SBNation.com User Blog: John Fischer

Connor Clifton: 2013 NHL Draft Prospect Profile

John Fischer — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:56:56 -0000

As much attention will deservedly be placed on the first round, teams will have plenty of information on as many prospects as they can. A fourth-or-later round pick may be a long shot and it could be years before we know whether there's even a future in pro hockey for the player. However, finding someone can contribute anything at all at the pro level that late in the draft is a success. As such, we will be profile players projected to go in later rounds.

What better way to start than to look at apparently the highest ranked prospect by Central Scouting Services from New Jersey for this year's draft. Unless I'm sorely mistaken, that's the 88th ranked North American skater, defenseman Connor Clifton.

Who is Connor Clifton?

Clifton was born in Matawan and played for the New Jersey Hitman before joining up with the United States National Team Developmental Program prior to the 2012-13 season. He has since plied his trade with the U-18 squad scrimmaging against college teams and USHL squads. He's also performed at the international level as he represented the United States at this year's World U-18 tournament, scoring his only goal in the final loss to Canada. Clifton will join Quinnipiac University next year.

According to Elite Prospects' profile, Clifton is not big. He stands at 5'11" and weighs 163 lbs. Needless to say, that's going to be an issue at the next level. He's also rather young as he was born on April 28, 1995. While he's not going to be the youngest player, it is worth noting he was 17 throughout this past season. He has plenty of room to grow as a player, regardless of his small stature.

A look at his basic stats shows that he's had a penchant for the rough stuff in spite of his size. He's racked up PIM wherever's he's played except at the U-18 tournament. You'll also notice he hasn't racked up a lot of points. It's clear that Clifton hasn't been an offensive defenseman. Or at least an unproductive one. I wouldn't discount his talents immediately, as he participated with the USNTDP for one and a half seasons now. Players don't get to join the USNTDP unless they have talent and the fact he performed even at the international level means he has something to offer.

Speaking of the international level, based on the USA's stats at the IIHF site for the World U-18 tournament, Clifton only averaged 12:24 per game. I surmise he was on a third pairing with Clint Lewis, who played similar minutes. With only five shots on net all tournament, it belies that he wasn't really offensive at that level either. Even in a limited role, he was a part of a silver-medal roster and got action against some of the best in his age class. Incidentally, you can hear his reaction to the loss to Canada in the video in this Hockey's Future article from Chapin Landvogt.

As an aside, Andy Johnson noted over at the Western College Hockey Blog that Clifton was selected in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection draft. Clifton was picked by Peterborough in the fourth round and the team's going to at least make their case to try and get Clifton to switch out of college to go to the OHL. That's going to be a tough sell considering that Connor and his brother Tim both committed to Quinnipiac back in December 2011. Once he is drafted, I'm sure the team that picked Connor will have something to say about that. It's something to keep an eye on, especially if you're a Quinnipiac supporter.

What Experts Have Said about Connor Clifton

As you may expect for a prospect projected to go later in the draft, there's not exactly a lot out there for Clifton. But there is enough to get a better idea on what he can do.

First off, Kirk Luedeke - a man who knows all about prospects - has written a short profile about Clifton at the New York Hockey Journal. It features a few quotes from the player, but I'm going to highlight his quick thoughts on the player.

Although U.S. NTDP defenseman Connor Clifton is not a household name among 2013 NHL Entry Draft prospects, the Garden State product is quietly earning accolades for his steady two-way play.

...

Having met the challenge of the Team USA schedule in the USHL, NCAA and various international tournaments, Clifton is showing himself to be a capable defender. Although he is still raw and tougher to project at this stage of his development, the 18-year-old is someone who could get the call in his home state in late June.

It's not much but Luedeke does note that because of his late April birthday, it's difficult to determine what his performances in 2012-13 project a player to become. While he took plenty of calls with the USNTDP, steady is a complement for a defender of any kind.

Given that Clifton joined the USNTDP and did take part in the World U-18 tournament, Chris Peters definitely knows who he is and what he's done. Peters runs the United States of Hockey site and he's had two takes on the player. Here's what Peters had to say about Clifton prior to the 2012-13 season for the U-18 team.

Connor Clifton (Quinnipiac University) — Another newbie for the U18 team, Clifton helps shore up an already sound blue line. He has a full year of junior hockey under his belt after spending last season with the Jersey Hitmen in the EJHL. Additionally Clifton has some solid international experience, joining the U17s last year for a tournament and participating in the Ivan Hlinka in August. Clifton possesses some two-way abilities with a good first pass and enough strength to be tough to play against in his own zone. He might not light the world on fire skill-wise, but he’s a pretty smart, steady player and that could help his chances with scouts.

Certainly a reasonable take. He's young, he doesn't have a lot of skill but does have some tools and some clue on what to do on defense. There's nothing wrong with "steady" as a defensive player. After the U.S. team settled for silver at the U-18s, Peters had the following assessment of Clifton after the tournament:

Connor Clifton — Undersized, but physically strong, Clifton showed off some solid offensive capabilities, but some questionable decisions throughout the tournament make him more challenging to project. Clifton has a terrific shot from the point and is able to get pucks to the net well. Sometimes he got lost in the offensive zone, however, leading to turnovers and odd-man rushes the other way. A little too go-for-broke at times, Clifton will need to improve his decision-making in the future. That said, the offensive capabilities and his desire to play a mean, physical game despite his size are attractive qualities. Unafraid to mix it up and play the body first, there’s plenty of upside in Clifton and that could lead to a team taking a later-round stab at that potential. U18WC Statline: 7 GP, 1-0–1, 2 PIM -3. Projected Draft Range: Fifth to Sixth Round.

I'm happy to see that Peters noted his strength. That would explain the PIM as well; a player who uses his body quite a bit is going to take penalties and it's good in a way that Clifton uses it in spite of his frame. The issues of decision making are disappointing to read. It's not like Clifton lit it up at the tournament or at other levels where we can say that he's taken a lot of rewarding risks. He hasn't been all that productive in terms of points. That said, it is just one short tournament. Given his limited time, he may have felt like he had to make an impact even when it wasn't the right time to do so. In other situations, perhaps he's not like that. He did keep his nose relatively clean with one penalty. Even if it is an issue, it is a correctable one and he'll have plenty of time to improve on that at the next level.

An Opinion of Sorts

In my reading of what's available about Clifton, I get the sense that he will benefit from as much developmental time as possible. Even if he wasn't small, defense is a position that takes time to work on from positioning to decision making to timing among other aspects. Since he wasn't an offensive player back as a midget and junior with the Hitmen and he's a "young" 18-year old player, he's on the path of becoming a defensive player - which is more than fine. That makes it more paramount to work on those aspects. I think he'll get that playing for four years with Quinnipiac than if he were to go to Peterborough.

Interestingly, Peters thinks he could go much later than the fourth round. That very well could be the case. Just because CSS ranks someone in the top 100 among North American skaters doesn't mean he'll go within the first four rounds. He's not big and likely will not become big, he hasn't done anything flashy, and even if he is physical and strong defenseman, that's something you can find later in drafts anyway. The New Jersey Devils only have four picks in this year's draft. With a later pick, I'm not so concerned about position since it's a giant question mark as to whether those prospects will ever turn into anybody at all. It's those picks where you can take a chance on someone and in time hope they improve enough to be a professional player. Sometimes you get lucky and find someone like Mark Fayne, but those are the exceptions and not the rule. Since the Devils only have a fourth and a sixth round pick, they would do well to be more judicious than usual. If they had a fifth or additional picks in those rounds, then I would say they could take a flyer on him. But they don't so the question of whether "Will he be a pro defenseman in a few years?" looms larger. The answer to that will guide whether he gets picked by New Jersey.

That being said, I do hope someone will take a chance on Connor Clifton. He's come out of a good USNTDP program, he's on track to go to a university coming off a strong season where he can help keep the program there, and he's played against the type you'd expect from a small defenseman.

Your Take

Given that Clifton is a local prospect, I'm wondering whether you've seen him up close or even played against him. If you have, let us know in the comments. Additionally, have at it as to what you think of Clifton as a prospect based on what's available. Do you think he can become a pro-level defenseman in spite of his size? Are you surprised he's played as physically as he has been given his size? Will he get drafted, and when do you think it'll happen? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about Connor Clifton in the comments. Thank you for reading.

New Jersey Devils Podcast Talking Red: Episode #114

John Fischer — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:16:39 -0000

Today is Sunday and therefore there is another episode of the New Jersey Devils podcast Talking Red available for your listening pleasure. I have been under the weather for the past few days so I'm not in this one but you should still listen anyway. David Sarch was able to interview Brock Otten of OHL Prospects about, what else, OHL prospects. The two discuss Sean Monahan, Max Domi, Darnell Nurse, and so much more. In addition to that, David and Dan Pennucci are joined by former ILWT writer Tom Stivali to discuss the Devils' first round pick, drafting "small" guys, the playoffs, the World Championships, and so much more. As usual, it's a show worth listening.

I'd like to thank David for carrying on and Brock Otten for taking the time to be interviewed by David. The standard ways of listening to this week's episode are the same as it ever was. You can get the show directly here from the TR website. You can find it on iTunes and Stitcher. You can even stay right here and listen to a stream of this week's episode. No matter which way you choose, the show is 28.97 MB large and 1:03:18 long.

Please leave any comments, questions, and suggestions about this week's show in the comments here, at the TR website, by email to Talking Red, or tweet them to @TalkingRed. Thank you for listening to this episode.

Reviewing the Goals Allowed by Johan Hedberg: March 2013

John Fischer — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:54:23 -0000

When we last looked at the New Jersey Devils' back-up goaltender Johan Hedberg, it was in February 2013. He came off getting shelled in a bad game by the Devils in Washington but suddenly had to become the default starter when Martin Brodeur suffered back problems prior to a game against Winnipeg on the next night. Hedberg was very poor in that game and made one early and bizarre decision that led to the game winning goal in the game after that. A heavy March schedule loomed and concerns would mount about Hedberg's ability to be the go-to guy as Brodeur remained hurt.

	GP	MIN	W	L	SO/OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
March 2013 - Johan Hedberg	10	567	3	5	2	17	2.86	216	189	.875	0

They mounted very quickly. And for good reason. The Devils would drop their first three games of the month before finally snapping a six game winless streak. Then the Devils promptly lost again, won via another shootout, finally got a regulation win, and then go winless until Brodeur returned on March 20. In that time frame, Hedberg allowed 27 goals in ten games. It's that kind of performance that leads fans to understandably criticize the goaltending. The coaching staff must have agreed as the next time Hedberg got back in the crease was in the final week of the season after the team was mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. No matter how you cut it, March was an ugly month for Moose.

But how much of it was ugly by his own failings and how much of it was by others? A 87.5% save percentage definitely means the goalie is at least partially to blame. Let's not forget that the Devils didn't exactly light the lamp frequently and they weren't always so strong in their own end too. In order to better understand what happened we must look at what actually happened, let's revisit the 27 goals allowed by Hedberg in March.

About the Review

Before we get into this large list of goals allowed, let me restate what I'm doing here. The main thing I'm looking for in this review are "soft goals," those goals against that should have been stopped by the goaltender. Here's how I am defining a soft goal: The goalie must have seen the shot coming; the shot was not deflected or change otherwise in motion; the goalie was in position to actually make the stop; and/or the goaltender made an uncharacteristic mistake that led to the goal. If the goal allowed qualifies, then I deemed the goal as "soft." In fact, the very last bit alone can make the difference in what is and is not a soft goal. Breakaways are done on a case-by-case basis; there I usually look to see whether the goalie has at least made an effort. I do expect the most disagreement with them.

In addition, there are other traits I've recorded I have denoted skater errors by player and scoring chance. I assign a skater error by name under "Errors" if the player did something significantly wrong that led to the goal such as a turnover or not covering their man. It's arguable that all goals allowed have an error or some kind; these are for the egregious mistakes made. If it's something like a bad line change, I'll use "Bench." As for scoring chances, that's dependent on where the shot was fired. Anything between the two faceoff dots towards the top of the crease would count. Anything outside of that has not. I've erred against counting a chance if it's borderline, for what it's worth. I also denote the general position of where the shot beats the goaltender relative to the goaltender's position.

Lastly, I have provided links to the video I looked at for each goal from NHL.com. These links will auto-play the video, so be forewarned when you click on them.

The 27 Goals Allowed by Johan Hedberg in March 2013: A Chart

Date	GA#	Where Beaten?	GA Description	Soft?	Video	S.E.	SC?
3/2	19	Past the right pad	Hodgson feeds Pominville inside left circle. Pominville scores with one-timer.	No	Link	Butler	Yes
3/2	20	Between the legs	Hodgson feeds Pominville cross-ice off rush to Pominville. Pominville slides the one-timer through.	No	Link	-	Yes
3/2	21	Off Hedberg's right side	Hedberg stops Hecht's shot at left post, Girgorenko gets it to go behind net and find Hecht on other side. Hecht puts on off Hedberg's right and in.	No	Link	Salvador	No
3/4	22	Between the legs	Kadri attempted a pass to Komarov across the slot. Hedberg stopped the pass - only to deflect the puck in between his legs.	Yes	Link	-	No
3/4	23	Off the blocker and in	McClement blocks Elias' pass for a quick one-on-one with Hedberg. McClement chips it up, off Moose, and in.	Yes	Link	Elias	Yes
3/4	24	Between the legs	MacArthur all alone in front of Hedberg gets the puck. He goes backhand to forehand and slid it in between Hedberg's legs.	Yes	Link	Fayne	Yes
3/4	25	Past the left pad	van Reimsdyk leads a 2-on-1 with Kessel. Pass, shot, score past a diving Moose.	No	Link	Zidlicky	Yes
3/5	26	Between the legs	Salvador loses puck to Palat. Palat passes it to Conacher, who passes it to Thompson open in front. One-timer for the goal.	No	Link	Salvador	Yes
3/5	27	Over (tipped?) the right pad	Lecavalier leads 3-on-2 counter attack. He gets it to Killorn, who feeds it cross-slot to St. Louis. St. Louis lifts the puck for a goal.	No	Link	Fayne	Yes
3/5	28	Between the legs	Killorn gets away from Salvador in corner, takes the puck to the high slot, and fires low for success.	Yes	Link	Salvador	Yes
3/7	29	Past the blocker	Ennis feeds an open Vanek in the slot for a rocket of a shot.	No	Link	Elias	Yes
3/7	30	Between the legs	Sekera's shot is blocked, Flynn takes it and puts the puck in low through traffic.	No	Link	Salvador	Yes
3/9	31	Over the right pad	Corvo feeds a wide open Semin right in front of Hedberg. Semin makes a deke and lifts the backhander in.	No	Link	Zajac	Yes
3/9	32	Between the legs	Hedberg stops Staal's shot off the rush. Harrison rushes in to put back the rebound.	No	Link	-	Yes
3/9	33	Low, right, past a diving Moose	Devils caught in a change, Semin rushes up and makes a cross-slot pass to Tlusty for the goal.	No	Link	Bench	Yes
3/9	34	Between the legs	Sanguinetti shot gets deflected up high in the air. Larsson misses at knocking it away, Hedberg tries to square up for it, Terry gets it and slides it in.	Yes	Link	Larsson	Yes
3/9	35	Low, past the left pad	Hedberg tries to glove a loose puck off a bad-angle shot by Gleason. Skinner beats him to it and knocks it in past his left pad.	Yes	Link	-	Yes
3/10	36	Under the right arm	Stuart takes a long shot. Greene accidentally deflects it up past Hedberg.	No	Link	-	No
3/10	37	Over the glove, top left corner	Larsson stumbles with the puck on offense, which springs Kane in a 2-on-1. Kane keeps it and fires a laser to the top-left corner.	No	Link	Larsson	Yes
3/13	38	Past the glove	Simmonds gets puck down low, wheels, and finds Voracek open in the left circle. Pass, one-timer, goal.	No	Link	-	Yes
3/13	39	High, over a fallen Moose	Voracek blocks Salvador's shot and is off on a counter. He finds Hartnell streaking in from his left, hits him with a pass, and Hartnell puts one up over a low Moose.	Yes	Link	Salvador	Yes
3/15	40	Left flank	3-on-2 led by Read results in a pass to Gagne open in the slot. Gagne delays and as Greene & Larsson crash the net, hits Talbot with a pass for an easy goal.	No	Link	Greene Larsson	No
3/16	41	High, past right shoulder	Volchenkov loses it to Armstrong. He goes to the left dot and fires a high one through a double screen to find the top-right corner	No	Link	Volchenkov	Yes
3/16	42	Past the blocker	Zidlicky makes a blind backhand pass to no one on his team from the corner. Tinordi fires one from distance and Plekanec tips it in.	No	Link	Zidlicky	No
3/19	43	Past the right leg	After Stepan wins the puck from Harrold, he goes to the corner and lofts one to the front of the net. Del Zotto bats it down past Hedberg.	No	Link	Harrold	No
3/19	44	Past the right pad	Girardi misses on a long shot. The puck bounces off the back board to Hagelin, who beats Moose on his right flank.	No	Link	Harrold	Yes
3/19	45	Between the legs	Devils caught in a change, Nash keeps it in a 2-on-1 and fires a low, hard one through Hedberg from the left dot.	Yes	Link	Bench	Yes

Location of Goals Allowed

All locations listed are relative to Hedberg himself, not necessarily where the puck goes into the net. It's simplistic, but it works for general information. This was the month to either beat him between the legs or on the glove side because a majority of the goals allowed in March got past Moose in those areas.

Location	Count	% Total
Low Left	2	7.41%
Low Middle	9	33.33%
Low Right	4	14.81%
Medium Left	2	7.41%
Medium Middle	0	0.00%
Middle Right	7	25.93%
High Left	1	3.70%
High Middle	1	3.70%
High Right	1	3.70%

Commentary

In this past March, Hedberg played the most minutes for the Devils in a month since February 2011. Hedberg was far, far better then. He was down right fantastic in February 2011. In March 2013, not only did he allow 27 goals in ten games, but eight of those were soft ones. That's eight goals against he totally should have had. I honestly expected more, but reviewing the video reminded me that when it came to the 2013 Devils, they made some remarkable errors at times.

I found that the Hedberg had his biggest struggles early in the month. He settled down in March 2 as he was beaten by one-timers and a literal bad bounce off his body by Buffalo. Yet, his performance in Toronto on March 4 was arguably his worst of the season. GAs# 22, 23, and 24 were not only the first, second, and third goals of the game but they were all entirely stoppable situations. Moose made the wrong decision or got caught unaware and paid for it. The following night, Hedberg wasn't as calamtious but he got beaten by a stoppable shot from Alex Killorn on GA #28. That one sent him to the bench in favor of Keith Kinkaid. Four soft goals in two games led me to think this was going to be one long review. As it turned out, Hedberg wasn't as calamitous as time went on.

Of course, he wasn't perfect. It would be two games later when the next set of softies were baked (cooked? boiled?pureed?) as seen in GAs #34 and 35. That happened in Carolina and they were the fourth and fifth goals scored by the home team. Two nights after that, the Devils won their one game in regulation with Moose in the net. GA #39 wasn't the softest goal and it was essentially a consolation goal. However, I believe Hedberg went down too early and since he made the first move, the guy with the puck made the correct move. So I counted it. Two games later and it would be Hedberg's last until April; his final goal allowed of the month may have come off the rush but GA #45 was entirely stoppable. While Hedberg's other four soft goals were more spread apart, the closeness of all the games in the schedule plus the fact he didn't go farther than five goals allowed between soft goals felt like there were more. Hedberg absolutely deserves criticism for how he performed in March and these eight goals were the low-points to highlight in that regard.

That said, my goodness, some of the errors by the skaters were ridiculous. It made me wonder whether the team was trying to tick off a checklist of How to Screw Up and Pay For It. Turnovers? The two goals allowed to Montreal, GAs# 41 and 42, fit that bill. Losing the puck in your own end? GA #26 featured the captain with an ugly one there. Elias made a hideous one on GA #23 for what it's worth as well. Losing a board battle that led to something big for the opposition? Peter Harrold had position but lost the puck which led to a very strange shorthanded GA #43 (Hedberg did come out, but he didn't get get burnt and got back in position. Not his fault it was batted down in mid-air). Getting caught out of position? Harrold again provided a good example on GA #44. Leaving guys open in the slot? While they were on penalty kills, GAs #24, 29 and 31 immediately come to mind. Losing the puck on offense? Larsson's flub at the blueline led to GA #37 happening. Bad pinching? Zidlicky got caught and it led to the 2-on-1 that ended with GA #25. Lazy backchecking? Bobby Butler saw the bench when he came back to stand still for GA #19. Defensemen taking themselves out? GA #40 was a comedy of error performed by Adam Larsson and Andy Greene in what should have been a simple 3-on-2. Bad line changes? I counted two of those too: GAs # 33 and 45. Even the soft goals allowed had skater errors involved in most of them; goals allowed where, yeah, Hedberg should have made the save but he wasn't the only one who erred on the play. As poor as Hedberg has played at times in March, conceding 27 goals in ten games took a team effort. Throw in a lack of goal support when Moose only got beaten twice or three times, and the losses racked up too. No wonder Martin Brodeur started all the way through March 20 through April 25.

In terms of other findings, only six goals allowed were on special teams: two shorthanded (GAs #19 and #43) and four power play goals (GA #33 were allowed in March. Given that the Devils allowed seven power play goals and one shorthanded goal with Hedberg in net last month, that's actually some improvement. It also makes the 21 even strength goals allowed stand out even more. 21 of the 27 goals allowed came from that scoring chance area as far as I could tell in my review. Of the six non-scoring chance goals allowed, four were off deflections of some variety: GAs #22, 36, 42, and 43. The only non-scoring chance goal allowed that was soft was GA #22 in that Hedberg re-directed a pass past himself. It was bad to watch, though I would still contend GA #10 from February was his worst of the season.

Your Take

It was a poor March for Hedberg and the team as a whole wasn't successful with Moose in net. Still, I want your take on how Moose performed in March. Which of the goals allowed would you least want to remember? Of the eight soft goals, which one do you think was the worst? Perhaps you disagree with my choices and feel that others were or were not soft. Which ones would those be and why? Knowing what you know now, was it the right call for Hedberg to play as much as he did? Likewise, was it correct that he didn't see the ice again until late April due to this month's performance? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the 27 goals allowed by Johan Hedberg in March in the comments. Thank you for reading.

David Clarkson Stands Alone: The 2013 UFA Forwards by Shots

John Fischer — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:23:47 -0000

Until the final month of the season, the New Jersey Devils were near or at the bottom in generating shots for per 60 minutes in 5-on-5 play and in the bottom third of average shots per game. They bloomed in that regard in April - not necessarily with goals - to finish tied with Edmonton at 26.9 SF/60, the sixth lowest in the league and their overall shots per game average did jump to 18th in the league at 28.4. While the Devils were absolutely fantastic in their percentage of getting shooting attempts through compared to their opponents, it would've helped if the team was more prolific are putting rubber on net more often. Given their awful shooting percentage in 2013, maybe not that much in this past season, but it would be a benefit going forward. There's no way to score when you don't shoot, to turn a phrase.

Among the Devils' many pending unrestricted free agents, David Clarkson sticks out among the group. He's just under the age of 30. He's coming off a 30-goal season in the previous 82-game season and put up 15 goals in 48 games, which would result in 25 goals in a full season provided he scored at the same rate. As Mike noted last week, Clarkson was sensational in terms of possession at even strength and generating shots on net. So much so that he finished fourth in the NHL in shots on net in this past season. They weren't all great shots, but you can't deny that kind of production. For a team that could stand to put more shots on frame, keeping a guy like Clarkson seems like a logical conclusion.

Of course, that's also what is going to make many teams throw a lot of money at him this summer. It wouldn't surprise me if some of those offers are so large that it would make sense for New Jersey to walk away. That said, this year's UFA class of forwards doesn't really feature many prolific shooters. I took a list of the top 34 scoring UFA forwards - I replaced KHL-bound Roman Cervenka with Dustin Penner just for kicks - from CapGeek and added their shot totals from NHL.com. I organized the following chart by shots on goal per game to highlight how far ahead Clarkson is from the rest of the class. Incidentally, I also added the player's point totals if their point per game rate held up for 82 games, their shooting percentage for the 2013 season, their career shooting percentage, and the difference between the those percentages. I did all that to flesh out what each forward done on a production-basis.

