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Did Rask Aggravate Lower Body Injury Last Night?

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In post for CSNNE.com, Joe Haggerty discusses the importance of Tuukka Rask to the on-ice success of the Boston Bruins. Rask is 6 – 1 – 0 with a GAA of under 2.00 and a Save% of 93.2% in seven starts this season for Boston. Haggerty argues that unless Rask is playing at the top of his game, the Bruins have little chance to come away with a win.

Using last night’s loss to the Rangers as an example, Haggerty pointed out that Rask allowed two goals he probably should have stopped. If Rask stops those shots, the Bruins are still in the game and have a chance at earning at least a point. In post-game comments, the Bruins netminder seemed to agree with Haggerty’s assessment:

“I felt good in the first. No rebounds. And then, the first goal, it is what it is. Then the second, off the guy’s shin pads, it’s something you can’t really control. Then the 3-1 goal, it’s just a five-hole so kind of a bad goal. Then the last one, [it was] obviously a bad goal, so that’s about it. When you let in a couple bad ones and mix in a couple lucky ones, it gets ugly. That’s what happened tonight.”

It’s hard to argue just how critical Rask is to Boston’s postseason hopes. He has the ability to carry the team on his back when he is playing well. Unfortunately for the Bruins, Rask has already battled through a lower body injury and missed a few starts as a result. Making matters worse, as Haggerty opines, is that Rask appeared to aggravate the malady during the second period of Boston’s 5 – 2 loss last night.

While he didn’t come out of the game and actually waved the team’s training staff off, Haggerty noted it was the same “buckling under following full extension” that he experienced on two separate occasions earlier this season. Whether or not Rask is fine now, it appears as if this could remain a lingering issue for the foreseeable future.

Flyers’ Michael Del Zotto To Return Saturday

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After a suffering a knee injury at the beginning of October, Flyers’ defenseman Michael Del Zotto is set to return to the lineup on Saturday night, according to Sam Carchidi of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Del Zotto was placed on injured reserve on October 7th, and originally given a timetable of 4-5 weeks which was clearly accurate.

After a successful first season with the Flyers in 2014-15, Del Zotto fought his way through another injury plagued year in 2015-16, a situation far too familiar to the 26-year old.  He’s played in 80+ games just once in his career, his rookie season with the New York Rangers, and has eclipsed 70 just one other time. If he’s to make the impact many Philadelphia fans hope, he’ll have to avoid injury for the rest of this season.

[Related: Philadelphia Flyers Depth Chart]

Expected to skate alongside Flyers’ star sophomore Shayne Gostisbehere, Del Zotto will deepen a Philadelphia defense corps that has allowed a league-leading 43 goals through 12 contests. Remarkably, the team is at 6-5-1 on the year and still poised to take a run at the playoffs again this season.

The team will have some roster work to do however before activating the defenseman, as they currently sit more than $1MM over the cap and have to be compliant before bringing Del Zotto back into the fold. The team could perhaps move Andrew MacDonald to LTIR, as he’s out at least a week with a lower-body injury.

Snapshots: Desjardins, Fisher, Gilbert, Chychrun

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Darren Dreger’s been making the radio rounds of late and today, while appearing on Ottawa’s TSN 1200, among many notes the NHL insider discussed was the suggestion that Vancouver bench boss Willie Desjardins could soon find himself on the hot seat if the Canucks can’t right the ship in short order. Dreger was clear that he didn’t believe that was the case as of this moment but the organization believes it has a roster capable of making the playoffs and if the team falls further out of the race, they could decide to make a change behind the bench.

“I’m not suggesting he’s on the hot seat today as we have this conversation. But Jim Benning, the general manager, had a much higher view of where he thought this team was coming out of training camp. He told many that he believed that the Vancouver Canucks are a playoff team and would definitely contend for a playoff spot. And they’re not playing that way right now.”

The Canucks got off to a surprisingly strong start winning their first four games but have since lost five straight to even their record at 4 – 4 – 1. Offense. or rather a lack of, is the biggest issue in Vancouver as the team is last in the league in goal scoring, averaging just 1.78 per contest. Their power play is also among the worst in the NHL converting just 10.7% of their opportunities, which ranks 26th overall.

The team invested heavily in skilled Swedish winger Loui Eriksson, to the tune of a six-year, $36MM contract this offseason but the former Bruin has failed to find the back of the net in nine games with Vancouver. Bo Horvat leads the club in goals with four but only five players have tallied more than once this season. At the other end of the scoring spectrum, the New York Rangers lead the league averaging four goals per contest with 10 players who have at least two markers on the campaign.

Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot relays a quote from Pierre LeBrun indicating the Canucks would like to pull the trigger on a deal for a proven 20-goal scorer, assuming they can find a trade partner. They’ve been rumored to be in that market since the summer but aside from inking Eriksson the Canucks have done little in the way of adding impact offensive talent.

Desjardins is in his third season as coach of the Canucks and owns a career mark of 83 – 71 -19. He guided the team to a 101-point season and a second place finish in the Pacific Division in 2014-15, his first as bench boss. Last season, Vancouver dropped 26 points in the standings and placed sixth in their division. Prior to being hired in Vancouver, Desjardins served as head coach of the Dallas Stars AHL affiliate and guided them to the Calder Cup championship in 2014.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • Mike Fisher, who was injured in Tuesday’s 5 – 1 win over Colorado, is being listed as day-to-day with an upper-body-injury, tweets Adam Vingan of The Tennessean. Fisher, who replaced Shea Weber as Nashville’s captain, is tied for second on the club in scoring with five points in eight games. Now in his 17th season in the NHL, Fisher has scored 261 goals with 287 assists in 1,024 contests.
  • According to the NHL Department of Player Safety (Twitter link) Los Angeles Kings defenseman Tom Gilbert will face a hearing for his hit on Nick Ritchie of the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday night. No penalty was assessed on the play but the league indicated the hearing is for boarding/charging. Eric Stephens of The Orange County Register provides an update on Ritchie and says the big winger won’t be in Anaheim’s lineup tonight as the Ducks host Pittsburgh. Gilbert has appeared in eight of L.A.’s 10 games this season and has recorded three points. Ritchie, meanwhile, has scored two goals and three points in 10 contests with Anaheim.
  • The Arizona Coyotes have elected to keep rookie defenseman Jakob Chychrun on the roster instead of returning the 18-year-old blue liner to his junior team, according to Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports. As a result, Chychrun will burn the first season of his three-year entry-level contract. The Coyotes made a trade with Detroit during the 2016 entry draft to move up four spots to select Chychrun and so far has rewarded management’s faith. Chychurn has averaged 17:15 of ice time and has three points in eight games so far.

Atlantic Division Snapshots: Anderson, Deslauriers, Conacher, Vanek

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As noted earlier this week, Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson is going through a tough stretch in his personal life with the recent news of his wife’s cancer diagnosis. At his wife’s insistence, Anderson has returned from a brief leave of absence and will be pressed right back into service tonight between the pipes for the Senators, who are in Edmonton to play the red hot Oilers. Bruce Garrioch confirmed via Twitter that Anderson will get the start tonight as Ottawa attempts to snap the Oilers five-game winning streak.

Anderson has won four of his five starts this season despite a GAA approaching three and a S% just above 90%. Now in his 14th NHL season, Anderson has won 217 career games and has twice finished fourth in Vezina voting. During the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, Anderson led the league in GAA (1.69) and S% (94.1%).

With Andrew Hammond now on IR the Senators desperately need Anderson, though it would be understandable if the veteran netminder’s focus is somewhat divided. It’s likely most everyone outside of Edmonton is going to be an Ottawa Senators and Craig Anderson fan tonight.

More from the NHL’s Atlantic Division:

  • Physical winger Nicolas Deslauriers of the Buffalo Sabres left Saturday’s win over Florida after a collision along the boards in the game’s final minute, writes Amy Moritz of The Buffalo News. Later, Mike Harrington, also of the Buffalo News, revealed on Twitter that Deslauriers has a knee injury and will be out of the lineup for “weeks.” To replace the four-year veteran in the lineup, at least for the time being, the Sabres have recalled winger Nicholas Baptiste from Rochester of the AHL, once again courtesy of Harrington. Baptiste has already appeared in two games this season for Buffalo – the first NHL action of his career – and scored his first career NHL goal on October 20th.
  • Cory Conacher, who was recalled on Friday to take the place of the injured Nikita Kucherov, has been returned to Syracuse of the AHL, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. Conacher played 13:26 last night for the Lightning but didn’t register a point and recorded a -1 plus-minus rating. Smith suggests the reassignment of Conacher could mean that Kucherov or perhaps even Ryan Callahan is ready to return to the lineup for tonight’s contest against the New York Rangers. As Smith also notes, it would be fitting for Callahan, who has yet to play this season following hip surgery this summer, to make his 2016-17 debut against his former team. It’s also possible head coach Jon Cooper will simply dress seven defensemen; a tactic he utilized on many occasions last season.
  •  Originally listed as day-to-day due to a lower-body-injury, it now appears as if Detroit forward Thomas Vanek has been downgraded to week-to-week and is expected to miss the next few games, according to Ansar Khan of MLive.com. Vanek is off to a good start in his first year in Detroit, scoring four goals and eight points in his first seven contests. Detroit was considered a fringe playoff team at best coming into the season but the Austrian winger has helped the Wings to a 6 – 3- 0 start and a second place standing in the Atlantic. His extended absence is certainly bad news for a Wings club that has overachieved to this point.

