Can New Jersey Devils Turn Power Play Around Like They Did Penalty Kill?
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils put together another power-play performance that left us all wanting to decline power plays from now on against the Buffalo Sabres. They had four power plays (albeit some shortened), and they allowed two shorthanded goals while scoring zero power-play goals. While the Devils did score a power-play goal on Saturday afternoon (in yet another loss), it’s hardly going to fix the team’s issues.
The Devils are having one of the best offensive seasons in a long time. They have four players who have scored at least 20 goals. This hasn’t happened since the 2011-12 season when the team had Zach Parise, Patrik Elias, Ilya Kovalchuk, and a supreme season from David Clarkson. Those four players finished the season with 34 power-play goals. Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Yegor Sharangovich have a combined 15 power-play goals. That’s less than half!
The Devils are scoring in spite of the terrible power play. Their 16% power play actually isn’t the worst in the league, but their 13 shorthanded goals allowed is by far the most in the league. They’ve had 100 high-danger chances with a man advantage, fifth-fewest in the NHL.
However, the Devils’ power play isn’t terrible when it comes to some of the numbers. We aren’t going to try to make this go away with fancy numbers. Nothing can paint the Devils’ power play in a positive light. We’re just trying to see something to build on. The Devils are scoring on 16% of their high-danger chances. Is it the best? No, but it’s still better than the 14% they have at even strength. They are scoring on their high-danger chances. They just aren’t getting enough of them.
Let’s take a look at another special team that seemed hopeless that actually turned into an asset for the Devils. The team’s penalty kill ranks 12th in the league at 79.9%. At times during the season, it’s been in the top 10. This, after the Devils penalty kill sat at 70.9% last season. It has been a dramatic change, and this comes with much worse goaltending across the year. The Devils had one of the worst penalty kills of all time.
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There was a lot of change that came with that. The Devils added Ryan Graves, a healthy Jonas Siegenthaler, Jimmy Vesey, and others to help with the penalty. More than anything, however, it seems the Devils’ philosophy changed and that led to a better penalty kill.
Can the same thing happen to the Devils’ power play next season? There are a few reasons why that could happen. The Devils have the personnel to have a better power play. It’s unlikely Jack Hughes will only play 49 games, and he will help with the power play on his own. It’s almost impossible for Dougie Hamilton to be as bad as he’s been on the PP as of late. Also, it’s likely the Devils change some of the coaching staff, and that could lead to the end of the reverse pass on the power play (finally).
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There’s a good chance the Devils can come back to the mean. They have the pieces, but they still need the coaching. That’s the difference here between the PK and the PP. The Devils kept the coaching but changed the players. This offseason, it’s likely they will change the coaching and not the players so much. Still, the result will likely be the same. The power play will get better. It just won’t happen this season (obviously).