It was yet another tough month for the New Jersey Devils..
They won just five times in 14 tries, besting only San Jose and Detroit, and finished with a -11 goal differential.
Still, there were some positives. We’ll take a closer look in December’s three stars of the month.
honorable mention: Nico Hischier (probably would have cracked the list if he did what he did but over a few more games) 3rd star - Nikita Gusev Gusev had a real strong month by pretty much all measurements.
His on-ice numbers were excellent, with the Devils controlling a team-leading 54.34% of the shot attempts and 57.51% of the expected goals at 5v5.
Gusev was also very apt at finding the scoresheet. He piled up 12 points in 14 games, which tied Sami Vatanen for 1st, and also led the team in primary assists.
Be it 5v5 (2.70 points/60) or on the power play (8.68 points/60), Gusev was very efficient with his ice time.
Gusev has now been listed as a star both months I have written this article. Remember when he was a healthy scratch? Good times, good times.
2nd star - Damon Severson It was not a perfect December for Severson. I’m not going to argue otherwise – I mean, it’s hard to when a pretty bad own goal is part of the picture. But, in aggregate, Severson was quietly very effective. Hear me out.
The objective in hockey is to score more goals than the other team. Severson led the Devils in ice time – by a mile – and was the only defender to finish with a positive goal differential at 5v5. That’s good! It was not a fluke, either, as Severson also happened to be the only Devils defenseman to finish above 50% in Corsi (51.02%) or Expected Goals (55.29%). He earned the positive results.
And that’s not all! Severson finished the month with seven points, six of which came at 5v5. That’s more than Nico Hischier (although he played 11 games), Sami Vatanen, Jack Hughes, P.K. Subban, and pretty much every notable player on the Devils.
I know Severson can look lackadaisical at times but, at the end of the day, the results were there and the process suggests they were warranted.
1st star - Mackenzie Blackwood Blackwood tied Connor Hellebuyck, Joonas Korpisalo, and Linus Ullmark with 12 appearances in December. He played the kind of minutes you see out of an undisputed No. 1 and handled it as well as possible, especially factoring in the team he plays behind.
Blackwood had a .941 save percentage at 5v5, which slotted him 4th amongst 33 goaltenders who played at least 300 minutes in that gamestate.
Some of the many notables falling in line behind Blackwood include: Ben Bishop, Tuukka Rask, Carey Price, John Gibson, Pekka Rinne and Hellebuyck.
NaturalStatTrick credited Blackwood with 5.87 goals saved above average, which was bested by only Sergei Bobrovsky.
Blackwood’s overall save percentage obviously was not as good but, even so, .920 is remarkably good in a season where league average is ~.904.
Updated standings Points (appearances) 3 for 1st, 2 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd
Mackenzie Blackwood - 3 (1) Blake Coleman - 3 (1) Taylor Hall - 2 (1) Nikita Gusev - 2 (2) Damon Severson - 2 (1)
numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com Recent Posts Hischier, Hughes come through in OT win over Senators