The New Jersey Devils are creating a lot of dangerous offense this preseason.
With the preseason now over, the Devils have generated 41 high-danger chances, second in the NHL as of this writing. They have also scored six high-danger goals at 5-on-5, tied for the league lead.
Those numbers are impressive on their own. Put them together with everything else the Devils are doing, and the early returns on their new system become even more encouraging.
New Jersey has generated 180 total chances at 5-on-5, second in the NHL behind the Pittsburgh Penguins. Only four teams have scored more even-strength goals during the preseason.
The Devils have also outscored their opponents 12-7 in all situations. And they're doing all of this while shooting under 12 percent. That's the part that really stands out.
The Devils are creating quality chances The high-danger chance numbers (according to Natural Stat Trick) might be the most encouraging statistic of the bunch. It isn't difficult for an NHL team to generate shots. A team can throw pucks toward the net from the perimeter all night and make its shot total look impressive. The Devils are getting the puck into dangerous areas. They've been really good at that in years past, but with the talent they have on all four lines, this is more important now.
Forty-one high-danger chances in four games show the offensive system is creating opportunities where teams want to score. New Jersey has converted six of those into 5v5 goals, tied for the league lead, which makes the numbers even more interesting.
The New Jersey Devils are turning possessions into chances that matter
It's even more impressive because the Devils are doing this with their stars putting limited effort into these preseason games. Jack Hughes is gliding through matchups, and he's still dominating his minutes.
It's the preseason. We shouldn't get too excited. However, we can't just ignore the numbers, either. This is all happening while Anthony Mantha is trying to build chemistry with his new linemates. Every forward line has new players on it. The Devils need time to gel.
And yet, the numbers are great. We wouldn't call them staggering just yet, but they are great.
The shooting percentage makes it even more encouraging. If the Devils were scoring at an absurd shooting percentage, it would be easy to dismiss some of this as preseason variance. They're scoring while shooting below 12% as a team.
Now, the Devils shot 9.32% last season, second worst in the entire NHL. It's hard to believe they could be this bad at finishing with a healthy Jack Hughes and all the additions they made.
This is the first glimpse of the Sunny Mehta era. These games don't count for a reason, but the data is worth considering. We don't care about wins and losses in the preseason, but we care that the Devils looked great along the way.
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