2013 UFA	Team	Pos.	Age	GP	G	A	Pts	82Pts	SOG	SOG/GP	2013 S%	Career S%	Diff
Clarkson	NJD	RW	29	48	15	9	24	41.00	180	3.75	8.3	9.4	-1.1
Iginla	PIT	RW	35	44	14	19	33	61.50	134	3.05	10.4	13.2	-2.8
Dupuis	PIT	RW	34	48	20	18	38	64.92	140	2.92	14.3	10.0	4.3
Brunner	DET	RW	27	44	12	14	26	48.45	123	2.80	9.8	9.8	0.0
Horton	BOS	RW	27	43	13	9	22	41.95	114	2.65	11.4	14.6	-3.2
Jagr	BOS	RW	41	45	16	19	35	63.78	115	2.56	13.9	14.0	-0.1
Elias	NJD	C	37	48	14	22	36	61.50	118	2.46	11.9	12.4	-0.5
Stalberg	CHI	RW	27	47	9	14	23	40.13	113	2.40	8.0	9.0	-1.0
McDonald	STL	C	35	37	7	14	21	46.54	86	2.32	8.1	10.9	-2.8
Ryder	MTL	RW	33	46	16	19	35	62.39	101	2.20	15.8	12.8	3.0
Clowe	NYR	LW	30	40	3	16	19	38.95	87	2.18	3.4	11.2	-7.8
Alfredsson	OTT	RW	40	47	10	16	26	45.36	101	2.15	9.9	12.8	-2.9
Selanne	ANA	RW	42	46	12	12	24	42.78	96	2.09	12.5	15.2	-2.7
Roy	VAN	C	30	42	7	21	28	54.67	85	2.02	8.2	12.4	-4.2
Boyes	NYI	RW	31	48	10	25	35	59.79	97	2.02	10.3	12.1	-1.8
Gagne	PHI	LW	33	38	5	11	16	34.53	76	2.00	6.6	12.6	-6.0
Cleary	DET	LW	34	48	9	6	15	25.63	93	1.94	9.7	9.8	-0.1
Filppula	DET	C	29	41	9	8	17	34.00	78	1.90	11.5	12.8	-1.3
Cullen	MIN	C	36	42	7	20	27	52.71	79	1.88	8.9	9.4	-0.5
Penner	LAK	LW	30	33	2	12	14	34.79	61	1.85	3.3	12.0	-8.7
Prospal	CLB	LW	38	48	12	18	30	51.25	85	1.77	14.1	10.6	3.5
Raymond	VAN	LW	27	46	10	12	22	39.22	79	1.72	12.7	9.5	3.2
Bickell	CHI	LW	27	48	9	14	23	39.29	82	1.71	11.0	12.2	-1.2
Bouchard	MIN	RW	29	43	8	12	20	38.14	71	1.65	11.3	11.4	-0.1
MacArthur	TOR	LW	28	40	8	12	20	41.00	62	1.55	12.9	13.9	-1.0
Torres	SJS	LW	31	39	7	11	18	37.85	60	1.54	11.7	13	-1.3
Gomez	SJS	C	33	39	2	13	15	31.54	58	1.49	3.4	7.2	-3.8
Sullivan	NJD	LW	38	42	7	10	17	33.19	61	1.45	11.5	13.6	-2.1
Antropov	WIN	C	33	40	6	12	18	36.90	56	1.40	10.7	14.1	-3.4
Bozak	TOR	C	27	46	12	16	28	49.91	61	1.33	19.7	15.5	4.2
Ribeiro	WAS	C	33	48	13	36	49	83.71	63	1.31	20.6	14.8	5.8
Cooke	PIT	LW	34	48	8	13	21	35.88	61	1.27	13.1	11.9	1.2
Morrow	PIT	LW	34	44	12	13	25	46.59	55	1.25	21.8	15.7	6.1
Koivu	ANA	C	38	47	8	19	27	47.11	55	1.17	14.5	12.6	1.9
Wellwood	WIN	C	30	39	6	9	15	31.54	37	0.95	16.2	14.2	2.0

This not the strongest UFA class of forwards in terms of shooters. Among the top 35 in scoring - and that's a range that goes as low as 15 points - only 16 forwards have averaged over two shots per game. I figure only 12 of them may actually be available since I can't imagine Daniel Alfredsson and Teemu Selanne signing elsewhere, who knows what a 41-year old Jaromir Jagr will do, and I don't think it's even an argument that Patrik Elias needs to be re-signed. Only two in that group of 16 have averaged over three shots per game: David Clarkson and a 35-year old Jarome Iginla. And Clarkson smoked Iginla in SOGs this past year. If Clarkson does go elsewhere, it's going to take several people to replace that amount of shooting alone. Even if Clarkson stays, the Devils have only so many viable options from the market.

Of course, it's not all doom and gloom. If you're a believer the Devils should go after Nathan Horton, then you should be pleased to find him high on this list. He even shot at less than his career percentage in 2013, so perhaps he could bloom a little bit in the future. This isn't to say he's a must in the coming offseason, but it's additional evidence to like the guy. The Devils may want to keep an eye on Damien Brunner of Detroit, too. He just finished his first NHL season after plying his trade in Switzerland. It's unknown as far as what his future career will hold. Usually, guys don't get that much better at age 27. But he certainly had no aversion to firing away and he did end up just ahead of Horton in points too. Lastly, the Devils may be wise to get two guys on the lower end of the two-shots per game rate on the list to try to make the team shooting rate succeed by committee. Ryane Clowe and Derek Roy would be two that would be worth a closer look, especially since they shot way under their career shooting percentages last season. As with stocks, it's preferable to buy a forward coming off a lull than if he was coming off a hot year.

That said, this chart should pour some cold water on the notion that Clarke MacArthur can really replace David Clarkson in terms of shooting. Given that Clarkson's aggressive approach to firing the puck is an asset of his, I don't see how MacArthur can fit in a similar spot. He may do other things well, but generating shots hasn't been one of them. Likewise, Brenden Morrow was not only one of the least prolific shooters but he was firing them in at a rate of 21.8%. That's not going to last. He's basically a "buyer beware" free agent, along with Mike Ribiero or Tyler Bozak in terms of production. There are others on this list that may be good fits in other roles, but not as someone to replace Clarkson, should that be necessary.

I know that this is only one piece of the proverbial puzzle. I will look at other metrics in the future, such as on-ice Corsi rates (spoiler: Clarkson's going to look real good here too), ice time, and others. Still, David Clarkson really sticks out of this UFA class a high-shooting winger. Only Iginla managed to shoot over three shots per game in this past season like him, but he didn't come close to Clarkson's rate. If you believe the Devils need shooters and/or need more shots on net, then it's imperative to keep Clarkson and also sign one or two guys who've averaged around two shots per game. If Clarkson signs for crazy big money elsewhere, then it creates a problem that the upcoming market cannot readily fulfill on it's own.

I'm personally coming around to the idea that I'd rather have Clarkson stay even if it takes Scott Hartnell money (but not the term) to do it. The Devils would be better off generating more shots as a team and a guy like Clarkson helps immensely with that. Clarkson fired away with recklessness at times and the team was still in the ditch in terms of SF/60 and SOG/GP until that final month of the 2013 season. This makes Clarkson more valuable, not less. Of course, Clarkson and his representation knows this and that's why it's going to be up to them to decide what they do this summer.

Hunter Shinkaruk: 2013 NHL Draft Prospect Profile

John Fischer — Sun, 12 May 2013 17:59:10 -0000

Players can compete in the Canadian major junior leagues at a minimum age of 16 unless a special exemption is granted. As one may expect in a league filled with 17-20 year old players, a 16 year old player must carry significant talent if they are able to contribute to the team at that age. They're getting used to a new level of competition and physicality, and their bodies and skillsets are still growing. Anyone who can make an impact at that age deserves a closer look. Should that player improve, then they will not just get more attention for getting drafted, but understandably deserve it. One such player out of the Western Hockey League fits that mold: left winger Hunter Shinkaruk of the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Who is Hunter Shinkaruk?

Hunter Shinkaruk is a three-season veteran with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL and is 18 years old. He's listed on the WHL website at being 5'10" and 175 pounds. Immediately you can guess what one of the concerns will be for Shinkaruk as a prospect: his size. He's not particularly big. That said, the smallish forward has lasted over 180 games with his team and been quite productive since he was 16.

OK, given his October birhdate, his 16-year old season was mostly spent as a 17-year old. Still, he stepped up to the next level in 2010-11 and performed admirably. He took it to the proverbial next level alongside first-round draft pick Emerson Etem. Shinkaruk tallied 49 goals and 91 points in 66 games to finish twelfth in the league in scoring. Without Etem in 2012-13, Shinkaruk served notice to any critics that he was benefiting solely from Etem by putting up 37 goals and 86 points in 64 games in this past season. He finished fourteenth in the WHL in scoring too, so his drop of five points isn't particularly worrisome relative to the league he was in. It wasn't just his point totals that soared in his three years with Medicine Hat. Shinkaruk became the team's captain for the 2012-13 season, which speaks to how his responsibilities have grown since joining the club as a 16 year old player.

Over at NHL Numbers, Kent Wilson applied NHL Equivalency factors for this year's draft class to see how their draft-year scoring would measure up in the NHL. It's not a value written in stone, but it's a good way to put the various scoring totals from various leagues in perspective. Shinkaruk finished just a hair below Sean Monahan, who Karen profiled last week; a little less than Max Domi; and outside of the top five consensus forwards in the draft. What Wilson found was that while Shinkaruk's scoring was particularly elite, it was high enough to believe that he could be a scoring forward one day. The rule of thumb is 30 and Shinkaruk surpassed it.

Shinkaruk has been involved at the international level up until this past season. He represented well for Canada Pacific in the World U-17 Hockey Challenge in 2011. The team finished third and Shinkaruk finished fourth in the tourney in scoring and just behind Matt Dumba on the team. He was a big part of the Canadian U-18 team at the World U-18 tournament back in 2012. He tied Kerby Rychel for second in scoring with eight points and scored the overtime winning goal (and his third of the game) in the bronze medal game against Finland. Shinkaruk didn't make the Canadian WJC team in late 2012, though. He was a late cut on a roster boosted with otherwise-NHL players due to the lockout. In any other year, he probably would've made it - maybe he will this December?

Nevertheless, Shinkaruk isn't big but his production has been. Clearly, he's got some game to be ranked sixth among North American skaters by Central Scouting Services. Those who have seen him play have plenty of praise for Shinkaruk.

What Experts Have Said about Hunter Shinkaruk

Elite Prospects' profile has this short summation about Shinkaruk as a player.

A speedy, offense-first winger, Shinkaruk has silky smooth hands and sees the ice really well. He is also a hard worker who always gives 100% on the ice and plays with a lot of enthusiasm.

Just about any opinion or analysis about Shinkaruk is going to highlight how good he has been on offense and how good he is at skating. Let's start with prospect guru Corey Pronman, who had Shinkaruk tenth in his top ten prospects at Hockey Prospectus:

Shinkaruk has been a top scorer in the WHL over the past two seasons. Despite being a little on the smaller side, he deserves a top 10 ranking, as he possesses an immense amount of unique offensive talent. He moves effortlessly as a skater, showing the ability to gain power from each stride. That allows him to divert more energy to playmaking. His agility makes him tough to check in open ice. He turns his hips a lot, and his wide skating stance makes it difficult to predict where he will move. That said, his speed only ranks as good, not top end. Shinkaruk has rapid hands, and he can be very dangerous due to his creativity and coordination. Shinkaruk's physical game is his main issue. He is a small player, but he does work hard. He shows the ability to grind for the puck, but he will need to become stronger to keep it at the next level.

Pronman is not one to mince words or follow the herd when it comes to ranking a prospect. So if he thinks a player is a very good skater and has a strong offensive skillset, then there's something there. It's worth pointing out that Pronman pointed out how he can grind for the puck. Shinkaruk is not a big player but having the ability to do what most bigger forwards do just means size is the only issue, not courage or missing that skill. Being able to skate well and have strong hands will serve him well in spite of his size.

Of course, Pronman isn't the only one noting these strengths of Shinkaruk. Here's the summary listed for Shinkaruk in his profile over at Future Considerations:

Shinkaruk is an offensive force whose speed typically stands out among the crowd. He possesses good footwork, nice edge work and balance. He goes into the dirty areas and is not afraid to rub shoulders or make contact. He possesses good hand/eye coordination, a quick shot and can feather a pass on the tape while going full tilt. He’s used on both special teams because of his speed and tenacious puck pursuit. Despite his smallish stature, Shinkaruk has shown some strength with the puck and is good at shielding it with a man on him. He possesses good hockey IQ/hockey sense and wants the puck on his stick. He can create offense in an instant with the smallest amount of space afforded him because of his feet, hands and head.

This should help allay some of the concerns about Shinkaruk's size. He's apparently been able to withstand the rigors of the WHL. That said, you wouldn't want him to be a banger given that he's got a good mind for offense, a good shot, and the ability to make good passes. FC's profile pretty much sums up what one would like to read about an offensive forward.

Red Line Report has put up a page from their March 2013 edition about Shinkaruk. It likely came out a few weeks before the WHL season ended. Here's the link to it that I found through Google; be aware that the page is a .PDF file. The article itself focuses on how Shinkaruk responded well to being cut from Canada's WJC team as well as how he's improved since joining the WHL. In their scouting report blurb, RLR mentions Shinkaruk's strengths at skating, his hands, and his hockey sense. This quote stuck out to me:

"Has worked hard to round out the rest of his game the past two years, and is now decent in the defensive end with a good effort level"

Now, this is interesting. It didn't occur to me that there perhaps was a reason why his defensive game wasn't listed as a strength or a drawback. I just figured it was average and apparently, Shinkaruk worked his way to get there. Perhaps he can get better, which would be beneficial in case the offensive skills displayed in juniors doesn't carry over to the pro game. He's already been working on it based on what RLR writes. However, like most, they do note his lack of size is an issue. I'm not sure whether RLR will change their take in a future profile

Over at The Hockey Writers, Chris Peters has a detailed profile on Shinkaruk. He's compared Shinkaruk to the likes of Jeff Skinner in that he's a very good at changing direction and turning while skating. Helping the comparison is that Shinkaruk can get his shots off quickly. With respect to the defensive side of the game, Peters had this to say:

While some argue he is a defensive liability, I like his awareness away from the puck, the way he reads the play in his own end, and his ability to wreak havoc with anticipation and interception of pass attempts. He’ll still need work on positional awareness, but with his willingness to learn, he is a coach’s dream.

This is very heartening to read and it coincides with Red Line Report's noting that Shinkaruk has worked on that aspect of the game. Positioning is something that can come with not just a willingness to learn but also experience. It can be taught and it just means that the only thing that may hold Shinkaruk back is just his frame. Even there, he can become stronger.

As with most of the other profiles and opinions on Shinkaruk out there, Peters noted that his defense could be better and his size presents a concern for the next level. But unlike most, Peters' profile states that Shinkaruk doesn't carry a lot of risk and that he could be ready for the NHL in one to two years. In that time frame, he can get bigger, get better on defense, and continue to refine his offensive skills.

A Little Video

Here's a video from Shaw TV in Medicine Hat from December 2011 focusing on Shinkaruk's sophomore season. At the time, he scored his thirtieth goal recently. In between the interview bits, there are some highlights displaying his great shot.

Also from Shaw, here's an interview Shinkaruk did with Dave Dawson. It's good to learn more about the player as a person:

Lastly, here's a highlight video mostly comprised of his 2011-12 work and bouncing a whiffle ball on his stick in a, I guess, impressive fashion. I'm sure there will be video of his most recent season soon enough:"

An Opinion of Sorts

Basically, Hunter Shinkaruk is a small offensive winger who can skate rather well and has many of the tools one would desire in an offensive player. His defense has been improved in years, he's grown in his time at Medicine Hat to become a captain, and he's proven his hands, shot, and passing are all praiseworthy traits. While he wasn't as exceptional as some of the prospects considered ahead of him, it's clear to me that he's a prospect worth picking up.

And he should be available. Most of the mock drafts and rankings I've seen have Shinkaruk around the 8-12 range. I don't think that's so much a slam on Shinkaruk as it is other players being favored. The top five forwards - Drouin, MacKinnon, Barkov, Nichushkin, and Lindholm - and Seth Jones are likely going to be the top six in 2013. After that, there's that tier featuring Monahan, Nurse, Ristolainen, and Shinkaruk. Some have included others like Max Domi in that group, which makes me think Shinkaruk would be available by the time New Jersey picks. That's a good reason as any to avoid trading down unless all of those forwards are gone by then.

Medicine Hat's #9 would be a great pick at #9 in this year's draft. As noted many times in the past, the New Jersey Devils really don't have many high-end forward prospects in the system. Shinkaruk would absolutely fill that need at the prospect level and potentially fill one in a few years at the NHL level. I'm not at all concerned about his small frame. I don't think it would put off the Devils. It didn't stop them from taking small or just below average sized forwards like Brian Gionta, Zach Parise, or Mattias Tedenby. Besides, many teams in the league have committed and/or drafted smaller prospects on the basis of having bigger talent. Size does matter but not as much as it once did in my opinion. I would agree that he needs to bulk up, but it's just as important to refine his offensive skills to get ready for the next level and continue to work on his game in his own end. If it takes a year in juniors to do that, then so be it.

Your Take

I'd like to know your take on Hunter Shinkaruk as a prospect based on all that you read here and elsewhere. Please feel free to share us what you know if you saw him play and/or follow the WHL? Does Shinkaruk's small frame concern you? How excited are you about his offensive skill set presuming the Devils do pick him? Should the Devils pick him if he's available? Please leave your answers and thoughts about Shinkaruk as a prospect and the (remote) possibility of the Devils of picking him in the comments. Thank you for reading.

New Jersey Devils Podcast Talking Red: Episode #113

John Fischer — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:47:21 -0000

There's a treat for all of you on this week's episode of Talking Red, a New Jersey Devils podcast. David Sarch got the opportunity to interview Uffe Bodin of Hockey Svierge, one of, if not, the biggest Swedish sites out there for the world of hockey. They discuss some of the top European prospects available for the 2013 NHL Draft, such as Valeri Nichushkin and Elias Lindholm. In addition to that interview, David, Dan Pennucci, and myself discuss a wide variety of topics ranging from how much will David Clarkson make this summer, how much should the Devils pay him if at all, the World Championships, the ongoing NHL playoffs, and much more.

I'd like to thank Uffe Bodin of Hockey Svierge for his time and insight for the interview and David for doing that interview and having me on the show again. The usual multiple ways to listen to this week's episode of Talking Red still apply. You can go to the show's website and get it directly there. You can find it on iTunes or Stitcher and get it there. You can even stay right here on this post and listen to a stream of it. This week's episode is larger than usual; it's 35.39 MB large and 1:17:19 long.

Reviewing the Goals Allowed by Johan Hedberg: February 2013

John Fischer — Sat, 11 May 2013 14:13:47 -0000

February started off so well and it ended so, so poorly for the New Jersey Devils and Johan Hedberg. The Devils started off the month well and ended it mired in what would become a six game winless streak. The Moose began the month with a shutout in February and giving up one goal in the second half of a home-and-home with Pittsburgh. The month ended with him as the de facto starter with Martin Brodeur injured, yet he allowed sixteen more goals in his next four appearances. What happened?

That's precisely the main question by all of these reviews of goals allowed by goaltenders. What happened on the play? How did it get through? Did the goalie have a reasonable chance to stop it? At first glance, one will see this stat line and understandably conclude that Moose really should've done much better in net despite a strong start. Seventeen goals allowed in six appearances isn't good. It's even worse when sixteen of them are in four of those six.

	GP	MIN	W	L	SO/OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
February 2013 - Johan Hedberg	6	356	2	4	0	17	2.86	152	135	.888	1

However, as is often the case, it's not that simple. Yes, Hedberg had some real doozies in terms of some of the goals allowed. So did the guys in front of him in this short group of games. Let's find out.

About the Review

Of course, before we get into each of these, let me restate what I'm doing here. The main thing I'm looking for in this review are "soft goals," those goals against that should have been stopped by the goaltender. Here's how I am defining a soft goal: The goalie must have seen the shot coming; the shot was not deflected or change otherwise in motion; the goalie was in position to actually make the stop; and/or the goaltender made an uncharacteristic mistake that led to the goal. If the goal allowed qualifies, then I deemed the goal as "soft." In fact, the very last bit alone can make the difference in what is and is not a soft goal. Breakaways are done on a case-by-case basis; there I usually look to see whether the goalie has at least made an effort. I do expect the most disagreement with them.

In addition, there are other traits I've recorded I have denoted skater errors by player and scoring chance. I assign a skater error by name under "Errors" if the player did something significantly wrong that led to the goal such as a turnover or not covering their man. It's arguable that all goals allowed have an error or some kind; these are for the egregious mistakes made. As for scoring chances, that's dependent on where the shot was fired. Anything between the two faceoff dots towards the top of the crease would count. Anything outside of that has not. I've erred against counting a chance if it's borderline, for what it's worth. I also denote the general position of where the shot beats the goaltender relative to the goaltender's position.

Lastly, I have provided links to the video I looked at for each goal from NHL.com. These links will auto-play the video, so be forewarned when you click on them.

The 17 Goals Allowed by Johan Hedberg in February 2013: A Chart

Date	GA#	Where Beaten?	GA Description	Soft?	Video	Errors	SC?
2/10	2	Past the glove	Salvador gets caught on Malkin stopping so there's a 2-on-1 with Kunitz and Neal. Pass goes to Kunitz, then across to Neal, and then the one-timer is in the net.	No	Link	Salvador	Yes
2/16	3	On right flank	Boyes comes down left side in 3-on-2 and takes a shot. Hedberg stick saves it, rebound goes to Tavares on right flank.	No	Link	-	Yes
2/16	4	Bounced through legs	Moulson takes a close shot at goal line and puck rebounds up off the blocker. Tavares dashes to it and bats it in from mid-air and bounces through Moose.	No	Link	Tallinder	Yes
2/16	5	Off left arm	Tavares moves puck along boards, Boyes gets it, finds Moulson all alone at crease, Moulson scores	No	Link	Volchenkov Henrique	Yes
2/16	6	Over left shoulder	Tavares gets puck in left circle and snipes a top-corner shot past Hedberg.	No	Link	-	Yes
2/16	7	Behind the Moose	Stretch pass springs Grabner past Tallinder. Hedberg knocks puck away with a diving poke; puck bounces off Zidlicky's skate and trickles in.	No	Link	Tallinder	No
2/23	8	Past the right pad	Chimera curls and hits Ribiero in the slot. Ribiero passes it to an open Ovechkin for a rocket that beats Hedberg's right pad.	No	Link	Fayne	No
2/23	9	Past the blocker	Hendricks passes it to Ovechkin through the neutral zone for a one-on-one with Volchenkov. Ovechkin fired a wrister through A-Train's legs and past Hedberg.	No	Link	-	No
2/23	10	A gift from Moose	Hedberg lost the puck to Fehr behind the net. Fehr wraps it around for a score.	Yes	Link	-	Yes
2/23	11	High, over the right shoulder	Ribiero gets a pass past Volchenkov to Ovechkin in the right circle. Ovechkin hammers a one-timer past Hedberg.	No	Link	Volchenkov	Yes
2/23	12	Through the legs	Ovechkin gets it in the right circle, hits Brouwer with a shot-pass, and Brouwer re-directs it in.	No	Link	-	No
2/24	13	Past the right pad	Wheeler hits a trailing Bogosian. Bogosian heads to the slot and beats Hedberg to his left.	Yes	Link	Josefson	Yes
2/24	14	Off the glove	Clitsome is open and gets the puck from Postma. He goes to the top of left circle, shoots, and Hedberg only got some of the shot with his glove.	Yes	Link	Josefson	No
2/24	15	Low, past the glove side of a fallen Moose	Larsson shot/pass is blocked by Kane and so he and Burmistrov push up. Kane splits the D, goes around a super-aggressive dive by Hedberg, and lays it in.	Yes	Link	-	Yes
2/24	16	High, over the glove	Zidlicky loses it to Wheeler, who touches it off for Little, who touches it off for Ladd. Ladd one-times it high past Hedberg.	No	Link	Zidlicky	Yes
2/28	17	Through the legs	Bogosian tries to hit Ladd with a pass and does so after two bounces for a breakaway. Ladd goes in close and gets it under the left pad.	No	Link	Zidlicky Clarkson	Yes
2/28	18	Low, past the arms of Moose	Byfuglien goes coast-to-coast and Hedberg stacks the pads at nothing. Byfuglien wraps it around and Ladd taps it in past a fallen Hedberg.	Yes	Link	Greene	Yes

Location of Goals Allowed

Again, all locations are relative to Hedberg himself, not necessarily where the puck goes into the net. It's pretty simplistic, but it'll do for general information. I had to guess on a few of them since it wasn't so much the puck beating Hedberg but rather going past him entirely.

Location	Count	% Total
Low Left	2	11.76%
Low Middle	4	23.53%
Low Right	2	11.76%
Medium Left	2	11.76%
Medium Middle	0	0.00%
Middle Right	3	17.65%
High Left	1	5.88%
High Middle	0	0.00%
High Right	1	5.88%

Commentary

Things just went south for Hedberg's stats with his second game against the Islanders. After shutting them out in his first game against them, he got wrecked. For what it's worth, none of the goals were really his fault. GA #3 was a 3-on-2 rush where he could do nothing about Tavares being on the flank for a rebound; the three power play goals featured some poor work by the guys in front of him; and GA #5 was a great example of a bad bounce - as it went off Marek Zidlicky's skate and into the net. The bad goals didn't start coming until he had to be the last-minute replacement for Martin Brodeur against Winnipeg on February 24. He got lit up in D.C. in the prior game with one terrible error. But Moose's flaws started to appear more in his two games against the Jets with three soft goals by my count on the 24th and then another one on the 28th in Winnipeg. Four of his five soft goals of the month came in those two games.

