1) With the New Jersey Devils sitting last in the Eastern Conference in points percentage, it seems more likely than not they'll be sellers when the trade deadline rolls around.
Should that be the case, there should be plenty of interest in P.A. Parenteau.
The 33-year-old has spent time on both wings this season and is on pace for 20 goals, 40 points and 165 shots while carrying a cap hit of just $1.25 million. That will be attractive to a lot of teams looking for depth scoring and experience.
It's worth noting Parenteau is 6th among Devils' forwards in time on ice playing ~15:30 per game, so it's not as if he has been played into the ground and is only piling up points because he logs a ton of ice.
Barring a nice run coming out of the all-star break, I expect the Devils will move Parenteau and turn a free asset into a draft pick and/or prospect like they did with Lee Stempniak a year ago.
2) Pavel Zacha has looked like a different player of late. He is seemingly more confident with the puck on his stick and has looked good skating on a line with Jacob Josefson. The 19-year-old has points in three of his last five games, the most in any stretch this season, and has a plus-10 shot attempt differential over his last 12 games. Considering the Devils are controlling ~45% of the shot attempts, good for 30th, over their last 12 that is pretty impressive. It has taken some time but Zacha is slowly coming around.
3) Crazy but true: despite Cory Schneider's struggles this season, he still sits ahead of Ben Bishop, Martin Jones, Marc-Andre Fleury, Henrik Lundqvist, Petr Mrazek, Steve Mason and Brian Elliott, among others, in 5v5 save percentage. He is less than 1% behind the likes of Tuukka Rask and Frederik Andersen, too.
It's worth noting that all of the mentioned goaltenders behind Schneider in 5v5 save percentage play for teams ahead of the Devils in the standings/points percentage, so maybe look elsewhere when trying to figure out why the Devils are where they are.
Recent Posts Home woes continue as Devils fall to the Capitals