There’s a famous thought amongst NHL circles that teams in playoff spots at the American Thanksgiving holiday are most likely going to be the teams that make the playoffs. It seems nuts since we’re still five months from the postseason, but it seems to work out more often than not. 83 percent of teams in a playoff position last season, including the New Jersey Devils, ended up making the postseason.
This season, the Devils are not in a playoff position as we head into Thanksgiving. After what we can only assume is a terrible loss (this is being written in the second intermission), the Devils are going into the holiday with 17 points in 17 games. Only the Columbus Blue Jackets are worse in the division. This is the same company the Devils had in the years when they picked at the top of the NHL Draft every year.
It would be one thing if the Devils were just unlucky, but that’s not the case. This team is terrible at every aspect of the game except the power play, where they are still one of the top teams in the league. The Devils are sixth worst in the league at goals for per 60 minutes at 5v5 according to Natural Stat Trick. The offense is doing nothing when not getting power plays, and they’ve been getting less and less seemingly every game.
Only four teams give up more goals per game than the Devils. Only the San Jose Sharks have a worse goal differential at 5v5 than the Devils (as of this writing, which might not account for Wednesday’s action). The stats show the Devils are slightly below average at giving up high-danger chances at even strength, but that doesn’t tell the entire story. Their high-danger chances are extreme, like 2-on-1 opportunities or juicy rebounds. Not all HDCF are created equal.
Meanwhile, the Devils penalty kill is allowing goals in about 23 percent of chances. That’s not the worst like the other stats, but it’s below average.
So, the Devils are either below average or one of the league’s worst at most necessary statistics as a team. They look like a terrible team on half of the nights, and they play a 50-50 game on the other half. They have maybe three dominant performances (Montreal, Pittsburgh, and one of the Wild games) all season.
We have to legitimately ask if this is a playoff team. It’s way too early to completely make an assumption, but something is seriously off. They’ve had multiple days off between bad performances. Coach Lindy Ruff has to do a better job preparing this team. They allow goals in bunches like they did Wednesday night when the Detroit Red Wings scored three goals in 1:11. Everyone is just off this season outside of Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and possibly Luke Hughes.
Nico Hischier should return on Friday, which should put a strike into this team. If it doesn’t, then Tom Fitzgerald has to do something or this result will continue to be the same. It will be loss after loss until the standings become too insurmountable to bear. Realistically, this team is just five points out of a playoff spot, but that’s a lot for this point in the season.