Let's start there. GA #13 saw Josefson not pick up a trailing player, but Zach Bogosian took time to settle the puck a and pick his spot. Hedberg saw the shot coming and it just beat him. It wasn't a good start. The bad times kept rolling on GA #14, when he got a piece of but did not fully stop Grant Clitsome's shot. On GA #15, Evander Kane broke through on a breakaway. Hedberg decided to go super-aggressive and dive way out of his net, hoping to knock the puck off Kane's stick or at least surprise him. Neither happened and so Kane easily got around him and put it into an empty net. At least GA #16 wasn't a sore one to allow. That said, GA #18 saw another bizarre move by Hedberg in net. Dustin Byfuglien went coast-to-coast and Moose strangely decided to drop down for a double-pad stack. Byfuglien just went around him and wrapped the play around to Andrew Ladd, who had all net to shoot at since Hedberg took himself out of a position to make a stop. Those two games featured six goals allowed and four were just plain bad ones.

Incidentally, Hedberg only had one major malfunction in the two games where he got lit up for five goals apiece. GA #10 featured Hedberg holding onto the puck outside of his net, holding it some more, and then losing it to Eric Fehr, who wrapped it around into an empty net for a shorty. It wasn't a case of Hedberg making the wrong play with the puck outside of his net, it was a case of him not making a play at all. It was a gift for Washington, who went on to steamroll the Devils regardless. It was further justification for any fan who gets nervous anytime he goes out of his crease to play the puck. Still, the worst of Hedberg came in those two games. That in of itself is not good; it's even worse when it's in relief of a superior goaltender who got injured.

Getting back to the goals allowed over all, I essentially broke down some of these goals in an earlier post. Seven of the 17 were power play goals against and all but one weren't soft. Five of them were a part of my look at the Devils' penalty killing slump in February. Check out that post for more detail on what happened on GAs #2, 4, 5, 11, and 12. As for the remaining two goals allowed on the power play, one was soft and one was not. GA #6, which was a sick snipe by John Tavares while defending a two-man disadvantage. It wasn't a bad goal to allow, just a bad situation. GA # 14, however, was a soft one. While Josefson was caught on the wrong side, which gave Clitsome the room he took for his shot, Hedberg needed to get all of that puck instead of just part of it. At least most of the power play goals that sent his PK Sv% down into an abyss weren't really bad ones to give up. The goals indict other players.

There were two goals that I wanted point out despite not being soft since there could be arguments against. The first was GA #9. It was definitely not a shot from a dangerous area but I didn't count it as soft. Alexander Ovechkin basically used Anton Volchenkov on that play. A-Train had to maintain some kind of gap to keep pace with him without giving him a path to blow by him. I didn't think he did anything wrong. Ovechkin understood this and fired a hard shot through Volchenkov's legs. While it was from distance, I doubt Hedberg could see it's path or any kind of clue from the shooter since the shot came through the defender. Therefore, I didn't count it. The second was GA #17, which you know as the goal the Devils gave up eight seconds into the game. This was really the fault of Marek Zidlicky getting out of position and David Clarkson not covering up the wing. The pass from Bogosian to Ladd sprun him and while Hedberg didn't come up with the breakaway save, he at least made a good effort. The puck had to bounce it's way in. Therefore, I wouldn't say Hedberg really gave up a soft one; if anything, he got hung out to dry there. I can understand if you disagree on either, though.

For what it's worth, twelve of the seventeen goals reviewed came from shots that would count as scoring chances. The five that weren't were GAs #7 (off Zidlicky's skate), 8 (Ovechkin on an angle), 9 (Ovechkin through Volchenkov from distance), 11 (deflection), and 14 (Clitsome from distance). Only six goals allowed didn't have at least one significant error made by a skater; two of those six were soft ones. From what I saw, we saw some big mistakes costing the Devils dearly. That's not to fully absolve Hedberg, but it's indicative of how making the wrong decision or being in the wrong position can lead to your lamp being lit. It wasn't all on Hedberg, but the soft goals point to his sharing of the responsibility - especially for the Winnipeg games.

Again, February started off great for the Devils and Hedberg. Hedberg only gave up GA #2 in his first two games and that goal allowed wasn't a bad one at all. But the team slipped a bit and despite some recoveries, it didn't get much better. As horrendous as GA #10 was, it was the exception to what was going on with Hedberg. But things fell apart in those two games against Winnipeg. I'm somewhat looking forward to reviewing the 27 (!) Hedberg allowed in March just to see if the run of softness continued or not.

Your Take

I don't think anybody will disagree that February eventually turned rotten for Moose in the net. However, I want to know your opinion about how it all went wrong for Hedberg and perhaps the team as a whole. Which one of the five soft goals did you think was the worst by Hedberg? I thought it was GA #10 given that it was an easily avoidable situation; it even raised my ire at Moose looking at it now in May. Were you surprised to find that most of those five came in the two games against Winnipeg and not, say, among the ten goals allowed to the Islanders and Capitals? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about Hedberg's February in the comments. Thank you for reading.

An Overview of the Eleven Impending Restricted Free Agents from the New Jersey Devils

John Fischer — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:58:40 -0000

There are two types of free agents in the NHL. The first are unrestricted free agents (UFA), who can speak to whomever and for however they want once they are able to do so. The second are restricted free agents (RFAs); usually younger players whose rights can be easily kept with a qualifying offer before negotiating a full deal. Good management isn't just trying not to overpay too much on the open market for UFAs but it's also in keeping the RFAs on reasonable deals.

On the surface, it looks like the New Jersey Devils have a large spending window for next season. Even with the salary cap coming down to $64.3 million, the Devils have approximately $24.9 million of cap space heading into this summer's free agency period. As of this writing and according to CapGeek, there are only two teams have more space on the books: the Islanders and Jets. Unlike those teams, the Devils have 14 regular players under contract and depending on who they can call up, it can be higher. They already have two goalies and they have six defensemen, which can become as much as eight should the team call up Alexander Urbom and Eric Gelinas. The real roster need is up front and only there. The Devils only have six forwards on the books for next season: Ilya Kovalchuk, Travis Zajac, the CBGB line, and Krystofer Barch. With a lot of space in the lineup and under the cap, it looks like that New Jersey is in a prime situation to make a big splash this summer.

Looks can be deceiving. For one, it's not known what budgetary limits the Devils will be operating under for next season. We're not going to know. They spent just under $60 million last season so it's possible they can spend around there again. However, those RFAs are another restriction to how much the Devils can really afford on UFAs. They need to be qualified at a minimum and in most cases, they'll command more than the amount needed to qualify a player.

The Devils have 11 players between New Jersey and Albany that are pending RFAs this summer. It's a motley crew ranging from established regulars like Adam Henrique to minor leaguers like Jean-Sebastian Berube. The good news is that the qualifying offer itself isn't all that expensive. The amount of the qualifying offer is based on the player's base salary, signing bonuses or other bonuses don't count. Anything under $660,000 requires an offer worth 110% of their base salary, anything between $660,000 and $1 million commands an offer worth 105% of their salary, and anything over is requires an offer worth 100% of their previous salary. Here's a list based on CapGeek's qualifying offer calculator as far as how much it will be worth:

RFA	9/15 Age	2013 Cap	Base Salary	Min. QO
D'Agostini	26	$1,650,000	$1,800,000	$1,800,000
Josefson	22	$900,000	$810,000	$850,500
Loktionov	23	$816,666	$575,000	$632,500
Henrique	23	$854,166	$525,000	$577,500
Kinkaid	24	$900,000	$575,000	$632,500
Tedenby	23	$875,000	$787,500	$826,875
Sislo	25	$700,000	$525,000	$575,500
Pesonen	25	$700,000	$525,000	$577,500
Hoeffel	24	$875,000	$600,000	$660,000
Kelly	24	$666,666	$525,000	$577,500
Berube	22	$531,667	$525,000	$577,500
Sum		$9,469,165		$8,287,875

If the Devils want to keep everyone at their qualifying offer, it'll cost them a sum total less than their combined cap hit. The cap hit is even smaller than the sum total since most of these players were not on the Devils last season. Those players in Albany - or sometimes in the case of Jean-Sebastien Berube case, Trenton - didn't count. Only Adam Henrique was with New Jersey for the whole season, so only his cap hit stayed with the whole 2013 season. Real money does get paid out, but all but Matt D`Agostini were on two-way contracts so those in the minors got a lot less than their NHL contracts. Nevertheless, it's still a chunk of the budget committed just to keep the player's rights and that means some of that money needs to be kept in consideration when re-signing impending UFAs or planning to sign new ones.

That chunk will be much larger than the chart indicates. The sum total of salaries for 2013-14 will be much more than the total of the qualifying offers. At a minimum, Henrique, D'Agostini, Andrei Loktionov, and Jacob Josefon are definitely NHL players. They will likely be paid as such. There's no way Henrique is going to make anything less than seven figures per year. Loktionov and Josefson may also get to that level. The Devils may not want to qualify D'Agostini at $1.8 million but they could not qualify him and then pick him up as a UFA for a little less. Those raises will raise the group and the cap will increase should the other players get called up. As a result, those are the more important RFAs for the Devils to keep and those will command more attention.

The other seven aren't to just be ignored. For many of them, their next contract will dictate where they fit in the team's plans. Keith Kinkaid is #3 on the goalie depth chart and will get a great chance at the NHL in the following season; he could get a decent salary. Mattias Tedenby has had chance after chance to break into the lineup and has faltered. How much longer will he last in the organization? Does he even stick around or does he go back to Europe? The Devils picked up Harri Pesonen last summer based on his play in the SM-Liiga. They gave him a decent look as an energy player in four games in 2013. Is that enough to convince him to stay and if so, how much will it take? Mike Sislo, Mike Hoeffel, Dan Kelly, and Jean-Sebastian Berube haven't received a taste of the NHL yet; they all have largely been minor league players. If the Devils think any of them may have a future, then what they get will show that out. Of course, they could just be kept in the minors on smaller salaries.

Personally, among the seven, I feel only Kinkaid and maybe Pesonen really has something to offer to the next level. Kinkaid will get his opportunity soon enough and Pesonen could hack it as fourth liner based on his short time with the big team. Of course, the Devils already have a fourth liner so if he's not happy with being the thirteenth or fourteenth forward, then I wouldn't begrudge him if he goes back to Europe. I don't think much of Sislo, Hoeffel, Kelly, or Berube. I really don't think Tedenby will be the offensive winger he once flashed as having potential. That said, I wouldn't complain about everyone getting qualifying offers to at least maintain rights - all wouldn't be paid that much and being in Albany won't count against New Jersey's cap.

Let's go back to the big four, the more important group within this section. They will undoubtedly get paid much more and will count. This is where the challenge lies. Keeping Adam Henrique is a no-brainer but keeping him on a good deal will be tricky. He's coming off a poor sophomore season after a great rookie season. It's not quite clear whether which he truly lies as a player; but I find it hard to believe he'll get less than $2 million per year given his top-six role on the team. On top of that, the Devils may prefer a shorter term so if Henrique doesn't really bounce back, he's not stuck on the cap or get dealt for pennies off the dollar. If he does, he can get a more lucrative contract without waiting too long.

Andrei Loktionov represents an interesting case. In a way, getting dealt to the Devils could be the best thing that ever happened to him. Whereas he wasn't really respected in Los Angeles, he got into the lineup in New Jersey and showed off his skills. He's still has plenty to learn without the puck and he could stand to shoot more often. I'm still not sold on whether he's a top-six guy right now. Nevertheless, he's proven he belongs in this league and can do good things with some guy named Ilya Kovalchuk. I just hope it's enough for him to stay and for a decent amount of salary. Ideally, I'd want him to get a bit less than Henrique but also for two years. My concern is that some team in the KHL may throw much more at him, hoping he's unsettled enough to be interested in being a bigger fish in a smaller pond. If he remained a King, then it would be a good possibility. But he didn't. It's still an interesting dynamic.

Jacob Josefson had bad luck with injuries in 2011-12 and in 2013, well, he had some of that again. But he really just had more bad luck of the luck variety. He was next to last on the Devils in PDO; in 5-on-5 play, the Devils shot at 5% and the team's save percentage was 85.2%. It's easy to see how he "lost confidence" last season. Things just went awry when he was on the ice. Sometimes it was on him and other times it wasn't. But unlike some other former first round draft pick, Josefson was brought back later in the season. When he did play, he did more than just play a few minutes. He got penalty killing time and he usually started in the defensive zone at evens. It's easy to see that he belongs. The question is: how much?

Then there's Matt D'Agostini. He showed bursts of speed but not a whole lot much more as a winger. He didn't always stay in the line up. One could argue that he didn't really get settled but at 26 years old, I don't think he's going to develop all that much more. Among the big four, I think he's the least essential to keep. I don't see the Devils qualifying him at $1.8 million since that would require paying him at least that much. He certainly didn't play like he was worth that much I would prefer that he's not qualified and the Devils roll the dice with getting him cheaper as a UFA, assuming they want to keep him. If someone else swipes him as a UFA, then I don't think it's all that big of a loss. Regardless, he may want to go along with that. He's right at the end of his RFA period; his next contract will be as a UFA. It's not impossible to think he may want to sign for less, get into a good situation, try to have a good season, and improve his earning power for next summer.

I plan on finding some comparables for Henrique, Loktionov, and Josefson to get an idea how much would be reasonable compared to his peers in the future. Right now, I can see those three combine for close to $5 million to the cap. I wouldn't complain about, say, $2 million for Henrique and $1.5 million each for Loktionov and Josefson. It could even be much more than that depending on how much the Devils value those players. Given that keeping these three brings the Devils up to nine forwards, it could be quite a bit. All the same, they're going to cost more than they did last season.

The main point of all of this is that while the Devils will definitely have a lot of cap space to use; but it's not going to be just under $25 million for the UFAs. It may actually be closer to $18-20 million. It's still a large amount of cap space, but it may not last given some of the players the Devils need to re-sign or potentially replace. I definitely agree that how the Devils will handle Patrik Elias, David Clarkson, and Dainius Zubrus this summer will go a long way to determining what this team can do next season. Their importance is in that order. And I can understand the desire from Devils fans for looking to the open market for another offensive forward. However, how the Devils handle their RFAs will drive how much money they can really spend on UFAs. It's not going to be an insignificant amount of money. Even if they let a few go, then those are roster spots that has to be filled by someone - which could mean more UFAs to spend on. And for those minor leaguers, it's an important time in their careers as this can determine if they have a future at the next level. From the ownership perspective, the RFA group largely represents money that will be spent.

Again, I'm going to dive a bit deeper into a few of them in future weeks. In the meantime, let me know your opinions about the eleven RFA players the Devils have in the organization. How much do you think Henrique, Loktionov, and Josefson will get? Do you think they'll get short deals too? Should the Devils keep D'Agostini? What of the others? What do you think a potential heir apparent to the goaltending tandem like Kinkaid will get? What about Tedenby, who's played his way back to Albany for two seasons straight? Does it even matter what the Devils do with the others? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the impending RFA group of 2013 in the comments. Thank you for reading.

Elias Lindholm: 2013 NHL Draft Prospect Profile

John Fischer — Mon, 06 May 2013 00:58:46 -0000

Sweden has produced several prospects that were taken in the NHL Entry Draft. Last season, ten picks led by Hampus Lindholm and Filip Forsberg came from the SEL and two others came from Swedish professional clubs and their junior teams. The 2011 draft was filled with top Swedish-based talent with four in the top twenty - Adam Larsson, Mika Zibanejad, Jonas Brodin, and Oscar Klefbom - and another 16 prospects from organizations based in Sweden's top league and four from second division clubs. 2010 wasn't as bountiful in terms of top talent, but NHL teams selected four from the SEL and 14 from junior teams associated with SEL clubs. Basically, any European-based scout in the NHL keeps their eye on Sweden every year whether it's for top talent, mid-draft hopefuls, and late round shots in the dark. I wouldn't expect 2013 to be any different. Similar to the last two drafts, this year's group of prospects coming out of Sweden will be led by an expected top-ten pick: Brynäs IF forward Elias Lindholm.

Who is Elias Lindholm?

Elias Lindholm is an 18-year old forward from Boden, Sweden and has developed entirely in the Brynäs system. In fact, here's a gigantic list of his stats from Elite Prospects showing his extensive time with the various youth teams within his current club and his international work with Sweden's youth teams:

His profile at Elite Prospects notes that he's not particularly large at 6'0" and 192 pounds; but that's not too small either. He's got plenty of accolades as Brynäs won the SEL championship in 2011-12, silver medals with Sweden from the 2012 World U-18 Championship and the 2013 World Junior Championship, and nominated for rookie of the year in the Elitserien. He's got hockey in his bloodlines as his dad Mikael played quite a lot in Sweden, his brother Oliver has been in the same system, and his cousin is current teammate and Detroit prospect Calle Järnkrock.

Lindholm's 2012-13 season was his first full season with the senior team. While Brynäs went from SEL champions to barely making the playoffs and getting swept by eventual champions Skellefteå, Lindholm had a big season. Based on his stats at the SEL website, his 30 points led all junior-aged players. To put that in a larger prospective, look at this explanation by Jonathan Willis as to why Aleksander Barkov is getting so much hype. Given that Lindholm also turned 18 last season - his birthday is December 2, 1994 - I decided to run the same equivalencies. Gabe Desjardens has 0.78 for the Elitserien so provided I didn't mess anything up, Lindholm's NHL equivalency from this past season is approximately 40 points (39.975 to be exact). That's right there with Barkov and the likes of Henrik Sedin and Markus Naslund. That's some fantastic company to be around.

A closer look at the basic stats kept by the SEL reveals that Lindholm wasn't just a young forward being productive in his first year the club. No, he was an important player. Lindholm averaged 16:17 per game, the fourth most per game among junior players and the second most among junior forwards. On his own team, he was sixth among forwards which suggests he was in their top six. Within Brynäs, Lindholm was third on the team in points, he led the team in power play goals with eight, he only took one minor penalty all season (!), managed to average a hit per game, and he was eighth on the team with 77 shots on net. That must mean that Lindholm was a significant part of Brynäs' power play, Lindholm himself got hot (I'm assuming shooting over 14% is hot), and he just played quite a bit on their team. While Brynäs got steamrolled in the playoffs, Lindholm saw his ice time average jump up to 18:36. I'm sure he wished he did more, but that suggests his responsibilities improved over the season. Playing in a professional league at age 17-18 is one thing, but to be an important part of a team speaks volumes of where he is as a talent.

Incidentally, Lindholm didn't take a lot of faceoffs with Brynäs. He wasn't even close to the top four faceoff takers; so I presume was used more as a wing with his club. However, he did line up at center at the international level with Sweden. I'm not really concerned on whether he ends up as a center or a wing. Where he ends up may dictate that regardless.

Central Scouting Services did rank Lindholm quite highly among European skaters. He is only third to Barkov and Valeri Nichushkin, both projected for the top five in this draft. It's still a high ranking. Essentially, Lindholm has been a stand out player at every level in this past season, and early indications point to being a sure-fire top ten draft pick.

What Experts Have Said About Elias Lindholm

Since draft coverage really hasn't begun in earnest just yet, most opinions and viewpoints of the Swedish forward are based on what they saw during the season. All the same, there's a lot of praise for Lindholm. After the 2013 WJCs ended, Ryan Kennedy explained that Lindholm's draft stock rose from the short tourney at The Hockey News. Here's the important bit, including a quote from Lindholm himself.

The Swedes went young at the world juniors (necessity played a part) and earned a surprising silver medal. With the tourney coming home to Malmo next year, don’t be shocked if Lindholm helps lead the Tre Kronor one spot higher on the podium. A two-way threat who showcased his savvy play at both ends of the rink in Ufa, Lindholm has been excellent playing against men back home this season, notching six goals and 21 points in 32 games, best among junior-aged players.

"You must be strong on the puck in the elite league," he said. "All the 'D,' all the players are strong so you need to protect the puck a lot and that has helped me a lot."

Sunaya Sapurji had a very good article on Lindholm back in January for Yahoo!, where she noted that Lindholm was getting compared to Peter Forsberg of all players. As Sapurji said, that's a rather unfair comparison to make. At the same time, your average youth player doesn't get compared to national heroes. Anyway, Sapurji's article is worth reading if only to read how Sweden's U-20 coach Roger Ronnberg praised both his "smartness" and "grit" for the game. The article also notes how Lindholm has been playing on a line with his cousin, who is a center. That's worth noting for the future.

Over at The Scouting Report, their March top 60 rankings had Lindholm fifth overall. The ranking came in just as Lindholm's season ended so their statement of being "a very effective player in all three zones" took his whole season into account more than just the WJCs. Those who put together the blurb on Lindholm noted that he's a good playmaker but his shot could use some work. I suspect that when the final rankings come out, not much will change about their description of Lindholm but he may go down a spot or two due to other prospects possibly rising up.

Prospect site Future Considerations has a summary of Lindholm's traits in their free profile. I'm not sure who the author is, but the profile does give insight into some aspects that may have been overlooked in quick profiles about the player. Lindholm's "agile" but "does not possess elite speed." While he's not big, he apparently can protect the puck well and he's displayed his intelligence in making plays at both ends. The profile notes that his shot isn't particularly heavy but he "shoots 'smart.'"

Lastly, here's an rather eyebrow raising quote from NHL Director of European Scouting, Goran Stubb in this NHL.com article:

"Lindholm played for a struggling team [in Brynas] and didn't play as well as expected," Stubb said. "It was tough for a young player to carry the struggling ex-champions, but he's still a guy with a lot of high-end talent. He's got all the tools needed to become really good."

Stubb saw a lot more of Lindholm than I have, but if 30 points in 48 games is struggling along with significant ice time per game, then I'd love to know what the expectations were. It looks to me like Lindholm did very well regardless of Brynäs' scraping into the playoffs before they got removed by the eventual champs.

A Little Video

The most readily available video of Lindholm as of this writing is this highlight video of his performance at the 2013 World Junior Championships. He's #19 for the yellow and blue. I really enjoy how user bigwhite06 put this together (I assume it's him/her) because it's not just his four points. It includes good passes and shots he made that didn't necessarily turn into scores, a few hits, some forechecking, and even some actual defense.

You never want to put too much stock into a short tournament like the World Junior Championships, but it's hard to not be at least a little impressed with Lindholm after watching this really good highlight video. It appears he has the ability to do a bit of everything pretty well.

Here's a highlight video of Brynäs playing Timrå in an outdoor game. Lindholm created the second goal, displaying his wraparound potential (Lindholm-around?)

One more game highlight clip. The following is from Brynäs' 4-3 comeback shootout win against Växjö uploaded by the same user, BrynasKanalen. Lindholm set up the first goal from behind the goal line on a power play. He scored the second goal for his club with a one-timer in the slot.

An Opinion of Sorts

It's no secret that the Devils are thin at forward in their system of prospects. They don't have several forwards with a bright future at the next level. Stefan Matteau will likely be a NHL player, but beyond him, hoping Reid Boucher has more than a shot, and hoping Blake Pietila can be a bottom-six guy at the next level there's not much there. Therefore, a prospect like Elias Lindholm would be absolutely wonderful for the Devils. He's not just a high-end prospect, but he would fill an organizational need at forward. I don't think it matter if he was really a winger as he was for Brynäs or a center like was for Sweden. The Devils just need offensive forwards in their pipeline.

From what I've read and gathered from his stats is that it's not a question of if he'll be an NHL player, but when. Most available opinions on Lindholm praise his intelligence and his ability to play well at both ends of the rink. He's definitely not short on talent as a forward. After all, he's played significant minutes in a professional European league against men and not only led in scoring among players his age but was one of his team's top scorers. His scoring numbers from 2012-13 could be the equivalent of 40 points in the NHL, which puts him in some great company like Barkov. There's really not a lot of criticism out there other than that he's not Peter Forsberg, which is absolutely fine with me. Basically, who wouldn't want an offensive player who has a great mind, doesn't seem to have any big issues with skating or physical play (good to know given his average size), and already understands the importance of defense? It seems to me that he would be a good fit in addition to addressing a need in the system.

According to the official Brynäs website, Lindholm is under contract through the 2013-14 season. I'm not familiar with transfer agreements off the top of my head, but it wouldn't the worst thing in the world to let Lindholm play out his current contract. I think that would be just fine. It would at least give him a chance to show he can grow as a player possibly without Calle Järnkrok or at least get more shots on net before throwing him into the NHL. That's what I want to see, at least. Of course, he could do both by coming to North America early and play in the AHL or even in the NHL right away should his eventual NHL team goes that route.

However, all of what I read makes me feel that the Devils won't get him. How can prospect this good fall all the way to #9? How would Carolina, Calgary, Edmonton (yeah, they need defensemen but their management has proven to be quite stupid), and Buffalo all pass up on Lindholm? I would think the top Swede in the draft would help out any of them. Is there something I'm missing? Is there's something negative about Lindholm's game that's going to be brought up rather soon? I don't know, so I think he's only going to fall to #9 if those teams feel other prospects are better. For all I know, I'm over-thinking this and that might be the case. So if he's still somehow available, then I half-expect the Devils to run to the podium to take him. Again, I may feel a bit differently in late June as more opinions and observations come out about Lindholm and others. I would likely still think Lindholm would be a fantastic selection if he's available that late in the first round.

Your Take

I'd like to know your take on Elias Lindholm as a prospect given all that you read. Perhaps you know more. Did you see him play? Do you know more about what his strengths and weaknesses may be? If so, please feel free to share it with the rest of us so we all can learn more. Otherwise, please leave your thoughts about Lindholm as a prospect and the (remote) possibility of the Devils of picking him in the comments. Thank you for reading.

