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One area the New Jersey Devils have enjoyed great success since the lockout is in the shootout.
The Devils may not seem like a team that would do well in the skills competition when looking at their roster, but they've fared extremely well.
Martin Brodeur is 2nd all-time in shootout wins, Johan Hedberg is among the top goaltenders in terms of shootout save percentage and the likes of Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk have made opposing goaltenders look silly on a regular basis.
With that said, over the last two summers we've witnessed a lot of change that will alter the Devils shootout lineup drastically. Parise and Kovalchuk, undoubtedly the Devils two most successful and lethal shooters, left for Minnesota and the KHL respectively while Hedberg was bought out.
The Devils have brought in a lot of new faces in Ryane Clowe, Jaromir Jagr, Michael Ryder, Cory Schneider, etc. though, and they should help replace some of what was lost in terms of shootout talent.
How do the new faces fare in shootouts and are they better than some of the options the Devils already had? Let's find out.
Quick notes: GDG is game deciding goals. Adam Henrique, Andrei Loktionov, etc. weren't listed because they had five career attempts or less.
When I was researching these statistics I was very surprised to see Clowe has had so much success in the shootout. It's not a small sample size in terms of his body of work, either. I haven't seen enough of his shootout attempts to know his tendencies or if he actually has some good moves, but it's encouraging to see he's had so much success in the shootout. You can never have enough good shooters.
Based off the chart I'm rather confident in the Devils abilities to pick up the extra point in shootouts going forward. They have three players who shoot over 30% in shootouts, two of whom shoot almost 40%, and five players who are over 25%. They also have some players who haven't been tested too much in Henrique, Loktionov, etc. but have the skill set and ability to have success in those situations.
Brodeur is very good in shootouts, as well, and Schneider isn't half bad so the Devils should be able to win their fair share of shootouts.
This may not seem like an important topic, but shootouts come up more frequently than most people realize, especially for the Devils, and an extra point here and there could be the difference between making the playoffs or missing them.
If the Devils were in a shootout and everyone is healthy, who would be your first three shooters? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section.
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A look at the Devils options at 3rd line left wing.
Who will lead the Devils in scoring?
Cory Schneider vs. Martin Brodeur.
Who found success vs. Martin Brodeur last season?
Who found success vs. Cory Schneider last season?
A look at how Schneider and Brodeur fared vs. defenseman compared to forwards last season.
Why Ryane Clowe's in line for a bounce back season.
Just how good is Reid Boucher?
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