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I think the New Jersey Devils should be using all these extended gaps between games, and extra practice sessions, to make real adjustments to their system and style of play.
This low-event, try and force defense thing simply isn’t working. It’s just not. It was perfectly fine when the team was devoid of talent and it was essentially the only way of keeping games close. That’s not the case anymore. It’s time to change.
New Jersey has talented stars at each position. For them to generate so little, and look so lifeless, is unacceptable. No, I’m not saying that because the Devils have two wins in nine games. I’d be saying the same if they had seven wins with horrible underlyings like these.
They are averaging 45.16 shot attempts and 20.91 scoring chances per 60 minutes of 5v5 play. Both totals are comfortably dead last. You know, 31st. Call me crazy, but I don’t think a team featuring Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes and co. up front, and a bunch of solid puck movers on defense, should be sniffing dead last.
It’d be one thing if the Devils were generating little but giving up even less. They’re not. As such, they’re controlling just 46.56% of the shot attempts, 47.04% of the expected goals, and 43.90% of the actual goals at 5v5. They fared better in each category last season with Kenny Agostino and your friend from the local corner store playing big minutes.
There’s not much debate the offensive personnel is far better than the defensive personnel. Given that, this should be an offensive minded team. I’m not suggesting defense doesn’t matter and they should abandon it entirely, but this roster is built to play fast and create.
I think they’d have a much better chance of stringing together wins by outskilling opponents than they do forcing a bunch of offense-first guys (Jesper Bratt, Nikita Gusev, etc.) to play 10 conservative minutes a night. That just neuters their strengths and, clearly, without doing much to address their weaknesses.
I realize I am comparing apples to oranges here but look at the Baltimore Ravens. They contended for Super Bowls annually playing smash-mouth defense and doing just enough on offense. Now, they play fast, aggressive offensive football and run one of the most unique systems you’ll see in the league. Most notably, they changed everything to build around Lamar Jackson. They didn’t take away his legs and force him to be a true pocket passer so he’d fit into the way the Ravens of old played. They changed things entirely to maximize the strengths of their personnel.
I think it’s time for the Devils to do the same.
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