New Jersey Devils Podcast Talking Red: Episode #112

John Fischer — Mon, 06 May 2013 00:34:42 -0000

While the 2013 regular season is over, the New Jersey Devils podcast Talking Red continues. David Sarch, Dan Pennucci, and myself got together yesterday to recap the season that was from the Devils. Call it a post-mortem for lack of a better word. We got all of our opinions out and then some about the defense, the offense, special teams, and everything in between. We also touch on the Devils who are participating in the IIHF World Championship, which includes Ilya Kovalchuk (Russia), Andrei Loktionov (Russia), Henrik Tallinder (Sweden), Raman Hrabarenka (Belarus - we thought Artur Gavrus was there but so far, not yet), Stephen Gionta, and Ryan Carter. Yes, the USA team took Carter and Gionta. Sigh. Lastly, per request, we gave our playoff predictions which have been damaged a little bit this weekend.

Thanks to David for having me on the show regardless of my playoff predictions. The usual multiple ways to listen to this week's episode of Talking Red still apply. You can go to the show's website and get it directly there. You can find it on iTunes or Stitcher and get it there. You can even stay right here on this post and listen to a stream of it. This week's episode is larger than usual; it's 30.89 MB large and 1:07:29 long.

Reviewing the Goals Allowed by Johan Hedberg: January & April 2013

John Fischer — Sun, 05 May 2013 03:03:56 -0000

Moose was certainly loose in the 2013 regular season. After a great first three games, he got lit up and the goals allowed by Johan Hedberg just piled up. A pinched nerve in Martin Brodeur's back led to Hedberg playing quite a bit in February and March and it didn't go so well. In total, he appeared in 19 games for the New Jersey Devils and gave up 51 goals with a total save percentage of 88.3%. His save percentage splits at NHL.com aren't kind at all. Hedberg was quite vulnerable on the power play with his 81% save percentage, he had a few shorties go past him, and even strength was well below league average at 90.1%. The numbers clearly point to what I believe most Devils fans would agree with: Hedberg had a bad season.

Of course, such a performance doesn't mean we can leave it at that. If anything, the 51 goals Hedberg allowed command brings up further questions. What really went wrong with Moose this season? Where was he beaten most often within his stance? How many of those 51 goals were goals Hedberg really should have stopped were he a league-average goalie? How often did those goals against come from scoring chances, those shots in the danger zone that is the area from the crease to the tops of the circles within the dots? Thanks to NHL.com storing video of all goals both scored for and against a team, we can take a look at each goal, record findings, and begin to answer these questions and more. It's something I've been doing every offseason and now that the Devils are out of the playoffs, now's a good time as any to begin. I don't think it's controversial to suggest the Devils need an improvement in net. A loser look at what the current situation should determine the importance of that need.

	GP	MIN	W	L	SO/OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
January 2013 - Johan Hedberg	1	65	0	0	1	1	0.92	28	27	.964	0
April 2013 - Johan Hedberg	2	1108	1	1	0	6	3.00	39	33	.846	0

In past goals allowed review series, I've went month by month. Since the majority of Hedberg's 2013 season took place in February and March. He played in only one game in January and gave up exactly one goal. He played in only two games in April and gave up six goals in both. It doesn't make sense to make those separate posts, so I'm combining them for today. As it turns out, the seven goals in total provide a good introduction as far as how I'll do these reviews. The smaller quantity makes it a good idea to try out a slightly different format, too. Don't worry, February (six games, 17 goals allowed) and March (ten games, 27 goals allowed) will get their own posts.

About the Review

The main thing I'm looking for in this review are "soft goals," those goals against that should have been stopped by the goaltender. Here's how I am defining a soft goal: The goalie must have seen the shot coming; the shot was not deflected or change otherwise in motion; the goalie was in position to actually make the stop; and/or the goaltender made an uncharacteristic mistake that led to the goal. If the goal allowed qualifies, then I deemed the goal as "soft." In fact, the very last bit alone can make the difference in what is and is not a soft goal. Breakaways are done on a case-by-case basis; there I usually look to see whether the goalie has at least made an effort. I do expect the most disagreement with them.

In addition, there are other traits I've recorded I have denoted skater errors by player and scoring chance. I assign a skater error by name under "Errors" if the player did something significantly wrong that led to the goal such as a turnover or not covering their man. It's arguable that all goals allowed have an error or some kind; these are for the egregious mistakes made. As for scoring chances, that's dependent on where the shot was fired. Anything between the two faceoff dots towards the top of the crease would count. Anything outside of that has not. I've erred against counting a chance if it's borderline, for what it's worth. I also denote the general position of where the shot beats the goaltender relative to the goaltender's position.

Lastly, I have provided links to the video I looked at for each goal from NHL.com. These links will auto-play the video, so be forewarned when you click on them.

The 7 Goals Allowed by Johan Hedberg in January & April 2013: A Chart

Date	GA#	Where Beaten?	GA Description	Soft?	Video	Errors	SC?
1/29	1	Low, through legs	3-on-2 rush, Krejci found Horton wide open on left. Horton skates to circle and puts one in low.	Yes	Link	-	Yes
4/25	46	Low, through legs	Sutter passes to Morrow in front, bounces shortly out, Cooke jams it in through Hedberg's legs, slides over line.	No	Link	-	Yes
4/25	47	High, past left shoulder	Letang springs Jokinen into zone. Jokinen torches Larsson, rockets a shot high off the post and in past a frozen Moose.	Yes	Link	Larsson	Yes
4/27	48	High, past right shoulder	Carter turnover leads to Rangers dump in to Callahan behind the net. Callahan puts past to Stepan past Gionta for a one-timer in slot.	No	Link	Carter Gionta	Yes
4/27	49	Low, through legs of diving Moose	Zidlicky coughs it up to Stepan in neutral zone. Stepan goes wide and hits cutting Callahan to middle. It's a one-on-one, and Callahan beat a diving Moose.	No	Link	Zidlicky	Yes
4/27	50	Low, through legs	Larsson gives away puck along boards to Richards. Richards finds Nash in high slot. Nash rips one low through Josefson and under Hedberg's right pad.	No	Link	Larsson Josefson	Yes
4/27	51	Past the left pad	Zuccarello passes to Richards in corner, Richards gives it back across the slot, Zuccarello passes back to Nash in slot for one-timer to beat Moose on left flank.	No	Link	Larsson Tallinder Kovalchuk	Yes

Locations of Goals Allowed

Again, all locations are relative to Hedberg himself, not necessarily where the puck goes into the net. It's pretty simplistic, but it'll do for general information. In this short group, the five-hole was featured:

Location	Count	% Total
Low Left	1	14.29%
Low Middle	4	57.14%
Low Right	0	0.00%
Medium Left	0	0.00%
Medium Middle	0	0.00%
Middle Right	0	0.00%
High Left	1	14.29%
High Middle	0	0.00%
High Right	1	14.29%

Commentary

This selection of goals allowed included two soft goals: Hedberg's first goal allowed of the season and his last one at the Rock in this season. GA #1 was a 3-on-2 rush partially assisted by a change at the bench. Still, Nathan Horton was the wide man and got his shot through just as Henrik Tallinder was reaching over. Tallinder never got a piece of the puck as it slid along the ice. The shot went through Hedberg low and while he made a lot of important saves that night, it wasn't a good goal to allow. GA #47, Pittsburgh's second against Hedberg that night, was created by Kris Letang hitting Jussi Jokinen with an inch-perfect pass through the neutral zone. Jokinen was able to break from Adam Larsson and just beat Hedberg with a shot. The Moose was frozen on the play and didn't even make an attempt to stop it. That wasn't a good goal to allow so I termed it soft. I will say that I was more irked at GA #47 than GA #1 given the context of the game. Overall, two soft ones out of seven isn't great but it's not so bad either.

Incidentally, this group has a second goal scored in a one-on-one situation in GA #49. Marek Zidlicky coughed up the puck to Derek Stepan, who sprung Ryan Callahan for a shorthanded breakaway in effect. While Callahan got the puck through Hedberg's legs, I didn't call it a soft goal. On that play, Hedberg at least made an attempt to stop the puck and it wasn't a bad decision to make. He decided to challenge Callahan and go for the pokecheck. Callahan nearly lost the puck or had it knocked away due to it; he just somehow had enough behind it and found a small hole. It wasn't as if Hedberg did something so brain-numbingly bad; he took a risk and lost. In a one-on-one situation, I'm going to be more sympathetic to that than the goalie just being caught in a prone position as Hedberg did on GA #47.

As far as the rest, I didn't think they were bad goals to give up. GAs #48 and #50 were similar in their set-up and ended with one-timers in the slot past Devils skaters who only noticed what was going on when it was too late. GA #51 had Hedberg lunging in desperation as the only Devil on the ice on the play to try to do something about the puck. GA #46 was quite a strange one to review again. Live, I thought Brandon Sutter got the puck to Brendan Morrow for a close, point-blank shot and the rebound came out to Matt Cooke, who jammed it in. On replay, Sutter's pass actually went off Morrow's skates and rebounded right to Cooke. As Hedberg shifted over in position, Cooke kept the puck low and found enough daylight for it to get over the line before Hedberg got his back on it. That bounce off the skate was analogous to a rebound in my eyes and Hedberg moving means there will be some space. Cooke found it within a second and succeeded. It happens.

In terms of errors, I didn't see anything notably terrible that created the first two goals in this set. I don't feel comfortable blaming Tallinder on the 3-on-2 for GA #1 since he had to focus on the middle man to start. It's an odd-man rush, someone's going to be open. One could argue Peter Harrold did himself no favors on GA #46 but given that Cooke got the puck off a fortunate bounce for the visitors, I wouldn't fault that. The other five had some notable fault. Larsson was caught in the wrong position, which led to Letang making that killer pass for GA #47. Ryan Carter gave the puck away instead of getting a clear and Stephen Gionta was caught not aware of Callahan in the slot an with his stuck on the ice for GA #48. Zidlicky should have received a secondary assist for Callahan's second goal of that game. Larsson's giveaway along the boards and Jacob Josefson caught unaware helped make GA #49 look a lot similar to GA# 47. I thought about dinging the entire team on GA #51 but I faulted the defensive pairing that really wasn't on that play and Ilya Kovalchuk just watching Rick Nash instead of doing something to him or his stick. While I don't necessarily expect skater errors on every goal against, it wouldn't surprise me if I see quite a few of them while reviewing the other 44 goals allowed. I got the sense that when the Devils made a big error, it costed them big times. It should show up in the goals allowed reviews or both goalies; early indications suggest there may be something to it.

Additionally, most of the goals against came through Hedberg's legs. While all four weren't soft, that's not something you'd like to see. It's something to keep in mind for the next two weeks. Lastly, all the goals were scored in what would be called scoring chances. All seven goals in this review were in that chance area. At least Moose didn't get beaten from distance or an off angle in his short January and April 2013 work.

Your Take

While I am combining the first game of what turned out to be a short and hot start for Hedberg and a not-at-all-hot end for Hedbeg in the same post, the seven goals featured are instructive of why this review can be useful. There were some bad goals, some goals that required additional explanation, and goals against with identifiable errors. Next week will look at Hedberg's February, which will have many more goals to investigate.

In the meantime, let me know what you thought of Hedberg's short January and April performances, the format of the charts for review this year, and the goals allowed as well. Thank you for reading.

A Preliminary 2013 Draft Top Ten by the ILWT Readership

John Fischer — Sat, 04 May 2013 13:09:39 -0000

Monday night was the 2013 NHL Draft lottery and the New Jersey Devils did not win it. The Colorado Avalanche did so they pick first while the Devils remain at ninth overall. In the open post for the lottery, I asked readers for their top ten prospects for the 2013 NHL Draft and proceeded to keep asking on Twitter. It's something similar to what I asked for in 2011 and while it wasn't a complete representation of the fanbase, I found it interesting then how the readers ranked the top prospects in that draft. As it turned out, the Devils did draft the one they valued the most: Adam Larsson. Therefore, I decided to do it again but extend it to ten prospects to include where the Devils would draft this year.

I didn't get as large of a response this time with only ten top tens to go through. That's understandable as the draft is still ways away and so draft coverage hasn't started yet. I think when more information and time passes, there will be more interest in the draft. Plus, it wasn't clear where the Devils would end up in the first round until the end of the season. There weren't weeks of draft speculation like in 2011. On top of that, coming up with a top five is easier than a top ten, especially for this year where it appears there's a consensus top four. Nonetheless, I did say I would turn it into a post and the results do have some points of interest.

Like in 2011, I awarded points for votes (10 for 1st, 9 for 2nd, etc.), summed them up for a total score, and then ranked them accordingly:

Rank	Prospect	Vote Pts.
1	Seth Jones	97
2	Nathan MacKinnon	88
3	Jonathan Drouin	84
4	Aleksander Barkov	67
5	Valeri Nichushkin	52
6	Darnell Nurse	39
7	Elias Lindholm	34
8	Sean Monahan	33
9	Hunter Shinkaruk	30
10	Rasmus Ristolainen	23
t-11	Ryan Pulock	1
t-11	Frederik Gauthier	1
t-11	Anthony Mantha	1
t-11	Nikita Zadorov	1

It appears that most of you have an idea of who's in the top ten as only four additional prospects were brought up and all of them would have been picked tenth. Within that top ten is a lot of variation. Seth Jones was near unanimous at first overall and completely unanimous in the top three. Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin were also solid #2 and #3 guys, though some readers swapped them. There was a little more variation for Aleksander Barkov but he ended up solidly in fourth. Valeri Nichushkin ended up solidly in fifth but he was all over the place in some readers, with one leaving him off the top ten completely. Before you say that's ludicrious, it isn't unheard of a prospect dropping in the rankings due to a KHL contract and he's got two years left on a three-year deal. While I didn't get many top tens, it seems to me there's a general idea of the top five and it's order for 2013 in the eyes of the Devils.

Beyond the top five is where opinions varied even more. While defenseman Darnell Nurse finished sixth, there were rankings as high as fourth to one set that didn't include him in the top ten. No one picked him ninth - duh - but he was just everywhere. As it turned it out, it was enough to get him ahead of others. Elias Lindholm did make everyone's top ten but three were for fifth, three were for sixth, three for ninth, and one for tenth. I guess some fans are hoping he'll be around when New Jersey picks while others think he'll go sooner. Sean Monahan was the subject of our first draft prospect profile, which Karen wrote on Thursday. Had I asked for top tens after it, I think he would have received some higher spots, but enough people felt he was pretty good within this group as-is. He just edged out Hunter Shinkaruk who received more votes at #9 than any other prospect. There was some variation but early indications suggest he would be a good selection for New Jersey. Rounding out the list is defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who was never ranked higher than seventh but made everyone's top ten. Seems about right for a tenth overall spot among the readers. Incidentally, here's the breakdown of ranks.

Pick	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
Jones	8	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	97
MacKinnon	2	5	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	88
Drouin	0	4	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	84
Barkov	0	0	1	6	2	1	0	0	0	0	67
Nichushkin	0	0	0	3	3	2	0	1	0	0	52
Nurse	0	0	0	1	2	1	2	2	0	1	39
Lindholm	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	3	1	34
Ristolainen	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	1	1	23
Shinkaruk	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	2	4	1	30
Monahan	0	0	0	0	1	2	2	1	2	2	33
Pulock	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Gauthier	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Mantha	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Zadorov	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1

Given where the Devils are drafting, how picks #5 through #8 are going to really drive the team's hand at the draft. It may cause them to trade down based on what happens or make a mad dash to the podium to get someone who slipped further than they thought. That's why I don't think it's sufficient to just ask who you'd want at ninth overall. I'm calling this a preliminary top ten because I didn't get that many top tens and the draft is still a bit under two months away. I'm going to ask this question again closer to the draft in June. By then, we'll have plenty of prospect profiles done, other places will have more draft coverage, and there will be more interest. Perhaps there will be changes in opinion; maybe there will be some other prospects trying to break into the top ten. Thanks to everyone who gave me their top tens for this iteration and we'll revisit this later. Please leave your comments about these rankings and other thoughts about the 2013 NHL Draft in the comments.

Discuss the 2013 Playoffs Here - Open Post

John Fischer — Thu, 02 May 2013 21:25:19 -0000

I realize I should have put this up two days ago, but better late the never. Anyway, while the New Jersey Devils aren't in it this year no thanks to rotten luck, poorer special teams, and dropping a third of the season in winless streaks, the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs are still worth your viewing attention. The games are all exciting, the mistakes and triumphs can set careers for better or worse, and, most of all, it's hockey, which is a sport you enjoy watching. So if you want to share your thoughts, hope for a certain rival in the East to lose, or laugh at a miscue like this Hedbergian move by Jon Quick, this is the place to do it. Therefore, please leave all your playoff-related discussion in the comments here.

NHL.com makes it easy to track who's doing what and what times the games are so go there to know what's on and where.

2013 NHL Draft Lottery: Avs Picking #1, Devils at #9 - Who's in Your Top Ten for 2013?

John Fischer — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:31:18 -0000

We now know the New Jersey Devils finished with the ninth worst record in the 2013 regular season. Tonight, they will participate in their second draft lottery in three seasons. The lottery itself will be televised on NBC Sports Network in the U.S. and TSN in Canada at 8 PM EDT. They won their last appearance in 2011, which moved them up from eighth to fourth overall in the first round, where they selected defenseman Adam Larsson. This year, winning the lottery will give any team regardless of position first overall pick.

New Jersey's chances at winning the lottery are at 2.7% this year. I wouldn't bet on the Devils having great and difficult decision to decide between defenseman Seth Jones, left wing Jonathan Drouin, and center Nathan MacKinnon. If Dallas (2.1%), Philadelphia (1.5% - P.S. thanks for winning your last game, Flyers), Phoenix (1.1%), Winnipeg (0.8%) and Columbus (0.5%) win, then the Devils will be picking tenth. Therefore, the most likely scenario is that the Devils will be picking ninth this year. To the surprise of nobody, they will keep their first round pick this year.

Therefore, in addition to this being an open post to discuss the lottery, I want to know your top ten prospects as of right now. Almost two years ago to the day, I asked for your top five to get a sense of how you all rated the draft class. Since the Devils are currently ensured of picking in the top ten, let's do that this year. Please list them in a readable order in the comments by Friday afternoon. On Saturday, I'll tally them up for a quick summary. It'll be interesting to see how you all rate the players beyond Jones - assuming you all think he's the consensus #1 prospect.

Additionally, if you have any late round prospects that are rated by CSS that you would be somewhat interested in seeing a profile for, then now's a good time to bring them up. We'll have plenty for the first round - even some defensemen! - and they'll begin on Thursday. Picking late in a draft is akin to throwing darts in the dark but any ideas will be read and maybe even possibly used.

Other than that, use the comments to discuss the lottery, speculate on the draft, give me your top ten prospects, or whatever else for the Devils offseason. Keep it Devils and follow the rules as usual.

UPDATE: The Colorado Avalanche won the 2013 NHL Entry Draft lottery. Congratulations to the Avs. The Devils will be picking ninth in the first round, 39th in the second round, 100th in the fourth round, and 160th in the sixth round. The third round pick belongs to Minnesota due to the Marek Zidlicky trade, the fifth round pick belongs to Buffalo since NJ gave it to LA for Andrei Loktionov and it ended up with the Sabres after two additional trades, and the seventh round pick belongs to Winnipeg because of the Alexei Ponikarovsky trade.

Either way, please give me your top ten prospects in the comments. I'll use them for a post later this Saturday in an attempt to get a later consensus from you, the Devils fan.

The New Jersey Devils: April 2013 in Review

John Fischer — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:14:40 -0000

April showered plenty of misery for the New Jersey Devils. The 2013 season started off well enough. They got hot at the beginning and didn't lose a game in regulation until February. Yet, the team started fading in the second-half of that month and they achieved a 7-6-1 record. The Devils ended a winless streak in March but never got really going and ended the month winless with a 5-5-5 record. The Devils were still in the top eight in the Eastern Conference heading into the final month of the shortened season. While they were then just winless in three games, the Devils still started April controlling their own destiny. However, as we all know, their final game of the month was the final game of the season as the Devils did not make the playoffs.

The Devils clearly did not get the necessary results in April. They went 4-7-1 in the month. That three-game winless streak the Devils had heading into the month was extended to ten games. While Ilya Kovalchuk wasn't having a productive season along with most of the team, the team's scoring rate just went dry in said winless streak. The Devils weren't shutout all season; they managed to get shut out in four games in April alone including two games in a row right at the end of the winless streak. And during that streak, they weren't big, blow-out losses either. The Devils only lost five games by more than one goal. Two of those came after that streak ended and one was only by two goals because the opposition got an empty netter. Nevertheless, the Devils needed points in the standings then, they didn't get them, and so by the time they actually won a game, their playoff hopes were just about dead. The Devils got mathematically eliminated from playoff contention by their hated rivals in the final week of the season. The final three games were just games to be played and so the season ended early. The only NHL event the Devils will be involved in until June will be the draft lottery on Monday night.

While the past month essentially doomed the Devils, the root cause lies a little earlier. The team had a bad slump going into March, and while they ended it but they didn't really get hot afterwards. The Devils dropped into another slump that drifted halfway past this month. Most teams cannot recover from spending a third of their regular season in winless streaks. While the Devils were strong in possession and outplayed a lot of teams in April, they couldn't get the goals needed or the near-perfect defense their lack of scoring required. Therefore, the team has the record that they have and we a long offseason for discussion.

The Games of April 2013

The Devils returned home after a road trip that ended with two straight games with dropped points in the final minute of each game to play the New York Islanders. The Devils and Islanders both needed the game for their playoff hopes. As we now know, it was a turning point for both teams. The Isles went up early in the game, doubled their lead, and just played a better game. It was a poor first period, it was a poor ending, and the fans booed the Devils off the ice at the end of the 3-1 defeat. I wrote that the Devils deserved it. The good news is that the Devils would go on to play better. The bad news is that there's a difference between playing good and winning games.

In what I still consider to be the most frustrating game of the season, the Devils went into Boston and competely outplayed the Bruins. The Bruins have been one of the best teams of the season and one of the few better than New Jersey in possession. For 60 minutes, the Devils were just the better team in all but one area: the scoreboard. The Devils just couldn't put a puck in the net and the Bruins got one by accident off Jaromir Jagr's skate blade. The Devils lost 1-0 and in retrospect, it should have been the tell-tale sign that 2013 wouldn't be New Jersey's year. It was the sort of game that one would expect cause a team to just give up. What more can one do? The Devils did not give up. However, there's a difference between putting in a good effort and winning games.

On April 6, the Devils dropped a 2-1 game to Toronto that was close and was surely a game but was nonetheless difficult to watch. The very next night, the Devils fell behind early to Buffalo, pinned back the Sabres, tied it up, gave up another goal, tied it up, continued to boss Buffalo around but then lost in a shootout 3-2. Three nights later, the Devils played Boston again and it looked like it was going to be rock-bottom as Boston ran up four goals (including two shorties) in the first 30 minutes. But the Devils clawed their way back to 4-3 before Boston tacked on one more. A late consolation goal made it a 5-4 loss. The one night the Devils scored a whole bunch of goals was also the one night there were several costly defensive errors. On April 12, the Devils were shutout by Ottawa and lost 2-0 despite a heavy shot and possession differential. On April 14, the Devils went into Toronto, played an even more one-sided game, and still managed to lose 2-0 with the second goal being an ENG. The winless streak became ten games and the playoffs weren't in my hopes - I just wanted the team to win one.

It was until April 17 when it all ended. The goalless streak that went for seven periods ended. The run of seven games where the Devils would give up the first goal ended. The ten game winless streak ended. All in the wonderful city of Philadelphia. The Devils didn't just outplay their opponents or lead in possession and shots. They actually scored goals. And so they looked great in winning. Even more, it was a 3-0 win over the Second Rate Rivals. There was reason to smile. The smiling continued when Ilya Kovalchuk returned from injury on April 20 at home against Florida. While Kovalchuk didn't contribute too much, the Devils overcame an early 2-0 deficit and a bad ten minutes to simply outclass the Panthers - who helped them out with so many turnovers - and blow them away. Yes, the Devils actually routed Florida 6-2 and there was more reason to smile.

Alas, the incredibly slim playoff hopes turned into nothing at MSG, the home of Our Hated Rivals. The Devils had a communication breakdown within the first minute and the game was just mostly-Rangers from then on out. The Devils lost decisively 4-1 and that was it for the postseason. At least playing for pride started off well. The Devils would host a struggling Montreal team on April 23, put up three goals, and held on to win 3-2. In their final home game of the season on April 25, the Devils played very well and yet went down to Pittsburgh 1-0 to start and it later became 2-0 in the second. But the Devils fought back with three unanswered goals and won comfortably over a lackluster effort from the Penguins by a 3-2 score. Alas, the Devils couldn't just take down the rivals another peg before they go off to the playoffs. The Rangers outclassed the Devils again at MSG only this time the Devils wouldn't even get a consolation goal. They lost 4-0, the fans at the arena chanted "Season's Over," and they were right. It was.

In between the games, the Devils didn't have a whole lot of roster changes. The team did add Steve Sullivan at the trade deadline for very little. He was used as an additional forward; he wasn't so much a Kovalchuk replacement as he was more like an additional forward. Think of a substitute teacher. He did put up two goals and three assists in ten games which isn't bad, but I think he shanked more scoring chances than he scored on. Kovalchuk did return for the team's final five games. Bryce Salvador sustained a bruised hand from blocking a slap shot by Zdeno Chara; he did not appear in the team's final eight games. Salvador's injury plus Mark Fayne's "nagging minor injury" opened the door for Alexander Urbom and Eric Gelinas to get in the Montreal and Pittsburgh games, respectively. Harri Pesonen and Mike Sislo were called up in the final week of the season, but they did not dress.

