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New Jersey Devils' Lack Of Puck-Moving Defensemen May Haunt Them

August 23, 2016, 11:12 AM ET [33 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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Over the last few seasons the New Jersey Devils have struggled to score goals with any regularity.

While a lack of forwards with true finishing ability is a big reason for that - and they have improved in that area - their defense hasn't exactly helped the team's cause.

The Devils haven't gotten much offense from the defense and their inability to produce - or even move the puck from Point A to Point B in short order - has been a big problem.



Above you see the 5 v 5 numbers from last year's defense core. One axis shows shot assist numbers, which is a player's ability to create shooting opportunities for teammates, and the other simply shows shots.

As you can see no Devil stands out as anything more than average in either category. Andy Greene and Damon Severson are the only defensemen peaking into the "playmaker" quadrant while John Moore is the only guy who gets the puck on net with any sort of regularity.

The defense has changed a little bit but Ben Lovejoy and Steve Santini/Seth Helgeson aren't going to bring anything to the table in either category. At best they can replace what was lost with Adam Larsson and David Schlemko.

In other words, barring a huge step forward from Damon Severson, the Devils' inability to create offense from the back end or transition into an attack will probably cause them a lot of problems.

With the likes of Taylor Hall and Cory Schneider playing every night the Devils should be competitive but their defense's lack of puck-moving/offensive ability just may be enough to keep them from being a playoff team.

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