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Over the last four seasons the New Jersey Devils have scored just 408 goals at 5 v 5. Only the Buffalo Sabres, who recently put forth one of the best and most obvious tanking efforts in modern sports, scored fewer 5 v 5 goals in that span and they sit just three below.
To put in perspective just how far behind the rest of the league the Devils are in 5 v 5 scoring they have scored 49 fewer goals than 28th placed Arizona, and 63 fewer than Edmonton for 27th.
Part of the reason the Devils haven't scored much is because they're a defense first team. That shows in the numbers as only three teams (Los Angeles, St. Louis and the New York Rangers) have allowed fewer 5 v 5 goals in that span and their shot suppression numbers are always among the best.
The other reason for their woeful totals is because they simply haven't had the personnel to generate offense at 5 v 5 since Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise left.
Obviously they'll have to add more scoring at 5 v 5 if they want to make the playoffs while Cory Schneider is elite and that's surely at or near the top of Ray Shero's off-season to-do list.
One guy who could help in that regard is Jiri Hudler.
At 32 years of age he doesn't fit in with what the Devils are trying to do in terms of being a long-term fit, however, his asking price in terms of dollars and length will certainly be much more reasonable than the likes of Kyle Okposo and Milan Lucic, among others.
Hudler may not be a big name but he can score with the best of them at 5 v 5. Over the last three seasons Hudler has averaged 2.19 points per 60 minutes of play at full-strength. That's good for 16th among 264 eligible skaters (minimum 2,000 minutes) and ranks him ahead Steven Stamkos, Johnny Gaudreau, Anze Kopitar, and Nikita Kucherov, among many other top players, in that span. He has also out produced all other pending free agents like Okposo, Lucic, David Backes and co.
Now, I obviously wouldn't want Hudler on my team over any of the players in the first batch I mentioned. It's also safe to say his three most frequent linemates being Gaudreau, Monahan and Mikael Backlund has helped his case.
At the same time Hudler has been a very good point producer since joining the NHL. He's scored at a top-6 rate in each of his last eight seasons and there's not much reason to believe he can't continue to do so for a couple more years.
Considering the Devils probably wouldn't have to commit a ton of term or dollars (maybe three years, $4.5-5 million per) to get him signed I think he could be one of the better options on the market.
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