April 2013 Devil of the Month: Andy Greene

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	ATOI	SOG	PCT
April 2013 - Andy Greene	12	1	2	3	4	2	0	0	0	24:22	19	5.3

Yes, I'm choosing defenseman Andy Greene as the Devil of the Month. No, he wasn't all that productive with only three points. However, this is meant for the most consistently good player and I'm not going to reward production in a month where the first six games featured eight goals total. Besides, Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias each led the team with seven points in April and most of those points came near the end of the month. The two had some pretty poor games mixed in. Greene, on the other hand, was solid from start to finish. Even in a game where he made a costly error, Greene settled down and was someone the team could lean on to defend. He averaged over 24 minutes per game, he registered a shot in all but two games, his one penalty came in the final game of the season that the Devils weren't going to win by the time it happened, and he was largely a positive force on the ice at evens. In my mind, he secured his spot as the team's best defenseman from this season with his night-in, night-out play in April. Therefore, I think Andy Greene deserves to be named the In Lou We Trust Devil of the Month for April 2013.

Now that the final month of the season is over, I want to know what you think. What will you remember the most from this month? What would you like to forget about it? Would you say Greene was the most consistently good player? Was anyone on the Devils consistently good in April? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the Devils' performance in April in the comments. Thank you for reading.

New Jersey Devils Podcast Talking Red: Episode #111

John Fischer — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 18:22:44 -0000

Season's over but the New Jersey Devils podcast Talking Red continues on. David Sarch and I got together earlier today to discuss the final week of the season by the Devils. We also touch on the play of Alexander Urbom and Eric Gelinas, Patrik Elias' position, what the Devils need in the first round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft (hint: It's a forward), and my gawking at the roster for Team USA for the upcoming 2013 IIHF World Championships. Seriously, Bobby Butler and an Oiler defenseman is on it. It's not the ending we wanted, but it's the ending we got.

Thanks to David for having me on the show yet again. The usual multiple ways to listen to this week's episode of Talking Red still apply. You can go to the show's website and get it directly there. You can find it on iTunes or Stitcher and get it there. You can even stay right here on this post and listen to a stream of it. This week's episode is 17.9 MB large and 39:06 long.

The ILWT Player Awards for the 2013 New Jersey Devils

John Fischer — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:22:46 -0000

The 48 game regular season didn't turn out well for the New Jersey Devils. After a hot start, the team suffered two extended winless streaks, the shootout wasn't so successful, and they ultimately missed the playoffs with a 19-19-10 record. While they finished with the league's best shots against per game average at 23.1 and a better-than-league median goals against average at 2.54, their shooting collectively became super-cold and ended up 29th in the league goals scored per game at 2.29. I think the team played a lot better than they did and I don't think a team lacking in talent achieves such high marks in possession across the board. Yet, this is a results-oriented business and the Devils didn't get them one way or another. Instead of playing later this week, they'll be part of the lottery process on Monday and have two full months to determine their plans at the NHL Entry Draft and free agency in July.

Nevertheless, there were standout players from this recent regular season and now that the season itself is over, it's a good time as any to recognize them. The other ILWT writers and I made our selections for various awards as we did last year. Believe it or not, most of us came to the same conclusion so it's mostly unanimous. Incidentally, I axed the Best Rookie award since no rookie played throughout the whole season and it's not really noteworthy to highlight 17 games of Stefan Matteau over a handful of games by Harri Pesonen and a few brief looks from others. I'm sure you'll have a different take on a few of these (maybe you want a Best Rookie award?) and I welcome the discussion. I also welcome additional superlatives you may want to add as well. In any case, here's who we decided to receive various awards within the Devils.

Major Awards

Team MVP: Patrik Elias

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	ATOI	SOG	PCT
2013 - Patrik Elias	48	14	22	36	5	22	5	1	0	18:43	118	11.9

This wasn't entirely unanimous as one chose Ilya Kovalchuk, presumably for his absence being sorely felt during the ten-game winless streak, and another chose Greene, who will get his kudos in a paragraph or two. However, the majority ruled Patrik Elias as Team MVP for a third straight season. The reasoning is a bit different as Peter DeBoer didn't use him against the toughs nearly as much as he did in 2011-12. With weaker competition, Elias was even superior in puck possession with the team's second highest on-ice Corsi rate. Unlike number one on that list - David Clarkson, believe it or not - Elias played in all situations and in significant amounts to finish third among Devils forwards in average ice time per game. On top of all that, Elias led the Devils in scoring in 2013. He finished second on the team with goals, first in assists, and third in shots on net as one of three Devils to average at least two shots per game. He was also one of three regular Devils to have shot over 10% too. Keep in mind that Elias did all this while switching between wing and center at points in this season. As I said before this season, Elias and Kovalchuk were the most important forwards on the team. As it turned out, while Kovalchuk was definitely missed during his injury, I shudder to think how this team would have done without #26. At least in my eyes, that makes Elias the most valuable player on the team.

Best Defenseman: Andy Greene

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	ATOI	SOG	PCT
2013 - Andy Greene	48	4	12	16	12	18	2	1	1	23:02	63	6.3

This was unanimous among all of the writers and I think the argument is simple. DeBoer didn't rotate out three defenseman this season for poor play or some other reason: Bryce Salvador, Marek Zidlicky, and Andy Greene. Among the three, Greene was the better defenseman in both ends. While Salvador faced tougher competition, look at Greene's line at Behind the Net. Greene did start more often in his own end of the rink, he played more minutes at even strength, the shots against rate went down considerably instead of up in Salvador's case and he was far better at getting the play moving forward. While Zidlicky took more shots on net and eventually wound up leading the blueline in scoring, Greene nearly matched him with less time on the power play and was far better on defense than a sheltered-when-possible Zidlicky. While 2013 was a disappointment for the team, it can and should be seen as a successful one for Greene. He led the Devils defensemen in average ice time and he was leaned on for big minutes on most nights. While he wasn't immune to errors, he was clearly the most reliable defender. I look forward to seeing him do it again over 82 games in 2013-14.

Best Goaltender: Martin Brodeur

	GP	MIN	W	L	SO/OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO	EV SV%
2013 - Martin Brodeur	29	1757	13	9	7	65	2.22	654	589	.901	2	91.9

Believe it or not, Martin Brodeur finished the season with a save percentage above league average and above 91.2% for the first time in three years. The only reason why his overall save percentage is lower has been because of the penalty kill, which definitely wasn't as dominant as unit in 2013 as it was 2011-12. On man-disadvantage situations, Brodeur's save percentage is a bad-looking 81.1%. A goal-against review should clear up how much of that was on him and how much was that on the guys in front of him making an error. Anyway, Brodeur wasn't the problem in net this season. Johan Hedberg, on the other hand, was a nightmare after a hot start, especially during the Devils' six-game winless streak back in late February and early March. With Moose's 90.1% even strength save percentage among an overall save percentage of 88.3% over the season in mind, this was another no-brainer for the staff.

Best Defensive Forward & Best Offensive Forward: Patrik Elias

Two awards, same player. For many of the same reasons he won Team MVP, Elias takes home both Best Defensive Forward and Best Offensive Forward. Both were unanimous among the staff, too. Elias was a key player at both ends for New Jersey throughout the season. While Elias wasn't utilized as the tough-minutes player he probably should have been this season, he definitely left his mark and came out ahead against plenty of good players. On offense, Elias utilized his playmaking abilities while shooting a little bit more often. He helped Clarkson get many of his shots, he finished tied with Kovalchuk in power play points with 14 and actually scored more power play goals than Kovalchuk, and he led the team in scoring, and he led the team with 21 even strength points in addition to overall points with 36. Again, strong play over the year at both ends led a majority of us to name him the team MVP and it led all of us to give him both of these awards as well.

Miscellaneous Awards

The Sergei Brylin Award for Versatility: Patrik Elias

Again, Elias lined up at wing and center, played with plenty of different people in all situations, and did well overall. Ultimately, this is worth being rewarded moreso than someone moving around in the lineup because he didn't mesh well with others. Lots of Devils played well with Elias than without him at even strength and so it made sense for us to give him the Brylin.

Best Comeback: Steve Bernier

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	ATOI	SOG	PCT
2013 - Steve Bernier	46	8	7	15	-6	17	2	0	1	13:45	88	9.1

I thought about doing a whole post on the Steve Bernier comeback earlier in the season but ultimately decided against it for some reason I cannot recall. I wish I did it since it would make this section a bit shorter. The short version follows: Last season, Bernier was on his way of being out of the league. He didn't make the Devils out of training camp, he signed an AHL deal to be within the organization, and got injured. Bernier was signed during 2011-12 and ultimately ended up on a fourth line with Ryan Carter and Stephen Gionta. They got hot in the playoffs and chipped in key moments. Unfortunately for him, one major penalty in Game 6 helped L.A. smash the Devils for the Cup. Yet, his play earned himself a two-year, one-way deal with the Devils. In the first season of the deal, Bernier proved he definitely belonged. He was used a bit more against tougher players than he should have, but managed to be quite positive possession player at evens. He used his big body to crash into boards on forechecking situations, he wasn't afraid to shoot, and win pucks for his line. He was true energy player and definitely contributed to the team on offense, even with a few beneficial bounces go his way. Bernier may not be happy he's not in the postseason, but I don't see how he can look at 2013 as anything but a good year.

Best UFA Signing from the 2012 Offseason: Ryan Carter

Among the staff, we had three votes for Ryan Carter, two for Bernier, one for Gionta, and one for the whole line. I didn't expect this to be the tightest call. You can argue that Bernier would be a better call by shooting the puck more, taking fewer penalties, and . However, Carter was used a bit more in tougher competition and came out a bit better in possession. Either way, both were signed for $1.55 million over two years last summer and I'd say both bottom six forwards have been well worth their contracts.

Worst UFA Signing from the 2012 Offseason: Bryce Salvador

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	ATOI	SOG	PCT
2013 - Bryce Salvador	39	0	2	2	-12	22	0	0	0	21:19	29	0.0

No one really liked the signing then and I don't think any Devils fan likes it now. I don't think the team captain is done at this level, but I do think he wasn't used correctly. Salvador was employed as the first choice on the PK and faced tough competition while getting unfavorable zone starts. His on-ice Corsi rate would be positive when adjusted for zone starts, but the shots against rate went up quite a bit when he was on the ice in 5-on-5 play per Behind the Net. As for 4-on-5 stats at Behind the Net, the shots against rate also went up while he was on the ice and he's tied with Greene for most goals against with 13. In general, Salvador's lack of speed has caught him in bad spots if he's not in the right position I think Salvador would have been more effective if he wasn't used as if he's the top shut-down defensive defenseman on the team. He's not. Greene and Fayne are more suited for that role. Even if he was used more appropriately, his three-year, ~~$11.6~~ $9.5 million contract still stinks. I should note that one writer did pick Hedberg instead and while I can understand an argument; Salvador has two years left while Hedberg's done in 2014.

Best In-Season Acquisition: Andrei Loktionov

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	ATOI	SOG	PCT
2013 - Andrei Loktionov	28	8	4	12	-2	4	1	0	0	14:15	47	17.0

Among the several low-cost deals Lou made in 2013, the one for Loktionov turned out to be the best of the bunch. I liked the move at the time and every time he produced was a reason to yell "ONLY A FIFTH ROUND PICK" at the Kings. He was likely KHL-bound if he didn't get out of Los Angeles. In New Jersey, he got hot early, meshed a little bit with Kovalchuk, and managed to put up a decent amount of offense while being positive in possession. His goals were beautiful, and his apex made Braydon Coburn look really foolish. He's still young so I hope he'll learn to take more shots and play better in both ends. The skill is clearly there and I do hope Lou gives him a worthy offer to stay with the Devils for at least 2013-14.

Most Disappointing: Travis Zajac

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	ATOI	SOG	PCT
2013 - Travis Zajac	47	7	13	20	-4	20	1	1	1	19:31	81	8.5

Zajac wasn't particularly bad but he definitely didn't stand out like one would hope. He signed the big contract extension before the season but the production certainly didn't follow up in a way. Zajac was shuffled between playing with Kovalchuk, playing with Elias and Clarkson, playing with and without Henrique, and elsewhere. While Zajac definitely was a positive possession player and played significant minutes throughout the season in all situations, he wasn't used against tough competition and he wasn't shooting nearly as much as he could have. He was the Devils' lone centerman who won more faceoffs than he lost, but you expected more out of a player who was made to be a major part of the team's core for years to come. Hence, he was the most disappointing Devil among most of us. (One felt it should be Hedberg, another Henrique, and I can't say I fully disagree.) I wouldn't fret just yet about the contract. It didn't help him - or the team - If he turns a similar performance next season, then fret away.

Superlative Awards

These are more offbeat awards some of us came up with. I've included them without comment. Feel free to add your own in the comments, or to argue otherwise. The initials in the parentheses tell you who came up with what.

Best Prospect (MS): Reid Boucher

Sophomore Slump Award (NP): Adam Henrique

Get the Car Trophy for Impending Free Agent Devils Fans Most Likely Don't Want Back (JF): Marek Zidlicky. Especially after the last game.

Most Productive Goon Award (NP): Tom Kostopoulos

Player Involved in the Most Baffling Series of Moves (MS): Stefan Matteau. My comment: I'm surprised his NHL tenure was the least contentious of his 2012-13 campaign.

Money, Money, Money, Mon-aaaaaaay - Most Likely to Get Real Paid This Summer (JF): David Clarkson

Best Fictional Player Created by a Rich Chere Typo Award (NP): David Clarkdon

The Unicorn Prize for a Wish for One Thing That Was Better this Season Than it Was (JF): A league-average shooting percentage. Not the highest, just league-average.

Feel Good Story of the Season (NP): Matt Anderson getting called up and playing his first game at age 30.

The Confirmation-Bias Medal for Worst Giveaway for a Goal Against (JF): February 9, 2013 at Pittsburgh; Anton Volchenkov coughs it up right to Chris Kunitz less than ten feet away from him.

The Best Readers (JF): You.

Which awards do you agree with and why? Which ones do you think we got wrong and why? What superlative awards would you give? Please let us know your take in the comments and other thoughts.

Season's Over: New Jersey Devils Stunk on Ice in 4-0 Loss to New York Rangers

John Fischer — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:44:17 -0000

One way or another, this would be the last New Jersey Devils game this season. As of this writing, the result of this game doesn't really matter. The Devils weren't going to play any more games. Still, one would hope the team would put out a good effort against a hated rival. The New York Rangers aren't just rivals. They are Our Hated Rivals. Surely, the Devils would want to make a point of it to take them down a peg even if it's meaningless in the big picture. Especially given how the Rangers knocked them out six days ago.

That didn't happen. It didn't even remotely happen. The Devils lost 4-0 to the Rangers and stunk up the joint, quite frankly. The season itself was a disappointment as the Devils didn't make the post season. Despite usually doing very well in possession, limiting the opposition's shots, and doing other things right, the team's inability to score at times really undercut their chances this season. There were many games where they were the better team on the ice but not on the scoreboard. Today was something different; the Devils were just the inferior team on the ice. They were second-rate in effort. They were lackadaisical in both ends of the rink. I saw a team that just wanted the season to be over and, well, the Rangers happily helped them down that path this afternoon. They deserved to lose big and they did.

Not once, not twice, but three times the Rangers scored due in part to a lack of attention on defense. The first goal came less than three minutes into the game - not within the first minute, but progress? - but it came from behind the goal line all the same. Ryan Callahan gets the puck behind the net thanks to Ryan Carter botching a clearance so John Moore could dump it in to him. Devils are looking at Callahan - especially Stephen Gionta with his stick not on the ice - but no one was looking at Derek Stepan. Pass, shot, score. The third goal of the game came in the second period and had a similar set-up. Adam Larsson gaveaway the puck in the right corner to Brad Richards. Devils skaters look at Richards, no one's on Rick Nash in the high slot. Pass, shot, score. The fourth goal of the game didn't start from behind the goal line but the Devils looked like statues anyway. Along the perimeter, Mats Zucarello from the point fed it to Richards into the left corner, Richards hit a cutting Zuccarello across the slot, and then he passed it back to Nash in the slot. Henrik Tallinder and Adam Larsson covered no one; Adam Henrique and Ilya Kovalchuk did nothing but watch; and it was pass, shot, score once again. They were good plays by the Rangers, but entirely defendable. The otherwise stingy Devils defense wasn't today.

Oh, the second goal was a bit different from the norm. That came during a late Devils power play in the first period. Marek Zidlicky was leading the build-up as the trailer in the neutral zone. He attempts to fire a pass only for it to be picked off by Stepan. Stepan cuts out wide, Zidlicky chases, and so the Ranger found Callahan streaking into the middle. Pass, drive in, shot, score. The box score should have given a secondary assist to Zidlicky but scorers don't count own-assists so a recap like this one and video of the goal will suffice in highlighting the error.

But beyond the goals, it was just a poor performance all around. Ilya Kovalchuk was bad. Patrik Elias was bad. Adam Henrique was invisible. Steve Sullivan was invisible. The CBGB unit wasn't good. Henrik Tallinder and Adam Larsson looked poor. Only Andy Greene and Peter Harrold looked a bit more than OK in their own end; and among the forwards, I would say I liked Travis Zajac the most. Johan Hedberg made a number of crucial stops but he couldn't stem the bleeding by the team's performance. The only aspect of the game I can say that went really well for the Devils was the penalty kill, which was featured far too many times for my liking. But the Devils were out-shot 20-21. Attempts were 51-37 in favor of the Devils but 21 of them were blocks which speaks to how poor the shooting really was. The Devils' power play was a waste and ultimately a net negative today. The usually strong even strength play wasn't there even for a stretch of time. The Rangers did quite well and the Devils played like a bottom-ten team in the league today.

It should only be seen as just that. Today was a terrible game. It definitely wasn't indicative of how the 2013 season went for New Jersey. The Devils were a lot better than this even when they went winless in ten games or when they went winless in six games. And given that it's the last game of the regular season and it's against a hated rival, it stings a bit more. The proverbial bad taste left in your mouth will remain a little longer than a day. So it goes.

The Opposition Opinion: Those at Blueshirt Banter are pleased. They should be. Their favorite team creamed their rivals as they head into the playoffs and possibly a more favorable first round match-up.

The Game Highlights: Well, they're highlights if you're a Rangers fan or enjoy failure. Here's the video from NHL.com anyway:

Who Was the Devils' Shot Leader: Anton Volchenkov led the Devils with shots on net with three. Anton. Volchenkov. There were many other Devils who attempted as many shots as A-Train but they got blocked and/or missed the net more frequently than him.

Silver Lining Penalty Kill: The Rangers had six power plays, including a long 5-on-3 and a short 5-on-3, and they didn't register one official shot on net. They hit the post once on the 5-on-3 but that was it. Meanwhile the Devils registered three shots on net and looked quite good in killing them.

The Power Play Was A Waste: Their four power plays were pretty bad, struggled to gain the zone, and one even ended early thanks to a penalty by Adam Henrique. They got five shots on net but managed to give up three great shorthanded shots on net. The first was a giveaway by Steve Sullivan that led to Callahan beating a disinterested-on-backchecking Sullivan and Kovalchuk in a one-on-two. the second was Zidlicky's giveaway leading to Callahan's SHG. The third was a giveaway by Henrique that Nash took to the end but only got a weak one on Hedberg as Kovalchuk knocked him away. The man advantage wasn't for New Jersey and it's one more aspect the team will need to address this spring and summer.

They Wouldn't Have Mattered: Alexander Urbom and Eric Gelinas did not play today, the called-up Harri Pesonen didn't get back in, and Mike Sislo stayed out. Let me be clear, none of them would have helped today. As poor as Henrik Tallinder and Adam Larsson looked in their own end as the game went on, I doubt either Urbom or Gelinas would've saved it. The team performance wasn't going to be better if they had more inexperienced guys in the lineup. Besides, all but Sislo got a game in, they'll have opportunities to make their case in camp as I don't expect Zidlicky among others to return.

The Rick Nash Show: If you're wondering why the Rangers made the move they did to get Rick Nash, today's game showed exactly why he's so dangerous. He was a force today. He led the Rangers' with seven shots on net, he had two goals, he came close to scoring two to three more, and tied with Richards for the highest Fenwick differential on the Rangers today at +10. The Devils had little answer for him and whoever draws the Rangers next week will have to think of a plan for him.

Pro Tip for the Rangers' First Round Opponents: When the line of Stepan, Callahan, and Carl Hagelin are out there, they love to get it in deep and set up for a man in the slot. Learn from the Devils and actually cover the guy in the slot. The puck carrier isn't scoring from behind the goal line. Why the Devils didn't learn this from Sunday's game or after the first near-chance less than a minute in or after the first goal against, I couldn't tell you.

So What's Next for this Site: The Devils' season is now done but the content doesn't stop at ILWT. We didn't stop during the lockout, we're not going to quit now. Tomorrow, I reveal our writers' player awards that we decided prior to today's game. On Monday, I will write an April in Review post summing up the past few weeks and lamenting a lack of scoring throughout. Monday night is the draft lottery, so we'll know exactly how high the Devils will be picking in the first round. From then on, there's plenty ahead. We've got goal against reviews. We've got analysis of various kinds from this past season. We've got scoring chance reports to catch up on. We've got looks ahead at free agency both from within and on the market. We've got draft prospect profiles. Our favorite team may be golfing early and as fun as golfing is (and it is despite it being a game of failure), please remember to visit this site as we'll give you plenty of reasons to come back.

What's your take on this game? Will you be reading ILWT? Please leave your answers and other thoughts this terrible loss in the comments. Thanks to those who followed along in the Gamethread and those on Twitter through @InLouWeTrust. Thank you for reading this recap and all season long.

New Jersey Devils 0, New York Rangers 4: Game 48 Coverage

John Fischer — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 01:01:53 -0000

The New Jersey Devils will finish up their regular season against Our Hated Rivals, the New York Rangers. This is the last stream of the regular season but will consist of the game preview, gamethread, and recap of the terrible 4-0 loss in one location.

Final preview of the 2013 regular season. I know, I wish I was doing more too.

The Time: 3:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - NBC; Radio - 1130 AM WBBR

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (19-18-10) at the New York Rangers (25-18-4; SBN Blog: Blueshirt Banter)

The Ticket Link from TiqIQ: Want to the go to the World's Most Overrated Arena? Want to avoid the expensive box office? Then go to TiqIQ and find something slightly more reasonable on the secondary market: New Jersey Devils tickets.

The Last Devils Game: It was the final home game of the 2013 season for the Devils on Thursday night. They hosted the Penguins in what turned out to be a meaningless game for both sides. Familiar to much of the last two and a half months, the Devils played a great period and ended up ending the first down 1-0 due to Matt Cooke jamming in a puck on what would be Pittsburgh's second shot of the game. Effort, possession, control, and still losing. The hole was dug deeper in the second period as the Devils didn't romp through the neutral zone nearly as much and Pittsburgh, well, kept on keeping on. Kris Letang sprung Jussi Jokinen perfectly into the Devils zone with a great long pass and Jokinen finished it with a banger on a power play. A funny thing happened late in the second: Patrik Elias fed Travis Zajac down low, and Zajac wisely turned to his forehand. David Clarkson and Douglas Murray were right in Marc-Andre Fluery's grill and so Zajac's shot got in to make it 2-1. The Devils equalized in the third period on a power play when Elias fed Clarkson for a great low shot that beat Fluery's five-hole. The Devils played much more like they did in the first period and they were rewarded. Steve Sullivan led a breakout and made a great lateral pass to Ilya Kovalchuk after gaining the zone. Kovalchuk intended to pass it to Andrei Loktionov in the middle, but his effort tipped just off Brandon Sutter's stick and it found the net. The Devils went up 3-2, continued to get the puck in deep against Pittsburgh, and held on in a 3-2 game that looked closer than it actually was. It may be a meaningless win, but those at the Rock were sent home happy. My recap of the win is here.

The Last Rangers Game: While the Devils were playing the Pens, the Rangers were down in Carolina still looking to clinch a playoff spot. They needed a win and early on, it looked like it would come pretty easily against a Hurricanes team that had nothing to play for. Derek Stepan scored early in the game to make it 1-0 and later in the first period, Derick Brassard roofed a rebound past Dan Ellia to double their money. In the next two periods, the Rangers heavily out-shot and out-possessed the Canes by a combined 28-6 in shots. However, the Canes on half of those shots. Jiri Tlusty converted a power play early in the second, Tuomo Ruutu scored three minutes later, and within the first minute of the third period, Tlusty scored again to put the Canes up 3-2. The Rangers were doing everything but scoring and needed a late one to tie the game up. They got one in the dying seconds of a power play when Brad Richards unloaded a slapshot from the center point. Richards missed, the puck bounced off the end boards, and it had enough velocity to bounce off the back of Dan Ellis' right leg and into the net. Yep. Ryan Callahan went in alone to the outside of the right dot and sniped a near-perfect shot inside the post in overtime for the 4-3 win and to secure postseason hockey for the Blueshirts. Bryan Winters has a recap of the win here.

