New Jersey Devils Final Defense And Goalie Grades For 2020-21 Season

Will Butcher

Since the Devils lost two starters in Dmitry Kulikov and Sami Vatanen in the middle of the season, there is now a big drop off from Subban, who played 44 games this season, to Will Butcher, who only played 23. Butcher is one of the biggest disappointments this year only because he wasn’t able to crack the lineup for most of the year. The Devils have him under contract for one more season, so it made sense to give him a look, but he had trouble fitting into Ruff’s system, which is notoriously demanding of defensemen. Butcher looked better at the end of the season when he was given a look, but it’s hard to think his skating ability will ever work in this team’s philosophy. He had eight assists over the last 12 games of the season, so if he is in the lineup next year it won’t be the worst thing, but the expectations for Butcher moving forward are low.

Grade: C

Matt Tennyson

The Devils coaching staff always sees something in Matt Tennyson that they seem to think he deserves more of a look on the roster. He always seems like a good teammate, but on the ice he makes a ton of mistakes that can lead directly to goals against. He was last on the Devils in almost every category of advanced stat for players who played at least 20 games. Tennyson wasn’t able to provide much offense, and he was a liability on defense. He’s a veteran who’s willing to play in the AHL, so the coaching staff will want to reward that kind of commitment, but if this team was actually competitive it would be unacceptable.

Grade: D

Connor Carrick

Connor Carrick came into the season with low expectations, but he was actually decent down the stretch when he was forced into the NHL lineup. He spent most of the season on the taxi squad and in Binghamton, but he got into 11 games with New Jersey. His numbers overall aren’t anything to go home about, but he did play an average of 18:40 TOI in those 11 games. It shows the coaching staff trusted him as the season was winding down. He had his issues, but Carrick was at least a fine deep depth piece.

Grade: C+

Jonas Siegenthaler

This is cheating, since Jonas Siegenthaler only played in eight games for the Devils, but he did play in 15 games overall this season. The Devils traded a 3rd-round pick for Siegenthaler right before the NHL Trade Deadline. He’s a defensive defenseman who had good underlying numbers. That’s exactly what he brought to the Devils over the final stretch. He scored no points this season, but over those eight games, he had a better high-danger chance for percentage than anyone on the team. He was able to watch the team get offensive chances despite spending less than 30 percent of his faceoffs in the offensive zone. Siegenthaler helped clear the puck, and he is an obvious candidate to return next season.

Grade: B+