The New Jersey Devils have had some surprising performances this year. Dawson Mercer has jumped into the NHL and dominated immediately. Dougie Hamilton has been well worth the price it took to bring him to New Jersey. Ryan Graves has been awesome on the first line. Andreas Johnsson looks to be right in the middle of his comeback tour. There’s so much to be excited for as a Devils fan, but there are some players who are struggling to start the season. The one that sticks out more than any other one is Yegor Sharangovich.
Sharangovich looked really good prior to the season. He was dominating for Team Belarus as he tried to get them to qualify for the Olympics. Unfortunately for him, they fell short. He was also really good during the preseason. He scored two goals, including an overtime goal when he was forced to play center in Jack Hughes‘ absence. In two preseason games, he had three points. It was clear he was ready for the season.
Then the season started and something changed. He started on a line with Jack Hughes. Despite being on the ice for a goal in the opener against the Chicago Blackhawks, that line was awful. They had a 29% Corsi For, which was by far the worst on the team. In the next game against the Kraken, Sharangovich was just as bad. He was on the ice for 15 chances against while only witnessing 10 chances himself.
Sharangovich has bounced back from those disastrous first two games, but he still needs to do more. Right now, he’s an average player at best. He’s spent most of his ice time with Janne Kuokkanen, Michael McLeod, and Jimmy Vesey this season. It seems like McLeod is his best teammate, and it makes a lot of sense. Both those players work mostly on instinct and pure speed.
Sharangovich needs to step up or he’s going to find himself out of the lineup. He has zero goals through seven games despite having more than 10 minutes on the power play. The Devils have one goal while he’s been on the ice with the man advantage. Sharangovich needs to score more himself, and he needs to set up more high-danger chances.
All stats came from Natural Stat Trick.