5 Realistic Goals For New Jersey Devils This Season
By Nick Villano
P.K. Subban Goes Back To A First-Line Powerplay Defenseman
One of the most important factors of this season was getting P.K. Subban going again. He was downright terrible no matter what metrics you used to evaluate him last season. He was bad on offense, bad on defense, bad to the eye test, and really bad when looking at his advanced stats. Subban went from one of the best defensemen in the league to a downright liability.
To get him going again, the Devils have paired him with Ryan Murray. Ignore the last game against the New York Islanders where Murray had a rough game (which left Subban to make some tough 2-on-1 decisions), for the most part, it has been working. Still, Subban has looked average for his position so far. He hasn’t been bad, but he’s still just outside that top-30 defenseman the Devils need from him.
One way to get him going is to make him a great powerplay defenseman again. This season, the Devils have more offensive talent than the past two years. That might sound crazy since they don’t have Taylor Hall anymore, but combining the powers of Kyle Palmieri, Nikita Gusev, Andreas Johnsson, Jack Hughes, and the eventual returns of Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt, and the Devils have a chance to be really good on the man advantage.
They haven’t been so far. The Devils’ powerplay is 1/11. Somehow, that’s only seventh-worst in the league.
Subban needs to get the powerplay going. He looks like his shot is back to its former quality. He’s hitting the net with his slapshot again (which he wasn’t doing last season). To put a number on it, Subban’s best seasons saw him score 20-25 points on the powerplay. Last season, he had six in 68 games. In a 56-game season, the Devils need Subban to hit 15 points. He only has one point in four games in all strengths, so he has some work to do.