New Jersey Devils: 3 Ways To Try And Fix Penalty Kill
The New Jersey Devils penalty kill is losing them games. There are some outside-the-box ideas to make it better.
The New Jersey Devils penalty kill is awful. There is no other way to put it. It is outright terrible. The Devils are very good at 5v5, but on special teams, things are just awful.
Honestly, this isn’t terribly surprising. The team can build chemistry at even strength as the season goes by. However, special teams take a long time to build that chemistry. Teams usually spend a lot of time during training camp and the preseason to figure out special teams. Unfortunately, the Devils not only had a shortened training camp, but they were trying to get a lot of new players (seven forwards who weren’t in the lineup last season, and four defensemen). Also, they were all learning a new system under Lindy Ruff.
It’s led to a lot of issues on the power play and the penalty kill. The PP looked completely lost on a 5-on-3 chance against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. That’s not what is literally losing the Devils games. The penalty kill is putting more ticks in the “L” column.
Now, there are issues with penalty kills across the league. Across the NHL, the 78.41 PK percentage is the worst since the 80s when teams were scoring at will. Only twice in the past 30 seasons has there been a league-wide PK percentage under 80%.
The Devils PK is well below the league average. They are allowing goals on just under 30% of opposing power plays. Every time it comes at an inopportune time, it seems inevitable that a goal goes in. Let’s not even talk about the quality of penalties that are being called (who calls a faceoff violation in the offensive zone during a power play? And what even is slashing at this point?). The fact of the matter is the Devils have to stop opposing power plays.
So, how do the Devils fix it? There are some easy answers like a simple change in personnel or just spending more time on it in practice, but Alain Nasreddine needs to pull out some new ways to make this a better unit. Here are some ideas that, while unconventional, could help give the Devils a better chance to succeed on the penalty kill.
Going 11 forwards and 7 defensemen
Some teams will use seven defensemen on certain nights for various reasons. The Devils have done it before. It might have to do with getting the top defenders rest, or it could be for injury reasons up front. Either way, it’s an intriguing option for the Devils.
Right now, the Devils have Ty Smith, Damon Severson, and P.K. Subban who are known more for their offense than defense. Matt Tennyson is also getting a chance to play in the lineup. Nobody wants to see him on the penalty kill. That leads to the Devils playing Severson too much down a man. They need to fix it.
Outside of the Devils top line and its fourth line, any forward could be taken out of the lineup. The middle six has been invisible for most games. If any of them were taking out of the lineup, including veterans like Pavel Zacha and Nikita Gusev, not many would be too upset.
So, here lies the problem. The current players sitting in the owner’s box are Connor Carrick and Will Butcher. In his career, Carrick has less than 30 minutes of penalty kill time. Butcher has about 27 minutes of career PK time (via Natural Stat Trick). They don’t work.
However, there’s an intriguing option on the Devils’ taxi squad. Kevin Bahl might not be ready to be an NHL regular, but with only a few shifts per game and time on the penalty kill, it might be the perfect introduction to the NHL for the 20-year-old prospect. Anything to get Severson, who’s been the Devils best defenseman at even strength, off the penalty kill.
Try going with three forwards on one unit
This one must sound insane. It’s probably something that sounds a lot better on paper than it does in real life, but it’s worth a shot. Now, this would only be for one unit on the power play. Again, this is to get Severson off the penalty kill and get him more time at even strength.
The Devils could put out one unit that looks like:
Pavel Zacha-Yegor Sharangovich
Ryan Murray-P.K. Subban
And then the other unit could look some combination of Michael McLeod, Nathan Bastian, Jesper Bratt, Kyle Palmieri (when he returns), Travis Zajac (same), and Nico Hischier (also same) paired with Dmitry Kulikov.
It’s asking a lot of the forwards to play this kind of defense, but it might help the defensemen understand their role better. The Devils have had major trouble with the man in front of the net. With this kind of setup, Kulikov is the lone man in charge of keeping the front of the net clear. With a clear role, Kulikov can execute it even better.
As far as using three forwards, it would put a lot more speed on the Devils penalty kill. They have more options in the neutral zone to keep the puck out of the zone. They would keep moving around the zone. It would be a high-flying unit. Maybe it’s a bad idea, but could the penalty kill be any worse? It’s worth a try, right?
Hold until everyone comes back
This isn’t outside the box, per se. However, it’s hard to see the penalty kill unit doing as bad as it has and do nothing. It could be considered incompetence. Let’s be serious. The most important part of a team’s penalty kill unit is the goalie. The Devils have lost both Mackenzie Blackwood and Corey Crawford in a matter of a few weeks.
On top of that, the Devils are now missing Hischier, Zajac, and Palmieri, three players who likely had a big role on the penalty kill coming into the season. They were also missing Bratt, who has 88 career penalty minutes (although, Hynes only used him for three minutes last season). There’s just a lot missing from the PK.
If all that wasn’t bad enough, the Devils are ALSO missing Sami Vatanen, who has played more than 90 minutes of penalty kill time. Obviously, once a number of them return, the PK is going to look a lot better.
Nasreddine needs to keep tinkering with the strategy until everyone returns. The Devils need to get their penalty kill figured out. It’s already lost them games against the Bruins, Flyers, and Sabres. The Devils are literally trying to survive the early part of the schedule.
Devils Fourth Line Has Shades Of Old. dark. Next
They’ve yet to face the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, who both sit in the top four in the division. However, for the Devils to put up 10 points in the first nine games shows they are going all out to win these games. Once they get healthy, this could be a really good team. It might make sense to just fold tight.