The Last Devils-Rangers Game: Back on Sunday, April 21, the Devils' playoff hopes were near-dead and the Rangers had a chance to knock them out at MSG on national television. They did so. Here's the quick summary. Derek Stepan helped Ryan Callahan score within the first minute on a communication breakdown. Stepan re-directed a shot by Ryan McDonagh late in the first period to put the Devils down 2-0. The Devils looked good for about seven to ten minutes in the second period. Anton Volchenkov gave a puck away to Brad Richards and then screened Martin Brodeur when Taylor Pyatt shot said puck which led to a goal. After Patrik Elias killed his own team's power play by lipping off to an official, Richards found Callahan all alone by the right post, Brodeur dove to poke check the puck away but all it did was to tip up the puck up and over him to make it 4-0. Ilya Kovalchuk made a great pass to Andrei Loktionov, who rifled one past Henrik Lundqvist in garbage time. The Devils lost 4-1. My recap is here and Jerry's scoring chance count is here. As for the opposition, Bryan Winters was obviously happier about the game.

The Goal: Stick to the process. The game's going to mean nothing three hours after it starts. The Rangers will play next week, the Devils will not. The Rangers will be playing for seeding, but it takes two to Fandango. It is a hated rivalry so I can't imagine the Devils will just laze about for 60 minutes. However, there's no need to get really wound up or suddenly change how things have went this season. The last two games showed what happens when the process gets some breaks that lead to goals. The Devils didn't just beat Montreal and Pittsburgh, but they did it by out-playing them. The Rangers are a very good team, but so were those teams. If the Rangers' hearts aren't into it even by a little bit, then the process can really make it a long afternoon for them just as it was for Les Habs and The Pens.

Poor NBC and NBCSN. They banked on Sunday's game, Thursday's game, and this game being big season-ending games. However, the first one was quickly decided in retrospect, the Pens game might as well have had a graphic flashing "THIS IS NOT HOW THE PENGUINS WILL PLAY NEXT WEEK" periodically during the broadcast, and this one is really just for pride. However, I don't really care about the ratings or what makes the suits happy. This is a Devils blog, after all.

And the Devils will definitely go into this game far different than most other games against Our Hated Rivals. For one, Martin Brodeur will be the backup. Johan Hedberg will start the final game of the season as reported by Tom Gulitti at Fire & Ice. Good luck, Moose. For another, there's the matter of Mike Sislo and Harri Pesonen. Both were called up along with Gelinas with the intent of getting them in a game. Since this is the last one, I would think they'll be in the bottom six somehow. Plus, Steve Bernier got the night off on Thursday so he could return to the lineup as well. And if there's any time to throw Krystofer Barch into the lineup for some reason, you might as well make it a meaningless game against a hated rival. Gulitti's lines from practice suggest otherwise, but there are many options for the bottom six. I think the top six will remain the same as I doubt DeBoer changes Elias-Zajac-Clarkson given their recent run of production and I wouldn't touch Loktionov and Ilya Kovalchuk. Adam Henrique didn't really do a whole lot on Thursday, but maybe he'll have a better afternoon today.

We could see some other changes on defense. In Friday's practice report, Gulitti noted that Alexander Urbom was paired with Peter Harrold. I doubt Peter DeBoer will take out Harrold now. That said, I think Henrik Tallinder and Eric Gelinas may be a more interesting pairing to try out on the road. Tallinder can handle big minutes should Anton Volchenkov not be able to - and he did handle 18 minutes quite well on Thursday. Gelinas will get chances to shoot. I'm fine either way.

The Rangers will look a little different today as well. Andrew Gross reported on Friday at Ranger Rants - the blog of the Bergen Record's Rangers beat reporter - that there have been no update on the status of Ryan Clowe. Clowe was helped off the ice in the second period against Carolina on Thursday with an apparent leg injury. Gross thinks he may also be suffering from an elbow from a previous game. It doesn't appear to me he'll play today. Clowe has enjoyed his time so far in New York with three goals and five assists in twelve games, a far sight better than his no goals in 22 games with San Jose. Without him in the lineup, the Devils will have one less body to contend with. If he's not in, then the called up Kris Newbury could be inserted at forward. From the same post by Gross, that could be it - Tortorella wouldn't comment on whether he'd give the King of Dives, Henrik Lundqvist, yet another start.

Ultimately, the Rangers will appear to be the same strong team they have been on paper this season. They've been very good in possession this season and they got out of their shooting slump a lot earlier than the good guys so their 5-on-5 shooting percentage is just in the lower third of the league instead of as low as New Jersey. They've also received great goaltending which has been mostly driven by Lundqvist with a fantastic 93.6% save percentage at even strength and a not-too-bad 85.7% on the power play. Even if the Devils do draw Martin Biron, his few appearances have gone well for him this year.

The Rangers have been prolific at shooting the puck and they have many players who can make you pay. The line of Callahan, leading scorer Stepan, and Carl Hagelin each have over 100 shots, over ten goals, and over twenty points. They are the biggest threats. Even if the Devils quell them, they have to deal with the hard-charging Rick Nash, the hard-working Brassard, and whoever lines up with those two as Clowe is out. Nash, in particular, has been a force with 169 shots on net, 19 goals, 21 assists, and can occasionally drive to the net like it's no big deal. Brad Richards can still set up many different players, he's got 11 goals and 21 assists after all. Defensively, they've been good this year in terms of shots allowed. The pairing of Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh have averaged over 24 minutes a night and have done quite well against tough competition. Michael Del Zotto and Anton Stralman represent a second pairing that has done good work in more favorable spots and the third pairing hasn't been a tire fire of awful play as far as I can tell. It's a crew that would look a lot better with Marc Staal but as they are now, they've done the job. Plus, they have an ace goalie who can bail them out repeatedly plus a system that emphasizes dropping five skaters below the dots when pinned. But, seriously, the Rangers have been a very good 5-on-5 team and now that the pucks are going in a bit more often, they could be a real surprise for whoever draws them in the first round. As for today, the Devils are going to want to exploit the Rangers' depth as much as possible. Beating Stepan's line is hard. Beating their fourths, possibly not as hard.

Interestingly, 5-on-5 may be where both teams want to keep this game today. Neither side has been all that successful on special teams this season. The Rangers' success rate of 16.3% on the power play is about the same as the Devils and below the league median. The Rangers' penalty kill has been just slightly more successful at 80.6% as opposed to the Devils' 80.4% - both also below the league median. It's not so much that they're both awful at one thing or another; it's just not a real strength. Should the Rangers do get a bunch of power plays, the Devils will want to keep an eye on Callahan as he leads the Rangers with six power play goals. Should the Devils get a power play, their top four man unit by shorthanded ice time per game has been Callahan-Stepan Girardi-McDonagh. Or two-thirds of the Rangers' top line and their top defensive pairing. As with 5-on-5, the Devils' power play should seek to make the most of their work when they're not out there. The Devils' power play may be feast or frustration but I like their chances against Anton Stralman and John Moore than Girardi-McDonagh.

As a final point, well, thank you for reading 48 game previews of ~~Team Outlier 2013~~ the New Jersey Devils this year. There won't be any more until preseason this fall. Hopefully, they helped you prepare for the game and make you learn something about the opponent as they did for me in writing them. Even though the game will mean nothing this evening, I'm sure you would enjoy a Devils win to close this regular season out. I know I would. Please tell me what you think will happen and any updates for today in the comments. Thank you for reading.

New Jersey Devils at New York Rangers: Game 48 Preview

John Fischer — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:21:35 -0000

Final preview of the 2013 regular season. I know, I wish I was doing more too.

The Time: 3:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - NBC; Radio - 1130 AM WBBR

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (19-18-10) at the New York Rangers (25-18-4; SBN Blog: Blueshirt Banter)

New Jersey Devils Give the Rock a Happy Ending with 3-2 Win Over Pittsburgh Penguins

John Fischer — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 03:27:58 -0000

Tonight was the last home game at the Rock for the 2013 regular season and the New Jersey Devils gave the fans something to cheer for: a 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. As with many games over this past season, the Devils definitely looked like the superior team on the ice. They had a big edge in shots, 32-18. They had a big edge in attempts with a +20 differential without blocks in 5-on-5 play and a +19 differential including blocks. They had a far easier time getting into Pittsburgh's end than the Penguins did themselves; the Devils really had the better of neutral zone play tonight. Like most games this season, the Devils did all this and somehow ended up on the wrong end of the score. Unlike most games, the Devils fought back and eventually won the game.

Granted, the Penguins and Devils had nothing to play for tonight. The Penguins already secured the #1 seed in the East and the Devils know that this would be their last home game of this season. Not to take away from how well the Devils played, but I'm certain Pittsburgh would have brought a higher "compete level" if the stakes were different. That said, good on the Devils for pouncing on a team with a good forecheck, good positioning in the neutral zone and at their blueline, and being able to push forward. I suspect the Penguins got great shots out of their 18, but it seemed to be feast or famine for them - not a lot of extended zone time for them.

The Penguins would go up first when Matt Cooke jammed in a loose puck right in front. Brandon Sutter made the intial pass to the slot, Brendan Morrow made the initial shot, and while Peter Harrold, Adam Henrique, and Ilya Kovalchuk were just sort of "there but not really," Cooke just did the simple thing and got a goal. The Devils otherwise played a good first period, but like so many other games, they were down. The hole was made deeper in the second period. After the Devils got a clearance during their second penalty kill of the night, Kris Letang carried the puck up to his blueline and made a brilliant pass to Jussi Jokinen. The pass caught Larsson on the wrong side of Jokinen and like a defensive back or a soccer defender caught behind on the back shoulder, he was beat. Jokinen pushed ahead and made Johan Hedberg look silly with a great shot. Disappointing, but it was hard to get that upset since the game meant so little.

However, the Devils would make a game of it late in the second period. After two straight blocked attempts by Anton Volchenkov, Patrik Elias recovered the puck at the blueline. He found Travis Zajac closer to the net. As Zajac turned towards the net, David Clarkson and Douglas Murray were right in front of Marc-Andre Fleury. The goalie couldn't see what was coming and the Devils got on the board. An early penalty by Pascal Dupuis, one of Pittsburgh's penalty killers, led to a great 30 seconds of power play work by the Devils. They maintained possession, they created good shots, and they were rewarded when a give-and-go with Clarkson and Elias in the right corner found Clarkson in a great position. He put the puck low, it got through Fluery's five hole, and the game was tied. Pittsburgh struggled to attack and the Devils eventually broke through after a breakout led by Steve Sullivan. It wasn't quite a 3-on-2 but Sullivan hit Ilya Kovalchuk with a great cross-ice pass - thanks to smart decision by Andrei Loktionov to touch it - as they entered the zone. Kovalchuk drove to the left dot and fired a low one at an angle. It beat Fleury's right pad. I thought Loktionov touched it, I know Nate (he ran @InLouWeTrust tonight) did, and I know a lot of people did. But no, it went off someone else's stick and the goal was Kovlachuk's. Fitting for both teams, the Devils managed to get the puck in deep against Pittsburgh late and so the score would stand 3-2.

Believe it or not, the fans at the Rock were cheering en masse in the last minute of the game or so. The atmosphere became more like a usual Devils game when Clarkson did tie it up and while the game ultimately will mean nothing after about 6:30 PM on Saturday, the sentinment was clear. They wanted the Devils to win. They wanted to get the result. They wanted that break through goal. And they did. The players cleared to thank the fans with a salute. A nice gesture, made better by doing the thing the fans wanted: a win. It may be hollow in your eyes but I would be lying if I didn't leave the Rock smiling and in a good mood from the victory.

The Opposition Opinion: Laura Z recapped the game at PensBurgh, noting the Penguins were 19-0 when leading after two periods. Now it's 19-1. She also noted that Kovalchuk's shot went off Brandon Sutter's stick.

The Game Highlights: There are video highlights of a Devils win from NHL.com. You should watch the video:

My Eyes Told Me #71 Was Doing a Lot: And the stats signify it was a lot that didn't lead to much for his team. Evgeni Malkin is an all-world talent and like most all-world talents, your eye draws to him naturally. It appeared to me he had the puck a lot and tried to make things happen on offense. Yet, he was frequently denied easy passage into the Devils' zone. He had pucks knocked off his stick. He had passes go astray due in part to pressure. His most dangerous moment was when he was all alone in front of Hedberg during a second period power play. Yet, he lost control of the puck and a late Devils stick forced it to deflect the second effort into the mesh. As it turned out, Malkin had only one shot on net - it came in the third period - and finished a -8 in both Fenwick and Corsi differential. It really wasn't a good night for the Pittsburgh ace forward.

Speaking of Possession: Wow, did the Devils smash the Penguins in attempts tonight. They out-shot them in 5-on-5 play 29-15 and if you add in misses and blocks, the differential only gets worse for Pittsburgh. The dominance wasn't distributed equally, but it's worth nothing that only Andy Greene's Corsi differential was a negative number among the whole roster. Given that he saw a lot of Malkin, Jarome Iginla, and Kris Letang in his 19 minutes or so of even strength ice time, I think a -1 isn't so bad.

Nonetheless, the trio of Clarkson, Zajac, and Elias did quite well and generated a goal. Zajac was particularly impressive with five shots total, which is great on it's own and even greater considering Clarkson got three at evens. The duo of Loktionov and Kovalchuk did quite well as well and generated a goal with Sullivan, who also did well. Anton Volchenkov amazingly played 18:18 at even strength - he's usually around 12-14 minutes - played quite a bit against Malkin, Iginla, and Chris Kunitz, and he came out the best with a +12 Fenwick and a +15 Corsi. Yes, lots of good things happened when A-Train was on the ice. It feels weird typing that as well. The only guys not named Greene who weren't so great in possession were Adam Henrique, Dainius Zubrus, and Jacob Josefson. They weren't bad per se, just not so far ahead of zero like the rest of the skaters.

One More Possession Notable: Take a bow, Chris Kunitz. Not only did you not take any shooting attempts tonight in 18:17 of total ice time, but you were not on the ice for a single Pittsburgh shot in 5-on-5 play. 15:44 evens, nothing by your team. While Mark Eaton, Deryk Engelland, Jokinen, and Dupuis got ripped apart in possession, you, sir, got served.

The Debut of Gelinas: Eric Gelinas played in his first NHL game tonight and by my eye, he was OK. It's hard to not notice him given how large he is. He didn't really use his size all that much, but maybe he didn't need to. Gelinas played a tentative game, which is understandable given it's his first in the NHL. He didn't get really beaten too badly; the first goal against certainly wasn't his fault. Gelinas played mostly with Peter Harrold and the pairing went pretty well. He saw a lot of Brandon Sutter and Sutter came out ahead few times with shots, but nothing too dangerous from what I recall. Offensively, Gelinas did get one shot on net through traffic and had two that missed, which wasn't bad. In terms of possession, he finished a +3 in Fenwick and Corsi differential in playing 15:11 at evens which isn't too shabby. I wouldn't mind seeing him on Saturday but if nothing else, he's shown a glimpse of what he can do at the next level. I think it's worth taking another look this coming fall.

The Ups & Downs of Kovalchuk: Ilya Kovalchuk had a strange game in my opinion. There were plenty of attacks snuffed out early because he tried to force a lateral pass only for a Penguin to intercept it. There were plenty of times he could have shot it, did so, but missed the net as he had four misses. Of course, on other shifts, he kept pucks in play, roamed all over the ice to really throw off the Penguin defenders, and got a great bounce on what would be his lone shot on net of the game to eventually win it. Definitely a net positive, but there were times I felt his timing was off.

Larsson, You Shot It!: Four shots on net for Adam Larsson! That's a game-high for this season. He's now up to 28 shots on net in 36 games.

Larsson, You Got Torched!: Kris Letang's pass to Jussi Jokinen was sublime. It also caught Larsson unaware of exactly where Jokinen was at the blueline. The pass was placed such that by the time Larsson turned around, Jokinen would have two to three strides on him provided that Jokinen didn't blow it. Other than that, I felt #5 had a much more controlled game and was far more active on offense than he has been all season.

Moose: Johan Hedberg got beat on a second effort by Cooke that may not be really his fault, a great shot by Jokinen that made him look stupid, made a couple of key stops to make the fans cheer, and his one error in playing the puck was playing it just before it got to the goal line outside the trapezoid. (Aside: Thanks, Iginla, for wiping that away 12 seconds later) Good night? Bad night? I say it was a Moose night. Take it as you will.

Super Elias: While Patrik Elias only got one shot on net, he kept making things happen all night long with his linemates. His pass down low to Zajac was smart and his pass to Clarkson from the corner for the PPG was fantastic. The latter didn't have a lot of room for error, but he hit it perfectly. I know much will be made out of his post-game comments but the reality is that what he says now won't mean anything when negotiations will begin. Among all of the decisions to make this summer, what to do with Elias will be among the most difficult. Tonight showed exactly what Elias can do: push the play forward, play against good players, and make great plays that can lead to scoring chances and goals. Tonight showed why the fans want him to stay. Time will tell whether that happens.

So Long: It was very enjoyable watching the game unfold as it did with the Devils winning. While the results during the season didn't turn out, tonight certainly did and I'm going to miss going to games. Sure, my sleep schedule will benefit from not banging out recaps in the middle of the night and my wallet will appreciate not springing for train tickets so much. But I'm going to miss my fellow fans in Section 1, be they regulars who endure what I have to loudly say (Note: I'm louder at Red Bulls games if you can believe it. Also, more obscene.) or randoms who show up in various seats. I'm going to miss Earl's Dance Party in the second period, which was always fun whether the team was doing well or I was thinking Earl should run the power play. I'm going to miss fans trying and sometimes failing to get chants going. I'm going to miss Baumann showing up somewhere in the lower bowl to lead the "Devils" chant. I'm going to even miss - to a degree - people yelling "SHOOOOOOOOT." I'm going to miss the experience of going to games. Sure, it'll all be back in October, and maybe the break will have some benefits, but the four and a half months until preseason will feel long at times. So long, Prudential Center. I'll personally see you in June but not for a game.

One Final Point: But let's be clear. ILWT isn't stopping. We didn't during a lockout, why would we now? I'll explain later on Saturday morning.

What did you make of the Devils' come-from-behind win? Would you agree the Devils really beat on the Penguins? Do you think the Penguins would have upped their effort if the game wasn't meaningless? Who would you say was the best Devil tonight, and why? Who was the worst in your eyes, and why? How would you rate Gelinas' NHL debut? What will you miss the most about going to Devils games now that it's over for this season? Please leave your answers and other thoughts in the comments. Thanks to everyone who followed along in the Gamethread. Thanks to those who followed @InLouWeTrust on Twitter; Nate ran it tonight and I thank him for keeping those up-to-date on the game's details. Thank you for reading.

New Jersey Devils 3, Pittsburgh Penguins 2: Game 47 Coverage

John Fischer — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 23:52:43 -0000

The New Jersey Devils will play the Pittsburgh Penguins in their final home game of the 2013 regular season. This stream consists of the game preview, thread, and recap of the come-from-behind win by the Devils.

Last home game of the season. Whatever happens, try to enjoy it if you're going to the Rock tonight.

The Time: 7:30 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - NBC SN, MSG+; Radio - 1130 AM WBBR

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (18-18-10) vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins (35-11-0; SBN Blog: Pensburgh)

The Ticket Link from TiqIQ: It's the last home game until the next season. If you're not going tonight, then you're going to miss out for quite sometime. Don't be left in the cold. Go to our partners at TiqIQ and get something from the secondary market: New Jersey Devils tickets.

The Last Devils Game: On Tuesday, the Devils played their first of three now-meaningless-after-Saturday games as they hosted the Montreal Canadiens. After an even start, the Devils started to push their way through and dictate the game. They were even rewarded. Travis Zajac sprung Patrik Elias for a short one-on-one during a power play that the Devils legend finished. Later in the first period, Dainius Zubrus found Jacob Josefson at the left post, who put the puck off Carey Price and in for a score. In the second period, another power play goal would be scored when Steve Sullivan re-directed a shot/pass from Marek Zidlicky. The Devils were up 3-0 and things were looking good. Montreal would get on the board when Max Pacioretty scored off Adam Larsson's legs for a PP and they'd get a late one in the second period after a long shift for the Devils skaters. Alex Galchenyuk chopped down on Zubrus' stick behind the net, he threw it to Lars Eller right in front, and the puck went off the left post, off Martin Brodeur's skate, and in. It was 3-2 and you would think that a struggling Montreal team would certainly use that last goal to build off of for a much needed win. That didn't happen as Montreal and New Jersey largely repelled each other in the third period. The Devils held on to win; my recap of the game is here.

The Last Penguins Game: Meanwhile, the hot Penguins were taking on the Buffalo Sabres. The Pens won their last seven games in a row but the Sabres had other ideas. Thomas Vanek opened up the game's scoring in the first period, but Chris Kunitz provided an instant response seconds later. The game would remain at 1-1 until the third period. Jochen Hecht gave his team a one-goal lead in the third; but that was matched by a power play goal from Jarome Iginla about five minutes later. The difference maker came late on an odd play. Mark Pysyk attempted to lob the puck into the Pittsburgh end only for Mark Eaton to reach up with his arm to grab it. All it did was knock it in front of him with Eaton out of position to do anything about it. Pysyk charged in, put a high shot on Marc-Andre Fleury, and Steve Ott swooped in to swat at the puck in mid-air for a goal. The Penguins attempted to equalize late, but Vanek sealed off the game with an empty net goal. The Sabres won a high-shooting game (Pittsburgh out-shot Buffalo 42-33) and ended the Penguins' winning streak 4-2. Laura Z had this recap of the loss over at PensBurgh.

The Last Devils-Penguins Game: Way back before the Devils had any kind of extended winless streak this year, the Devils visited the Penguins on February 10. On February 9, the Devils downed the Penguins and were hoping to sweep the home-and-home series at Pittsburgh. The game started off poorly for the Devils as the Pens did whatever they wanted. Well, whatever they wanted but score thanks to the awesome performance Johan Hedberg had in net. The Devils would steal the period when David Clarkson fired a shot off despite back pressure from Deryk Engelland and picked a corner on a 2-on-1 for an early 1-0 lead. The Devils owned the second period, out-shooting Pittsburgh 13-5, and extended their lead to 3-0 thanks to Stefan Matteau springing Ilya Kovalchuk for a breakaway goal and Clarkson potting in a short rebound before Brooks Orpik potted him. The Devils looked great but Stephen Gionta took a slashing penalty near the end of the period. That turned out to be costly as James Neal finished off a tic-tac-toe play to gain the zone and beat Hedberg to put Pittsburgh on the board. The Devils controlled play for much of the next ten minutes before Pittsburgh realized they were down two goals. Hedberg was strong, the Devils skaters didn't panic, and the team held on to win 3-1. It was a pretty big victory at the time as I described in my recap. I just wish it didn't turn out to be the apex. Jerry had the scoring chances of the game in this post; it shows the Devils with a slight lead. James Conley had this Pittsburgh-based recap over at PensBurgh.

The Goal: Possession is your friend - especially against high percentage teams. This Pittsburgh team hasn't been great in possession this year. According to Behind the Net, their Fenwick% in close-score situations is just above 50% and just ahead of the league median. Moreover, their best possession player this season is a guy named Sidney Crosby.He hasn't played since March 30 and I don't believe he'll be active tonight. What's made them so successful in 5-on-5 is similar to Toronto: high shooting and save percentages. The Penguins are fourth in the league with a 5-on-5 shooting percentage of 9.8% and the tandem of Marc-Andre Fleury and Tomas Vokoun have combined for the league's fourth best save percentage in 5-on-5 play with 92.9%. As great as Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz have been this season, this isn't a team that's necessarily controlling a whole lot. They're not nearly as bad as, say, Toronto, but it's an area the Devils should really try to exploit if they want to succeed tonight. The Devils can definitely do it; their Fenwick% in close-score situations is the third best in the league at 54.82% after all.

Of course, with strong percentages come strong performances from various players. Even with various injuries hitting them this year. They've been without Crosby for nearly a month now and he's still the league leader in points with 56. The Pittsburgh offensive machine continues to roll on. Chris Kunitz has had a monster year shooting just over 20% to get to 22 goals and 28 assists. Pascal Dupuis has been similarly impressive with 20 goals and 17 assists. Both are coming off six-shot performances against Buffalo so you can believe they'll be firing away tonight. This is no disrespect intended to Mr. Malkin, the second generational talent in the Pittsburgh organization. I shouldn't have to tell you Malkin will be a threat all night long. So I won't.

Pittsburgh's additions during the season have also made up for Neal and Crosby being out of the lineup. Iginla is a powerful winger and he's got five goals, four assists, and 31 shots on net in 11 games with Pittsburgh. He dropped eight on Buffalo; he will surely be one for the Devils defenders to watch for tonight. Brendan Morrow has put up five goals, six assists, and 19 shots in 13 games with Pittsburgh. While not as shot-happy, he's been productive and therefore commands some respect. Jussi Jokinen has been the "third" guy but he's been similarly effective with four goals (on nine shots) and four assists in eight games with Pittsburgh. They were each acquired to bolster the team's depth. Due to injuries, they've been asked to step up and for the most part, they have. It should make them more dangerous on paper going into the playoffs if/when Neal and Crosby return.

