5 New Jersey Devils players who won’t return next season

Injuries diminished Tomas Nosek’s role with the Devils

Tomas Nosek couldn’t catch a break this season, and he played in just six games before February 6th because of numerous injuries. We haven’t gotten a great sample size from the 31-year-old, but Nosek hasn’t exactly given general manager Tom Fitzgerald any reason to keep him around next season. 

Through 29 games, Nosek’s possession quality of minus-4.0 is an all-time low, and his xGA sits at 12.2 on the season - a high number considering his low number of appearances. Although the Devils are nowhere near as good defensively as Nosek’s previous team, the Boston Bruins, it’s still worth noting that his xGA sat at just 31.6 and 26.3 in the previous two seasons, respectively, through a grand total of 141 games. 

Similar struggles have occurred when the Devils are short-handed, as they have allowed five goals already with Nosek on the ice in the situation, and it gets even worse at 5-on-5. New Jersey has accumulated just six goals with Nosek, and he’s sporting just a 5.4 on-ice shooting percentage, a career-low in each season that he’s made at least 25 appearances. 

Overall, the Nosek signing is one that you can chalk up as a failed experiment, and the Devils should have no problem moving on and bringing someone else in. When healthy and in the right system, Nosek is a solid lower-liner, so he will find work somewhere else this summer.