Despite the additions of Mike Cammalleri and Martin Havlat, both of whom have been about as good as the Devils are paying them to be, New Jersey's offense continues to struggle putting the puck in the net.
Not only are their goals per game totals not increasing from last season, but they're also generating less shot attempts, and controlling a smaller portion of the game in that regard.
While there are several reasons for this, none are bigger than the struggles New Jersey's older players are going through.
Generally when a team has some aging players starting to decline in production they start spoon-feeding their kids ice time, but the Devils don't have the luxury of many talented young forwards ready to take the next step.
As such, their older players, who the team is also paying to be the best players, are still being used heavily and the production just isn't there.
As you can see, all five of those players are producing much less in terms of points and shot attempts than they did last season. Again, Cammalleri and Havlat have been good, but not good enough to make up for the decline production of that group.
Travis Zajac still has some good days ahead, but I'm willing to bank his production has been hurt in part by Jagr's early decline.
Damien Brunner hasn't played all that much and has been all over the lineup, so I'm not going to pin the decline in production on him, though it'd be nice if he could fight through it and find a way to put up some points.
The sample size this year isn't a large one, but it's big enough for the early red flags to leave reason for concern.
If these guys don't step up soon, Pete DeBoer won't around much longer. If and when a coaching change is made, it'll be interesting to see if the offensive production increases or if we're seeing a legitimate decline in Jagr, Elias and co. Either way, what we're seeing right now doesn't bode well for the team's success.
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