The biggest surprise to me has been their goaltending. Vokoun has been sensational at even strength with a 94% save percentage and Fleury has been more than fine at evens with a 92.9% save percentage. While Vokoun has had a career of very good save percentages, seeing Fleury do so well really stands out a bit more. While everybody has an off night here and there, for this season, they've been quite effective. They only look below-to-average during power plays but it's not really clear whether that's their fault or the Penguins themselves. Given that the Penguins as a team has has only killed 79.4% of their penalties (24th in the league) and have a SA/60 rate in 4-on-5 play just above league median, perhaps goaltending has something to do with it. While the Devils put up two power play goals on Tuesday, I'm still uncertain as to whether this is something the Devils want to try and exploit. Of course, a penalty-filled game could really blow up the Devils in their face as Pittsburgh has been fantastic on the power play with a league-second-best 23.8%.

Interestingly, the Pittsburgh defense hasn't been too bad this season. Their SA/60 rate of 29.5 is OK in 5-on-5 play.But they've relied a lot on Kris Letang and Paul Martin this season. Both have averaged over 25 minutes per game. And the team has been leaning more on Letang since Martin's been out with a broken bone in his hand for about a month now. Letang is a dual-threat at both ends of the rink; he drives the play forward and plays against significant competition. The top Devils will see plenty of him tonight as long as Dan Bylsma can handle it. The issue has been whether the guys behind those two can keep up. Brooks Orpik is a physical defender who can handle the top-four. Matt Niskanen, Douglas Murray, Mark Eaton, and Deryk Engelland round out the group and it's not exactly impressive at first glance. Peter DeBoer should keep working to get the better Devils forwards away from Letang and against that group whenever he can.

Overall, Pittsburgh may not be as great in underlying numbers but they've been remarkably successful and productive with good luck in both directions. Should they have a fully healthy roster for a length of time, it wouldn't surprise me if they became a better possession team in the process. Provided they don't run into a strong possession team that's getting hot at the right time with respect to shooting in the first round, they can contend this year. As for tonight, well, it just makes the final home game of the year for New Jersey a challenging ending. Maybe the Devils will get lucky and Pittsburgh doesn't put in a full performance or something?

Anyway, since the Devils are done, they're just throwing guys into the lineup to get some different looks. There will definitely be a change in net. Tom Gulitti confirmed on Wednesday at Fire & Ice that Johan Hedberg will start tonight's game. If you wanted the Devils to tank, then here's the guy you probably were clamoring to get a start. Hedberg's last appearances weren't so great as he had adventures inside the crease in addition to his usual ones outside of it. Since the game doesn't really matter so much, it's a no-pressure situation despite how many weapons Pittsburgh has up front.

There could be other lineup changes as the Devils called up a few players from Albany earlier in the week and they want them to get some minutes. Those players include defenseman Eric Gelinas, forward Mike Sislo, and returning forward Harri Pesonen. DeBoer scratched Adam Henrique for Tuesday's game and Tom Kostopoulos hasn't been in the lineup in quite some time. It wouldn't surprise me to see those two get back into it; especially Henrique, who's been a mainstay on the roster since last season. Then again, does DeBoer take out Sullivan after he got a goal and an assist on Tuesday to make room for Henrique? Does he mess with the bottom six to get Pesonen, Kostopoulos, or even Sislo involved? Should Gelinas play tonight, I'm curious to see who sits for him. He's big and brings an offensive game to the table. Perhaps he plays in place of Peter Harrold? Maybe he goes in for Alexander Urbom, who got another taste of the NHL on Tuesday? Who knows, I'm sure it'll be a game-time decision.

With respect to the guys who I don't think will be coming out of the lineup, I want to see a better performance from Adam Larsson. He was all over the place against Montreal at times and not always in a good way. From my own vantage point, if he can just keep his head up a bit more and play with more awareness, then he could be far more effective in his own end. Offensively, I want the Devils to do what they did to Montreal in the first period. Put up the forecheck and keep going if it works, try to carry the puck into the zone (Ilya Kovalchuk can do this and it's so wonderful to see someone in red try and do it consistently), and just put pucks on net from various areas.

In any case, this will be the final home game of the 2013 Devils season. I should be in my usual spot. If you are going, then please savor the experience as much as you can whether it's an 8-0 drubbing by Pittsburgh, a decisive Devils win, or somewhere in between. It'll be quite some time before we can all go back for a game. If you are not going, then please follow the game here because, well, why not? Either way, what do you think will happen tonight? Can the Devils dampen the Penguins' spirits a little bit before the postseason? If so, how do you think it'll happen? How will you feel if the Penguins do come away with a win? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about this game in the comments. Thank you for reading.

New Jersey Devils vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: Game 47 Preview

John Fischer — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:12:44 -0000

Last home game of the season. Whatever happens, try to enjoy it if you're going to the Rock tonight.

The Time: 7:30 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - NBC SN, MSG+; Radio - 1130 AM WBBR

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (18-18-10) vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins (35-11-0; SBN Blog: Pensburgh)

New Jersey Devils Hold On to Edge Montreal Canadiens 3-2

John Fischer — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 03:13:29 -0000

Tonight was the first game for the New Jersey Devils were the result really didn't matter much in the standings. They were eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday and are now just playing for pride, contracts, and/or a draft pick. The energy at the Rock wasn't really there but the team definitely brought it against the Montreal Canadiens. Believe it or not, they played a very good first period where they not only outplayed the opposition but actually built up a lead. They even extended it to three goals. The Canadiens answered two of them, but they couldn't find an equalizer even with a whole period to find it with.

Admittedly, it's a little strange to recap this game. During the game, I felt mixed emotions. As the Devils were pushing the play, controlling the tempo, and eventually building up a three goal lead, I wasn't sure whether to feel really pleased that their hard work was being rewarded knowing that it's all for nothing a few days from now. Likewise, when the Canadiens pulled within one in the final minute of the second period, I didn't get all that upset or concerned that a three goal lead could be wiped away for the same reason. Nevertheless, it's good to get a win over a strong team like Montreal and while the performance wasn't whole, I believe the Devils were the better team on the ice.

Perhaps that's the most confusing part. This was a night where the Devils not only scored one power play goal, but two of them. The first was Travis Zajac springing Patrik Elias into the center of the Montreal zone for a one-on-one that the Devils legend beautifully finished. The second came in the second period when Steve Sullivan re-directed a well-placed shot (or was it a pass?) by Marek Zidlicky. In between and back late in the first period, Dainius Zubrus set up Jacob Josefson at the left side of the net and the young forward put it up and off Carey Price and the puck dropped in. The Devils were forechecking well, they were denying Montreal in the neutral zone more and more, and they continued in the second period until near the end. The third period was remarkable in that while the Devils only got three shots on Price, Montreal really only set up in New Jersey's end in the final 40 seconds or so with an extra skater. Then and only then did the Devils have trouble getting it out, but the skaters got the blocks needed .

Montreal's performance was rather confusing. After matching the Devils shot from shot early on, they just faded away in the first period. Some power plays and playing a little to the score got them back into things. Adam Larsson guessed wrong after a faceoff win by Montreal so Raphael Diaz quickly found Max Pacioretty in front all alone. Pacioretty, I guess, wanted to try a pass but the puck went off Larsson's skates and in for the first goal on a power play. Montreal's best chance to get back in the game came late in the second when they pinned Larsson and Alexander Urbom for nearly two minutes. They weren't at fault for the goal that ended the shift itself but they nor the skaters couldn't get it out prior. Alex Galchenyuk slashed hard down on Dainius Zubrus' stick, got the puck as played continued, found Lars Eller in front, and the one-timer went off the left post, then the back of Brodeur's skate, and in. Given how late it was and how it came after excellent possession by Montreal, you'd expect them to come out roaring in the third. Nope. They took a mere five shots on net with a stuttering offense. Take your pick of the reasons: Their skaters went offside, the puck carrier got stood up at the blueline, they lost a battle after a dump-in, they iced the puck, a Devil picked off their pass, etc. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. If you didn't know the score, then you would have never realized Montreal was down a goal.

Likewise, if you didn't know the standings, then you would have never realized the Devils weren't in the playoffs based on how they played tonight. It was a good performance and unlike much of the last two months, they got a result out of it. The Rock wasn't sold out and the mood was more dour than usual, but all of the home fans had something to smile at 9:30 PM EDT. I'd say it's worth it.

The Opposition Opinion: Andrew Bershire's recap at Eyes on the Prize isn't a happy one as his beloved team dropped another game. He also whines about the Devils interfering on every play tonight. I find that funny since the Montreal way of battling along the boards seems to be hugging guys. And that didn't even work as a whole. Whenever an opposing fan complains about how the Devils play, you can give them a three word response: "Wah wah wah."

The Game Highlights: Josefson's first of the year and two power play goals. Of course you want to watch the NHL.com highlight video from this game. Here it is:

Proof of Superiority in Play: While the Devils only out-shot the Canadiens 21-18 in 5-on-5 play, that's actually pretty good considering the Devils played with a lead for over two-thirds of the game. The Devils as a team ended up +5 in Fenwick differential and +8 in Corsi differential. When you take more attempts than the opposition with a lead, it means things are going pretty well. The Devils certainly could have used more than three shots on net in the third period, it's entirely possible they attempted more. I know they definitely had three misses on what could have been hard shots.

Proof that Matchups Matter: The most successful line by eye and by possession stats from this game for Montreal was the unit of Brandon Gallagher, Max Pacioretty, and David Desharnais. While the latter two only hooked up for a score on a power play, they did quite a bit of damage at evens. Anytime your own Corsi differential is at +8 or +9 while the rest of your team is mostly negative means you were doing something right. And they did with six of Montreal's 18 shots at even strength tonight. Gallagher also drew a penalty in that he got cross-checked away from the play for no good reason by Marek Zidlicky. But they did well. Part of that has to do with who they faced.

Enter Adam Larsson. Larsson faced the Desharnais line the most and it showed. Larsson's shifts were very up-and-down this evening. He even had shifts where he would do something really good like keep the puck carrier to the outside and follow that up by not reacting fast enough for when the play switches to the slot and not getting a good chip out of the zone. Larsson was also was caught out for that epic near-two-minute shift that ended with Eller's goal in the second period so it was a bit rough for him. The possession doesn't lie and his -4 Fenwick and -6 Corsi really sticks out among a team with only a handful of not all that negative players. Even his most common partner, Andy Greene, fared better. Maybe those three extra minutes at even strength by Greene made him a +4 Fenwick, +5 Corsi guy tonight? Who knows. Overall, it wasn't a great night for the young defende.

Interestingly, Larsson's second most common forward line match up was the Rene Bourque line, which got creamed in possession. Seriously, Bourque, Galchenyuk, and Eller ended up in negative double digits in Corsi differential. That tells me what I saw was correct: Pacioretty, Desharnais, and Gallagher enjoyed the game when #5 was on the ice.

Enter the Call Up: Alexander Urbom was put in the lineup for Henrik Tallinder and not Anton Volchenkov tonight. Urbom got 13:50 of ice time, 21 seconds on a PK, and looked OK for the most part. He had some dire moments where he was fortunate to get some help or Montreal botching a pass or control of the puck after he was beat. Urbom was visibly gassed and in over his head during that near-two-minute shift at the end of the second period. He had some good moments where he calmly played the puck out and helped his other defenders out. Peter Harrold did a good job helping him along and Peter DeBoer wisely kept him out there mostly against Montreal's bottom six. Overall, it was a decent enough performance. I think he may have a future at this level but it's a bit too early to say.

Is Avery a Team Consultant?: Brandon Prust left his mark on the game with not just one, but two goaltender interference penalties. The second one was even outside the crease so good job coaches for teaching the guys the rules of the game. I guess you can't take the Ranger out of some guys. Either that or Peter Laviolette was right along about "Typical Montreal." Fortunately, Zidlicky hooked up with Sullivan for a power play goal that made Montreal pay for the first one.

Is Zidlicky's Mind Right?: Unfortunately, Zidlicky held Eller's stick after he got beat at the right point on the power play awarded to Prust's second goalie interference. That ended the Devils' power play and gave Montreal an abbreviated one. It was Zidlicky's second penalty of the night and the first was unnecessary as that one. He cross-checked Gallagher behind the net away from the play which easily got the ref's attention. The Canadiens would score on that power play. The penalties otherwise leave a mark on a game where he got two assists, no shots on net out of three attempts, and ended up positive in possession. If only he thought a little better.

Power Play Success From Near Failure: The Devils scored two power play goals. Hooray! They came after the Devils made errors on them. Before Elias was sprung for a one-on-one, the team had to re-gain the zone because Elias flung a pass too hard to a point man who wasn't there. The first shot of the power play Sullivan would eventually score on came from Tomas Plekanec as he rushed down on a shorthanded chance, hit the left post, and thankfully the puck didn't bounce off Broduer and in. Good on the Devils to recover from failures to make the most out of their power plays.

Speaking of special teams, I like what the Devils did on the PK. The one goal allowed came from Larsson guessing wrong right after a faceoff and even then, Pacioretty needed a fortuitous bounce off Larsson's skate to score. They still held the Canadiens to only three shots across four opportunities.

When European Players Attack: I enjoyed seeing the good work by Alexei Ponikarovsky, Andrei Loktionov, and Ilya Kovalchuk tonight. Kovalchuk was in a shooting mood and got four on Carey Price. Ponikarovsky was doing quite well along the boards and Loktionov just seemed to be in constant motion. The line didn't produce a goal, but they came mightily close late in the first period when Loktionov was found open for a cross-slot pass. Alas, he didn't get all of it and Price made an impressive stop on him. Nevertheless, I like what they did and so they had the better Corsi differentials among Devils forwards tonight.

When Fourth Liners Sort of, Not Really Attack: While the CBGB started off well and faded, they seemed to get in the heads of the Canadiens players. Steve Bernier in particular had a bee in his bonnet over P.K. Subban when Subban shrugged him off just at the end of the second period. From the third period on, the fourth line seemed to get things fiesty with a Montreal squad so frustrated that they could barely put up a sustained attack in a one-score game against a non-playoff bound team. OK, maybe the latter really drove that more than Ryan Carter. But at least we got to see Stephen Gionta and Brian Gionta battle a little before a faceoff. Yes, Stephen Gionta was at wing, probably because he lost all seven of his faceoffs and the coaches figured Ryan Carter should take a few. Incidentally, Bernier got three shots on net, Carter one, and the unit was treading water in the possession after a monster shift in the first period that kept the Canadiens in their own for about a minute.

Goalie Thoughts: Martin Brodeur did well and the fact he saw 21 total shots means that his percentages don't take a massive hit for two goals he really couldn't have done much on. The first one was an odd-bounce. The second was a point-blank one-timer right in front that still needed to bounce off the post and Brodeur's skate to get in. That's not so bad. He didn't get caught away from the left post like Price on Josefson's goal.

Other Notables: I liked Josefson's hustle tonight and felt he did OK in the 15 or so minutes he played. I felt Clarkson did more than just his one shot tonight. He really should decide to shoot or pass before getting to the crease on an odd-man rush, though. I also felt Elias did a lot more too but he only had one additional shot after his power play goal. I liked Zajac's game tonight and he had an important intervention on a rare bit of third period offense by Montreal. There was a loose rebound and Zajac ensured the Montreal defenseman - I didn't get his number - wouldn't be able to get his stick on it. Additionally, I liked his pass to Elias for the PPG, that he won some faceoffs, and he even attacked a bit with two shots.

A Penultimate Note: Enjoy the win. After Thursday, you're not going to go to the Rock for a game until preseason and after Saturday there won't be any Devils games at all until the fall. Who knows whether the Devils win the next two, so savor this one.

A Final Note: You're welcome, Boston.

That's my take on tonight's game. Who do you think did the best for the Devils tonight? Who do you think had the worst game? What did you like from the Devils performance and why? How did you feel about the Devils holding onto win? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the victory in the comments. Thanks to everyone who followed along in the Gamethread and with @InLouWeTrust on Twitter. Thank you for reading.

New Jersey Devils 3, Montreal Canadiens 2: Game 46 Coverage

John Fischer — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:03:00 -0000

The New Jersey Devils will play their penultimate home game against the Montreal Canadiens tonight. This stream will consist of the game preview, thread, and recap in one convenient location.

Three games until it's over. Let's just see what happens. I know that those in Boston will be hoping New Jersey shows up tonight.

The Time: 7:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG 2, RDS; Radio - 1130 AM WBBR

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (17-18-10) vs. the Montreal Canadiens (27-13-5, SBN Blog: Habs Eyes on the Prize)

The Ticket Link from TiqIQ: It's the the penultimate Devils home game of the regular season. If you want to get to the game, then the secondary market can help you out. I'm not sure how much of a crowd it will be but who knows how many Montreal fans came down to support their team as they fight for the Northeast crown. Anyway, go visit our partners at TiqIQ to find something on the secondary market: New Jersey Devils tickets.

The Last Devils Game: The Devils went into MSG on Sunday for a game against Our Hated Rivals in front of a nationwide audience. They needed to win to keep faint playoff hopes alive. They did not. The New York Rangers scored early, scored some more, and by the time the Devils got on the board, it was a consolation goal. It was a stinker and the Devils are now mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. My recap of the loss is here.

The Last Canadiens Game: On Saturday night, the Canadiens played their final home game of the season against the Washington Capitals. Montreal has been struggling as of late and it was no different against the Caps. The super-hot Alexander Ovechkin opened up the scoring within the first five minutes and shortly after that Troy Brouwer made it 2-0 Washington. Brouwer struck again early in the second period and Nicklas Backstrom scored a power play goal minutes later. Before the halfway mark of the game, it was 4-0 Washington. Needless to say, the Montreal faithful weren't happy. Ovechkin converted a third period power play for his thirtieth (!!) goal of the season. Only a little bit after that did Montreal get on the board with a goal by Max Pacioretty. While Montreal ran up the shot count to 36-25, they were playing from behind for nearly the entire game. As such, they lost another game in a big way by a score of 5-1. Andrew Berkshire was at the game and described not only the game but also the attitude in the Bell Center in his recap at Habs Eyes on the Prize.

The Last Devils-Canadiens Game: Back on March 17, the Devils hosted the Canadiens. You know, in that little window in between extended winless streaks this season. Montreal came into the game hot, the Devils were coming off a shootout loss to Philly from the night prior, and so the visitors had the better run of play in the first period. They were rewarded early when a defensive faceoff win by New Jersey led to a giveaway of sorts by Anton Volchenkov and Colby Armstrong slammed a shot from the left dot through a screen to beat Johan Hedberg. Moose did well to prevent it from being extended. The Devils played far better in the second and third periods, out-shooting, out-attempting, and out-playing Montreal in most aspects of the game. They tied up the game at 1-1 with a shot by Peter Harrold that found it's way through traffic during a power play. However, the Devils couldn't crack Carey Price (or the goal post) again. Marek Zidlicky had one awful giveaway in his own end that went right to Jarrod Tinordi. Tinordi wound up a slap shot, hit it, and Tomas Plekanec deflected it while skating across to make it 2-1. The Devils would end up losing 2-1 on a night where they eventually took the game over in possession even when tied, they actually got a good game out of Hedberg, and they didn't rolled over after a lame first period because they couldn't score. Bruce Peter forgot where Newark was in his recap of the game; while Andrew Berkshire recounted his experience at the Rock. In my recap, I made a point of how cruddy the shooting percentage was then and how it was undercutting the team. As it turned out, the following weeks have only vindicated what I was talking about then. Remember that when you read the many post-mortem Devils posts on the Internet that don't mention the shooting percentage.

The Goal: Start out with a bang. The Devils got caught early and were down 1-0 within the first minute against New York on Sunday. On Saturday, the Devils were listless and were quickly down 2-0 before they even got a shot on net when they hosted Florida. On Thursday, an eventual 3-0 win at Philly, the Devils needed some time before they got going, so to speak. The Devils have had some poor starts in recent games. While the Devils have nothing positive in the standings to play for at this point, the Canadiens absolutely do with respect to seeding and possibly getting first in their division. They've lost four out of their last five and they have reason to be ready for this one. In response to their most recent loss to the Caps, they had a Sunday practice which has not been traditional for them this season according to Stu Cowan at Hockey Inside/Out. If the Devils want to finish the season on a high note, then knocking off a good Montreal team would be a good way to do it. To do that, it would be in their best interest to have a good start. That means making passes, completing line changes, not taking over five minutes to register a shot on net, and not getting pinned back among other things.

Let's talk about the Devils first. They didn't have a full practice today but Lou was out in force in the media today. Therefore, it's been confirmed through Tom Gulitti at Fire & Ice that Bryce Salvador will not play another game this season, Ilya Kovalchuk will play, and there could be some younger faces getting minutes. As Gulitti noted, Alexander Urbom has already been called up but hasn't played yet so he could be in the mix. The Devils could call up a number of other players too. While Stefan Matteau has been released by his junior team during their playoffs, Lou said he won't be coming to New Jersey this week. Whether or not we'll see anyone different tonight isn't known as of this writing. I would count on Martin Brodeur starting tonight if only because it's Montreal.

If it were up to me, I would definitely want to take Anton Volchenkov out and put Mark Fayne back in. If the idea is to get Urbom involved, then he may be the fall guy. Urbom's a defensive minded defenseman; were he more offensively-inclined, then I could see Peter Harrold sit one out. As much as Marek Zidlicky's play draws ire from some fans, I can't forsee the one offensive-minded defender being sat out after not being sat out this whole season. Up at forward, we could see the same lineup and if so, I just hope Patrik Elias will have a more constructive performance and Ilya Kovalchuk will get some shots on net.

Moving on to Montreal, they're really slumping but taking them lightly is ten pounds of a bad idea in a five pound bag. Look at the lines and pairings reported by Brenda Branswell at Hockey Inside/Out from their practice session on Monday. That's a lot of talent up top with two big-minute defenders in Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban - I'm sorry, Norris-quality P.K. Subban - on separate pairings. Les Habs have five forwards with ten or more goals this season: Max Pacioretty (13 G, 24 A, 151 S), Michael Ryder (16 G, 19 A, 99 S, did play on Dallas), Tomas Plekanec (13 G, 19 A, 128 S), captain Brian Gionta (14 G, 12 A, 108 S), and rookie Brendan Gallagher (13 G, 12 A, 108 S). And they have two more on the cusp of double-digits in scoring: David Desharnais (9 G, 17 A, 63 S) and rookie Alex Galchenyuk (9 G, 15 A, 76 S). Oh, and Subban (11 G, 25 A, 116 S, 7 PPG) and Markov (9 G, 18 A, 76 S, 8 PPG) have been productive as well. On top of all that, all of those players have at least 20 points this season. So does Lars Eller (6 G, 18 A, 78 S). To put all that in perspective, the Devils only have four players with at least ten goals and three players with at least twenty points. Montreal can definitely produce. They've only been somewhat cold recently.

And unlike some other team in Canada the Devils lost 2-1 to in their last game, they're not just riding percentages. Up and down the Montreal lineup, there are positive possession numbers for the Canadien players per Behind the Net in 5-on-5 play. Defenseman Raphael Diaz is the only one who plays a considerable amount who's deep in the red but even that's mitigated by his usage against tough competition and a low offensive zone start percentage. As a team, the Canadiens have a Fenwick percentage over 53% in close-score situations and they've only been deeply below 50% when they have a lead, which is usually common. They average over 30 shots per sixty minutes and allow just over 27 per sixty minutes in 5-on-5 play. The underlying numbers for this team mean that this team is legitimately strong. The fact they're shooting at 8.9% means they're getting production to match. They're just in a lull if anything else.

In net, they appear to be mostly fine though recent games have run roughshod over the numbers. Carey Price's splits look similar to Martin Brodeur this season. They both have an even strength save percentage above league average; Carey Price is at 92%. They both have a woeful penalty kill save percentage; Price is at 81.2%. Price has been better against shorthanded situations, though. However, better is something I'm sure Canadien fans want from Price. He's allowed 19 goals in his last five games and at least one was a power play goal in each game. Recent play suggests the Devils should just bomb away and see what happens. They might even go in. Especially when the Devils get a power play. If Montreal decides to mix things up and put in Peter Budaj, the plan should remain the same. Budaj has been far better on the PK but his even strength save percentage is only 90.7%.

The penalty kill has gone as well as one would expect with Price's PK save percentage so low. The Canadiens are 24th in success rate at 80% this season. They're actually below the league median in 4-on-5 situations with 46.1 shots allowed per 60 minutes according to Behind the Net. But what they've allowed has hurt. The Devils' power play will see plenty of Josh Gorges, Montreal's leader in average shorthanded ice time per game. As of late, it seems to me he can be picked on; let's hope the Devils can. On the flip side, their power play has been quite successful. Their conversion rate of 21.2% is the fourth highest in the league and they are above league average with 48.3 shots for per sixty minutes in 5-on-4 situations. The Devils' penalty kill need to be aware of the pointmen at all times. Subban is tied with Ovechkin and Mike Ribiero for the league lead in power play points with 25. Markov is just behind those three with 23. Ryder, Plekanec, and Pacioretty each have over ten power play points as well.

Overall, the Montreal Canadiens are a very good team. The only reason why one may think the Devils have a decent chance at winning tonight is that Montreal has suffered from poor performances in recent games. If I'm a supporter of the Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge, I wouldn't so concerned about limping into the postseason because, again, the team's quality matches more closely to their record than, say, Toronto. But back tonight, the Devils really should just play loose - shouldn't be a problem since they're now out - and hope that they get the breaks Montreal opponents have been getting. If they do that, get a good start, and get into their game (won't be easy since Montreal's a very good possession team, but still), then they could get a nice moral victory with an actual victory while doing Boston a solid. If not, well, I can't imagine too many unhappy Devils fans about it. Such as it is when you know the season's over after Saturday's game ends.

