McLeojd another year along in his development but he hasn’t shown enough for anyone to think he will stick long term.

The New Jersey Devils have given Michael McLeod a few chances to play NHL games for a couple of seasons. Things haven’t gone as smoothly as he or they would have hoped. He was a first-round pick back in 2016 and hasn’t panned out in the way that most players of his draft status do. He still might have another chance in the bank but things aren’t looking great for him as this season comes to an end.

The problem is that other players in the organization come in and pass him along on the organizational depth chart. Since he was drafted as a center, players like Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes have been brought in and been so much better. Players drafted lower than him like Jesper Bratt and Joey Anderson have had more of an impact as well, so the number of spots on the team is dwindling.

In 33 NHL games played, he only has five assists. He played in 12 this year and had two of those five assists. He is still looking for his first NHL goal but nobody knows if he will have the chance again. The team was awful in terms of possession with him on the ice in 2019-20 as his CorsiFor was only at 38.9. There wasn’t much of anything else that he showed in his 12 games up with the big club either.

Another problem for McLeod is the fact that his offensive numbers weren’t great with the Binghamton Devils either. The numbers were okay, but that turned out to be a powerhouse team in the second half of the season so you would have expected better numbers from him. He had eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points in 47 games for them. Those numbers were good enough for 10th in team scoring.

It isn’t fair to root against McLeod. He is someone who has struggled but he plays for the team we cheer for. Everyone should be rooting for him to figure it out and become an impactful player in the Devils organization. He doesn’t even need to be a star at this point as they have other young players who can take that pressure. McLeod becoming an NHL caliber player would be lovely at this point but now he would need to be given another chance.

It doesn’t feel good to give players an F. It is rare, but you can’t justify giving him anything higher. He was only okay in the AHL on a team that was rolling and didn’t give us any hope in his 12 games at the NHL level. If anything, you can take comfort in the fact that it can only go up for McLeod at this point.

There is a chance that it takes a while before the New Jersey Devils take the ice again as they won’t make the playoffs no matter what the format is and next season is sure to start late. That might be bad for McLeod but all he can do is keep working as the rinks start to open back up and be ready in case another chance comes calling.