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With absolutely nothing happening in the hockey world right now, and for the foreseeable future, I’ve decided to take the plunge and write player profiles for each member of the New Jersey Devils.
As was the case when I did them last summer, we’ll be looking at the season they just put together and expectations moving forward.
I’ve written up 10 players thus far, with Mackenzie Blackwood being the most recent.
Today we’re going with Mirco Mueller
Counting stats: 50 games played, seven point (two goals, five assists), 17:39 average time on ice
5v5 underlyings: 0.40 points/60, -2.08 CF% Rel, -7.94 GF% Rel, -5.00 xGF% Rel, 98.4 PDO
2019-20 review: I know a lot of people started to warm up to Mueller’s game this season, particularly over the last couple of months. I’m not one of them. While I do admit, at times, he looked easier on the eyes than in recent seasons, it did *not* translate into on-ice success.
Offensively, he averaged .40 points/60, 5.64 shot attempts/60, and 2.25 shots on goal/60. All were career lows. I know he’s not an offensive-minded player but the Devils actually played at a fairly high pace under Alain Nasreddine so it’s a little concerning his rate stats actually headed south.
What’s more concerning is his defensive metrics. Of nine defenders to log 100+ minutes for the Devils, Mueller ranked 7th in chances against/60 and 8th in Expected Goals against/60. That’s not exactly encouraging for a ‘defensive defensemen.’
When looking at total on-ice numbers, Mueller comes out looking even worse. He finished 8th in CF%, 8th in SCF%, 9th in xGF%, and 9th in GF%. The Devils – a bad team at the best of times – fared far better in essentially every important metric when Mueller was not on the ice.
Fun fact(s): The Devils scored only 1.85 goals per 60 minutes with Mueller on the ice, the lowest rate of all defenders on the roster.
2020-21 outlook: Mirco Mueller doesn’t have a contract beyond this season and, quite frankly, I’d be fine if that doesn’t change and he is not qualified/traded. I just don’t see it with him. He is not good offensively and his defensive numbers were at or near the bottom of the team in every category despite the fact there was little defensive talent around him.
If the Devils want to re-up Mueller and keep him as, say, the 7th defender I could live with that. But I don’t want to see him playing more often than not. He just hasn’t shown close to enough to warrant a regular spot in the lineup.
The Devils want to be a good team sooner than later, and I don’t think they get there with Mueller dressing in 72.4% of the games and playing almost 18 minutes per night.
numbers via naturalstattrick.com and hockey-reference.com
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