Incidentally, if you want to say "Hi" at a game, you pretty much want to do it either on Tuesday or Thursday. I'll be in Section 1 as usual and ready to hear a myriad of comments starting with "This is what the Devils gotta do this summer." Until then, let's talk about this game - and let's keep the comments to this game - in the comments. Do you think the Devils can make the most of Montreal's recent struggles? Or will Montreal's quality be too much and put a good game together at the Rock? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about this game in the comments. Thanks for reading.

New Jersey Devils vs. Montreal Canadiens: Game 46 Preview

John Fischer — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:32:03 -0000

Three games until it's over. Let's just see what happens. I know that those in Boston will be hoping New Jersey shows up tonight.

The Time: 7:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG 2, RDS; Radio - 1130 AM WBBR

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (17-18-10) vs. the Montreal Canadiens (27-13-5, SBN Blog: Habs Eyes on the Prize)

A Closer Look at Martin Brodeur's 2013 Save Percentage Splits

John Fischer — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:57:07 -0000

After the 4-1 loss to Our Hated Rivals, Martin Brodeur saw another hit to his already low save percentage for the 2013 season. Brodeur's total save percentage currently sits at 90%. Prior to games being completed on Sunday night, Brodeur sits in between the likes of mere goaltenders like Justin Peters and Jonathan Quick in this statistic among league goalies. Out of 81 goaltenders who have appeared in any one game, Brodeur is not far from 60th in the NHL in save percentage. When you consider Johan Hedberg has been even worse at 89.1% as of this writing, it's hard not to conclude that Brodeur's injury certainly didn't help. Moreover, it's not unreasonable that goaltending performance has been a reason why the Devils didn't make the playoffs. It's hard to make the postseason if both goalies are nowhere near the overall league average save percentage of 91.2%.

However, it's not as simple as that. Well, it's not all that simple in the case of Martin Brodeur at least. A closer look at his save percentage by situation reveals where the problem may truly lie. Believe it or not, Brodeur has actually been quite OK this season - at even strength.

Even strength is usually a good way to gauge how well a goaltender is playing. There's no special situation to deal with and a vast majority of saves attempted and made will come at evens since it is the most common situation hockey. According to NHL.com Brodeur has a save percentage of 91.8% of even strength. That's a considerable improvement over his last two seasons, which were about 91.2% and 91.1%. For full perspective with respect to Brodeur, here's a graph of his even strength save percentage as far back as NHL.com will let me: the 1997-98 season.

It appears he's bounced back in 2013 after a significant drop in the past two seasons. Also, note that he peaked in 2008-09. You know what happened in that season but hold onto that thought for a little later in this post.

Prior to Sunday night's games, the league average among all 81 goaltenders for even strength save percentage was 91.5%. So even after giving up three at evens to the Rangers, Brodeur remains above league average in the most common situation in hockey. In my view, that suggests that Brodeur really hasn't been so bad this season. (Hedberg, well, he's at 90.3%. Sorry, Moose.) So why is his overall save percentage so low?

That's easy enough. It's the penalty kill. Brodeur's penalty killing save percentage is a woeful 81.6%. That really sticks out even though goaltenders will face only a fraction of shots while down one or two men compared to what they'll see at evens. Power plays usually try to set up dangerous shots, making them more difficult to stop. Therefore, penalty killing save percentages tend vary from season to season. Even with that in mind, 2013 really is over the edge compared to the rest of Brodeur's career.

Notice the difference in the save percentage axis range between the two graphs. For even strength, it was from 90% to 93.5%. On the PK, the range is 79% to 93% since the variation on save percentage on the penalty kill is much larger. Brodeur has been all over the place in his career. His previous career low - assuming he wasn't so much worse from 1993-94 through 1996-97 - was 83.87% in the 1999-2000 season. That came after a fantastically high save percentage on the penalty kill. Similarly, Brodeur was as good as anyone can hope in a goalie while down a man in setting a career high in 2011-12. Yet, in 2013, he's cratered and broke that 1999-2000 mark.

It's definitely ugly compared to past seasons. With respect to the league, it's, well, still ugly. The league average among all 81 goalies this season prior to Sunday night's games is 86.5%. Even Hedberg has been slightly better at an even 82%. So it's clear where the problem with Brodeur's goaltending lies. It's been on the penalty kill. Technically, it's special teams, but I'm not concerned about the power play. Brodeur's save percentage while up a man or two is only 89.5%, but that's 17 saves out of 19 shots and both goals against came in one game. That wouldn't drive the overall save percentage into a ditch but it doesn't help. To highlight that, here's Brodeur's cumulative save percentage so far this season.

Look at the gap between the overall and even strength save percentage. It's largely followed the same path but it just goes to show how much the PK has undercut Brodeur's overall save percentage and, by extension, the team. Given what the penalty kill looked like during a mass of goals against earlier in 2013, then one may conclude it may not all be on Brodeur. Shape up the penalty kill (or hope for better luck) and his save percentages as well as his performances should be fine in 2013-14.

I can't agree with that conclusion. Four caveats come to mind.

First and foremost is the length of the season. Even if Brodeur didn't get hurt, he would still have a smaller population size of games played compared with past seasons. That matters a whole lot because it means each game can have a larger effect on the save percentage. For example, Brodeur was at an even strength save percentage of 92.1% prior to Sunday's game against the Rangers. Now, it's dropped by .3% and he's suddenly just above average as opposed to being more significantly above league average. On the other side, it means games where Brodeur doesn't let in anything at evens makes his season totals that much better.

A smaller amount of games played can lend itself to larger skews in performance. Let's go back to 2008-09. Brodeur was significantly injured and played in only 31 games. He did so well since coming back that his numbers look wonderful. It couldn't last over a long period of time and we saw that to an extent in prior and following seasons. To put it another way, if Brodeur gets lit up in the next three games, then he's suddenly going to have an even strength save percentage well below league average. If he's hot and stops a lot, then it'll increase. With only so many games played, the noise may still override the true signal of whether Brodeur is truly a league average goalie at even strength.

Second, Brodeur hasn't faced a lot of shots this season. This is in conjunction with the number of games played but the Devils' defense, for all of their faults, have been exceptional at limiting shots against in all situations in 2013 according to Behind the Net. In fact, he's faced less than 15 shots against at even strength in ten of his 28 games this year. While two goals against still counts the same regardless of how many shots faced, the percentage is far different. Two goals allowed out of 11 at evens is going to hurt a cumulative save percentage more than two goals allowed out of 27 at evens. Now, I'm not saying that Brodeur definitely would stop additional shots had the defense been worse. We don't and can't know that. But it is worth noting.

Third, Brodeur will be turning 41 next month and this is truly uncharted territory for goaltenders. According to Hockey-Reference, there have been only 11 goaltenders in the history of the NHL that have played at least one game at age 41 or more. Only four of them have played in recent years: Ed Belfour, Dominik Hasek, Curtis Joseph and Dwayne Roloson. Only Hasek can be described as good among them in his post 41+ career. Forget Brodeur's back spasms keeping him out for weeks this season, his own performance may not hold up over a larger season. Again, he's looked better than his past two seasons at even strength but he could have just been riding a streak. He may not even get there next season or not have enough of them to keep his head above water. He could, but history is on the same side as time and it's not for Brodeur.

Fourth, the penalty kill has it's own variables involved. The Devils have been shorthanded 156 times, the ninth most in the league. Should next season's team improve it's discipline in spots, then there would be fewer shorthanded situations to deal with which could help or exacerbate the penalty kill's performance. While the Devils haven't allowed a lot of shots in shorthanded situations relative to rest of the league, power plays tend to set up shots in advantageous locations and try to catch the goalie unaware. The Devils could be good initially but the moment they break, it's over for them. Additionally, the Devils have only faced 14 different power plays and seven of them are in the upper-half of success rate, including the top three conversion rates in the NHL. Next season, the Western teams could provide some different looks. All of these could help or hurt a PK save percentage even if Brodeur tries to improve in this regard, assuming he even can. So while it does vary, it's not a guarantee it could get much better, slightly better, or possibly worse. We just don't know.

With those four in mind, I still believe that goaltending is an issue to a degree. It's not a main reason why the Devils can set tee times in May, but it's a reason to an extent. Martin Brodeur has performed better at even strength this season with the asterisk of a small population size. He currently compares well with the rest of the league. I'm not confident it can last, though. In any case, I would suggest taking a much closer look at the penalty kill to see whether Brodeur has been the main problem or whether it's something or someone else. It's one more reason to review the goals he allowed. Overall, while I hesitate at the notion of Brodeur being a starter for a full season, I don't currently think he's a major reason why the Devils aren't where we would want them to be.

In the case of Moose, well, he's been calamitous after a hot start in 2013. I would favor replacing him assuming it's even possible. But even while he was a hot mess during a nine game slump that included a six-game winless streak, it's also worth noting that the Devils failed to give him a lot of goal support. Don't get me wrong, Moose has had some truly awful performances but that slump was a team effort, so to speak. I'd prefer to have a capable #1A guy next season - a veteran, I don't want to throw a young guy in the proverbial fire - to split time with Brodeur and then figure out the future in the following season. Of course, goaltending can be a strange thing get a handle on. After all, Jonathan Quick has been just as poor as Brodeur in overall save percentage and worse at even strength and he was super-amazing in 2011-12.

No Playoffs This Year: New Jersey Devils Trounced by New York Rangers 4-1

John Fischer — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 21:57:44 -0000

The odds for the New Jersey Devils making the playoffs in 2013 this morning were incredibly small. As of 5:55 PM EDT, they are now nothing. The loss mathematically eliminates the Devils from playoff contention. If that wasn't painful enough, it was at the hands of the New York Rangers, Our Hated Rivals. The Rangers took a big step closer to securing the eighth seed and secured some bragging rights for the summer. Making the loss sting further was that it wasn't even close. The Devils got trounced by the Rangers 1-4.

As the score would indicate, the game was rather decisive. The Rangers got on the board early. Within the first minute, Henrik Tallinder tried to pin Derek Stepan against the end boards and Marek Zidlicky came behind the net to help some how. Stepan got the puck away while being hit to the goal line. As Martin Brodeur turned to the left post, expecting play to continue, Ryan Callahan had an easy tap-in for a score. The Devils responded with, well, nothing much positive. They did gift two power plays. The first came from a double minor given to Ryan Carter for roughing (Darroll Powe only got one minor) and Matt D`Agostini ending a Devils power play early with a stick-hold on Dan Girardi after the latter rocked the former.. The Devils didn't get their first shot on net until seven minutes in. The Devils killed those penalties, but the Rangers got a fortunate break. As the Devils were pinned back, defenseman Ryan McDonagh fired a shot into traffic in the slot, Stepan got a piece of it, and the puck went past Brodeur, off the left post, and into the net. The Devils responded with more non-positive plays with a tripping call on Carter and Peter DeBoer getting tagged for an abuse for officials call which gave the Rangers more power play time. The Devils did kill it off, but they ended the first period down 6-7 in shots, 10-16 in attempts, and -3 in Corsi. For a team down by two, that's not good.

There would be a New Jersey performance blooming early in the second period. For the first half of it, the Devils played to the score and pinned the Rangers back a few times. Henrik Lundqvist bailed out his team to maintain the score. The Rangers would settle things down and then take a further lead. Anton Volchenkov gave away a puck right to Brad Richards and as Richards tossed it to Taylor Pyatt in the high slot, Volchenkov moved in front of Brodeur. Pyatt fired a great shot that I don't know if Brodeur even saw clearly to make it a 0-3. Sure, the Devils made the shot count look better and started getting higher in possession but that's not all that meaningful due to score effects. The Rangers not only got a goal to extend their lead but put up ten shots, mostly in the second half of the period. If nothing else, it confirmed that the Devils were in a deep, deep hole.

The Devils did themselves no favors in trying to get out of it. Ryan Callahan got a minor penalty for tripping and the Devils, as usual, struggled to get into the Rangers' end to get set up for their power play. During said power play, Patrik Elias mouthed off to a referee. Whatever he said must have been bad because the ref gave him a minor penalty for it. During the abbreviated power play, Richards got open in space, found Callahan down low, and while Brodeur dove forward with a poke-check, he only got a piece of Callahan's shot. The puck lofted up and over the goalie and into the net to make it 0-4. It was garbage time from that point on. The Devils would get a consolation goal. Just before Powe clobbered Peter Harrold, the defenseman got the puck up to Ilya Kovalchuk, and he fired a great pass across the zone to Andrei Loktionov. Loktionov sniped a shot to ruin Lundqvist's shutout, one of the few bright spots for the day. Alas, the Devils kept giving up odd-man rushes, they pulled the goalie early and got nothing out of it though they didn't give up an empty netter, and with 17 seconds left DeBoer got a game misconduct.

I saw a Devils team that was frustrated, unhappy, and angry. However, instead of turning their emotions into constructive, productive, and positive play, they just let it out. As understandable as you may find it to be, it hurt the Devils today. It led to penalties, Elias' mouthing off led to a GA, and it didn't lead to much against the Rangers. What also hurt the Devils was that the Rangers just played a better game of hockey. Yes, the Devils ended up far ahead in possession but the Rangers led in the game the whole way. The Devils really only looked like they have been for most of the last few weeks for the first eight minutes of the second period. The rest was mostly Rangers hockey. Their defensemen jumped up at the right times to make plays. Their forwards kept pressing and were rewarded. They won plenty of loose pucks. Nothing I saw today made me think the Devils deserved better than this scoreline. I haven't had to write that in a while. I wish it wouldn't be at the hands of this team. I'd rather have getting licked and/or knocked out of the playoffs by Montreal or Pittsburgh, but it is what it is.

And that's sad. If we're honest with ourselves, the playoffs were not likely going to happen this season for the Devils. You would just hope that wouldn't be made official by Our Hated Rivals. I didn't want to see it. I certainly didn't feel good hearing "Season's Over" from the normally docile MSG crowd on the NBC broadcast. But they're not wrong. It's true. The last three games are now only for pride for us Devils fans (Boston and Winnipeg will keep an eye on two of the next three Devils games).

The Opposition Opinion: The people at Blueshirt Banter are understandably happy. A recap isn't up yet, but I think it's a safe assumption.

The Game Highlights: There is a highlight video of this game at NHL.com. I'm going to guess you're not all that interested in it. I know I'm not.

More to Come Later: I haven't decided if I have more to say, like how poor Volchenkov's error was and how bad Patrik Elias played today. I'm going to eat something and then think about it. If I will, then I'll update this post. So in the meantime, please feel free to discuss this loss in the comments. And so I have more to say.

Correction: According to Tom Gulitti on Twitter, Peter DeBoer revealed after the game that he didn't cause the abuse of officials call from the bench. It was because a player said something. I assumed it was him because he was noticeably unhappy after Ilya Kovalchuk apparently getting tripped up without any call. DeBoer did admit fault on his misconduct per this tweet.

When a Decision Blows Up in Your Face: DeBoer made two changes to his lineup today. One was Andrei Loktionov being put in the lineup for Jacob Josefson. Loktionov was somewhat active with three shots today, one that led to a point-blank pad-save by Lundqvist in the second period and one that did beat Lundqvist for a goal. Not a bad switch. The other was Anton Volchenkov coming in for Mark Fayne. Before the game, I figured the logic was that a physical game could have a lot of penalties and so a more physical defender who specializes on the PK would be a decent fit. Rather than taking Peter Harrold out, since he provides a little offense, Fayne was the fall guy. That move did not turn out so well.

While Volchenkov was actually a part of the offense at points with three shots on net out of six attempts, he also picked up an uncredited secondary assist. He made a turnover almost as bad as his one to Chris Kunitz back in February. He just flung a puck towards Brad Richards, who easily took it. Making matters worse is that Volchenkov immediately decided to move in front of the crease to try and block the shot. That only screened Brodeur. As it has been with a lot of defensemen this season, a lot of good or even merely average work can be wiped away with one horrible error. Even his otherwise good work on the penalty kill had a blotch on it when he was caught in a no man's land on Callahan's goal. The error on the goal really lies with Stephen Gionta being overly aggressive such that Richards was so open and Brodeur going for a poke when he should've stayed up. but Volchenkov did himself no favors. It's moments like those that lead fans to wonder if he can get the Redden Special.

Invisible Kovalchuk: No shots on net from Ilya Kovalchuk. I'm serious. He had only one attempt and he missed on it. He did have a sweet pass to Loktionov for a goal. But that was really it in terms of offensive contribution. He was largely just "there" today. I don't want to be so critical since he's two games back from injury. If we made a list of all of the things that went wrong, then he wouldn't be near the top of the list. But it must be said, he didn't make much of an impact today.

Was It Worth It: Patrik Elias had a very productive Saturday with two goals while rolling with David Clarkson and Travis Zajac (he actually had a decent game, he even went 13-for-16 on faceoffs) as they gave Florida a lot of problems. Today, he was just poor. He only got one shot on net, he passed up at least two good looks at the net, and he wasn't very good in possession even with score effects. I know he may have helped Clarkson get some of those six shots, but Elias really wasn't making things happen. Combined with the team's performance, he got visibly more and more frustrated. And he didn't use it constructively. That likely led to him mouthing off at a referee during a Devils power play. Yes, during a power play. Callahan got his second goal off the penalty so I still wonder whether Elias thinks whatever he said was worth it. It made a poor performance even worse.

Two Power Plays for 2:07: The Devils had two power plays today and they took penalties on both of them to end them early. Not that the power play was all that great otherwise, but it's hard to get something going when the situation is cut short.

CBGB Wasn't Open: The CBGB line looked very good against Philly and Florida. Today, they combined for two shots on net, Steve Bernier skied a one-timer in front of a gaping net in the second period, and Ryan Carter took three minor penalties for two power plays by the Rangers. Needless to say, they didn't really have the same effect on the game today than they did in the last two. They were largely ineffective today. They're only a fourth line but it would have helped if they broke something off.

Dropping .3%: Tomorrow's post is a quick one about Martin Brodeur's save percentage splits this season and through most of his career. Going into today's game, Brodeur's even strength save percentage was at 92.1%. Afterwards, it fell to 91.8% Brodeur looked silly on the first one but that was due to a lack of communication. Had Marek Zidlicky stayed in the slot like he was supposed to instead of not-really-helping Henrik Tallinder, maybe he could've told Brodeur to not move laterally. Brodeur's decision to dive for a poke prior to Callahan's second goal wasn't good. If it he got more of the puck, then hey, maybe he denies him and looks good. But the risk wasn't rewarded - and his low PK save percentage took another hit. The other two even strength goals against weren't his fault; Stepan scored off a re-direction among traffic and Pyatt scored thanks in part to Volchenkov. But the numbers suffer regardless of reason.

Did You Know: Chris Kreider and Adam Henrique played in today's game? They sure did!

The Line of Trouble: The unit of Carl Hagelin, Derek Stepan, and Ryan Callahan gave the Devils the most trouble today. Not only did they create two of the three goals against at even strength, but the trio combined for seven shots at even strength and Stepan ended up positive in possession despite being on a team with a big lead. They skated hard, drove in hard, and really put in a strong effort. Adam Larsson and Andy Greene saw plenty of Stepan and it didn't often go so well. Furthering the notion that that line was strong today, today's attending media gave the first and third stars of the game to Callahan and Stepan, respectively. Well, they'll be Pittsburgh's problem in short order.

The Game in One Moment: In the first period, Alexei Ponikarovsky attempted to skate into the Rangers zone with the puck. He promptly fell forward all on his own as he crossed the blueline. It summed up the first period and the Devils' performance overall.

Apologies for the delay in giving you my additional thoughts; I just wanted to get something up first rather than make you wait more for everything. In any case, we'll have a lot of time to discuss all of this. What did you make of today's loss? Please leave your answer and other thoughts about the game in the comments. Thank you for reading.

New Jersey Devils 1, New York Rangers 4: Game 45 Coverage

John Fischer — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 04:30:05 -0000

The Devils will take on Our Hated Rivals for the first of two matchups in eight days today. This stream is one location for the preview, gamethread, and recap as the Devils got knocked out of the playoffs by the Rangers.

As the season winds down, the Devils are pretty much playing out the string. Can they bring down the Rags postseason hopes in the meantime?

The Time: 3:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - NBC (US), TSN 2 (Canada); Radio - 1130 AM WBBR

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (17-17-10) vs. the New York Rangers (23-17-4; SBN Blog: Blueshirt Banter)

The Ticket Link for TiqIQ: Would you like to make the trip across the river to the World's Most Overhyped Arena for one of this season's last rivalry games (rivalry in the actual sense, not the NBC Sports Network sense)? For last minute tickets for Devils-Rangers, the secondary market is probably your only shot. Head over to our partners at TiqIQ to get your tickets for this afternoon's game: New Jersey Devils tickets.

The Last Devils Game: The Devils took on the Florida Panthers yesterday and the game got off to a rough start with New Jersey falling into an 0-2 hole early in the first period. The way the Devils have been scoring this season, you might think that would be a huge problem, but the team responded in a big way. The Devils got a goal back on the power play before the end of the first to make it a one goal game, then proceeded to absolutely run the Panthers off the ice for the rest of the contest. The Devils rang up four goals in the second and tacked on another in the third to win 6-2 going away. Elias scored two goals to break out of his slump and Clarkson, Zubrus, Gionta, and Carter found back of the net as well, as the Devils offense finally found their scoring touch. After allowing the first five shots of the game, the Devils would go on to out-shoot the Panthers 33-8 the rest of the way. John's recap of the big win that kept the Devils slim playoff hopes alive can be found here.

The Last Rangers Game: In their last game, the Rangers took on the Buffalo Sabres, and the game got out of hand in a hurry. After going scoreless for most of the first period, the Rangers found the back of the net three times in the last minute-and-a-half. An ineffective Ryan Miller got the hook after giving up a fourth goal early in the second. That did not interrupt the onslaught, as the Rangers would beat Jhonas Enroth an additional four times before the night was over. An inept Buffalo defense certainly didn't help either goaltender. The previously struggling Brad Richards netted his first career hat trick and assorted other Rangers added five more goals for an eventual 8-4 victory. A recap of the blowout from Joe Fortunato can be found over at Blueshirt Banter.

The Last Devils-Rangers Game: The last game between the Devils and the Rags took place in a magical time when the Devils were still very much within the playoff picture. The recap from John will look mighty familiar as it is pretty much the same recap he has written what seems like 20 or so times this season. The Devils outshot and outattempted the Rangers in the game, and while Jerry hasn't looked at the chances yet for this game, there's probably a decent shot they outchanced them too. The Devils fell, regardless, 3-2. An exciting 2-2 first period gave way to an at-times sloppy second period which featured only one goal from Rick Nash on a 2-on-1 yielded by a bad line change. The Devils couldn't find an equalizer in the third, so they lost. John's frustration was palpable in the recap, as it the game came on the heels of this season's Hedberg Era of Futility. If only we knew that a somehow even more maddening stretch of hockey was still to come.

The Goal: Win. That's pretty much it. The only way the Devils have any shot at all of making the postseason is to win out, so it's basically their only option at this point. With four games remaining, the Devils remain six points in back of the Rangers (five in back of Winnipeg) and a loss in this afternoon's game would officially eliminate them from contention.

Basically, the Devils have to control play the way they have for a couple weeks now and keep up the scoring ability they've shown the last two nights. The Flyers and Panthers are not exactly defensive juggernauts, so finding a way through the Rangers defense and Henrik Lundqvist presents a slightly taller challenge. The fact that Ilya Kovalchuk has returned to the lineup should help the Devils generate pressure on this Rags team.

Defensively, the Devils will be dealing with a Rangers team has found their own scoring touch over the past month. A team that was dead last in scoring prior to the trade deadline is now sitting at 15th in the league. The Rangers are also coming off 14 goals in their last two games, so the Devils D corps will have to try to silence the Rangers suddenly hot scoring.

The Devils have split the first two matchups on the season and I'm sure everyone here is hoping they make it three out of four by the end of this week. It starts today at MSG. Sound off with your thoughts on tonight's game below. Thanks for reading, let's go Devils.

New Jersey Devils Podcast Talking Red: Episode #110

John Fischer — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:28:35 -0000

Two wins! It's been so long since the New Jersey Devils got two wins within a week. They ended their ten game winless streak and their two game goalless streak on the same night and then routed an opponent for a change in their next game. Therefore, it was much more fun for David Sarch, Dan Pennucci, and myself to talk Devils hockey on this week's episode of Talking Red. We talk about the end of the winless streak and it's low points. We discuss how the Devils really dropped a hammer on Florida. We answer questions such as "Is Ilya Kovalchuk more important to the team than Patrik Elias?"; "Which pick-ups from this season should be kept for next season?"; and "How good is the core of this team?" We touch on the announced outdoor game for next January, David Clarkson not being terrible for one game, and recent news. We did quite a bit in one show and even threw in a few digs at Toronto.

Thanks to David for having me on the show once again. As usual, there are multiple ways to listen to this week's episode of Talking Red. You can go to the show's website and get it directly there. You can find it on iTunes or Stitcher and get it there. You can even stay right here on this post and listen to a stream of it. This week's episode is 16.73 MB large, 36:33 long, and recorded before today's game against Our Hated Rivals.

Please leave any comments, questions, and suggestions about this week's show in the comments here, at the TR website, by email to Talking Red, or tweet them to @TalkingRed. Thank you for listening.