Early Calder Trophy Candidates: Matthews, Marner, Laine

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The Hockey News’ Mike Brophy writes a very preliminary guess as to the front runners for the Calder Trophy, awarded yearly for the league’s best rookie. Brophy concedes that it’s still very early in the season, but based on what he’s seen over the first three weeks, he lists some players to watch as the year progresses. Some names Brophy highlights:

  • Toronto Maple Leafs forward and #1 overall pick in 2016 Auston Matthews leads the pack, turning in a four goal performance in his first NHL game and following that up with being second overall in league scoring with 10 points (6-4). Linemate William Nylander is right behind him, with four goals and nine points in seven games.
  • Teammate Mitch Marner is also an early candidate, notching a goal and six points in seven games.
  • Winnipeg Jets rookie Patrik Laine has eight points (6-2) in seven games and is showing that he was absolutely worthy of the second overall pick in the 2016 draft.
  • Jimmy Vesey, the focus of nearly every team this summer as a free agent out of college, has proven the Rangers right so far. Vesey had four goals (4-1) in seven games thus far.
  • Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski had two goals and five points in just six games, being a bright spot on what has started out as a disappointing start for the Jackets.

Regardless of who wins, Brophy talks of how the injection of youth in the league is hopefully leading to another wave of talent. Further, Brophy talks about how the excitement of the player’s speed, and skill could hopefully bring back the excitement that Brophy feels has been missing for some time.

Snapshots: Maple Leafs Blue Line, Vancouver, McIlrath

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There has been much written about this past summer’s blockbuster trade which sent LW Taylor Hall from Edmonton to New Jersey in exchange or D Adam Larsson; most of it critical of the Oilers side of the transaction. But Kevin McGran of TheStar.com opines that not only has the trade benefited both teams so far, it actually represents the sort of trade the Toronto Maple Leafs may have to explore in the future.

Hall already has five goals in six games for the Devils while Larsson has fit in well on Edmonton’s blue line, helping the Oilers to a 6 – 1 – 0 record. Even if Hall is considered the superior player, it still appears as if the deal has worked out in both team’s favor.

McGran argues that the Leafs, much like Edmonton, have a lot of highly-skilled forwards but a lingering deficiency on the blue line. Toronto has some interesting players on defense – Nikita Zaitsev, Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly, for example – but with Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak seeing regular playing time and with few prospects of particular note in the system, it’s clear the Leafs could use more young talent on the back end. While it’s possible the youngsters already on Toronto’s roster develop into a decent group of blue liners, it’s more likely the Leafs may eventually have to instead consider dealing from a position of strength – scoring wing – to address a weakness – defense. And just as the Oilers had to do, the Leafs might have to sacrifice a talented and popular player – and perhaps even a better player than the one they acquire – in order to fix the issues on the blue line.

The scribe does note that the Leafs likely won’t have to make that decision right away; that they likely have a year or two to see how things shake out.

More from around the NHL:

  • Goal-scoring is up around the league with a per-game-average of 5.91 markers to date. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case in Vancouver where the Canucks have averaged just two goals per game, the lowest rate in the NHL. Writing for The Province, Jason Botchford highlights some disturbing trends suggesting the Canucks offensive issues are likely to linger throughout the season. Botchford notes that the team is dead last in even-strength, score-adjusted shot-attempt differential and suggests that trend will place additional pressure on Vancouver’s special teams. But through seven games, the Canucks have converted on just 12.5% of their man-advantage chances. Two players the Canucks expected and needed to step up this season have yet to do so. Defenseman Ben Hutton has recorded just a single goal while winger Sven Baertschi has failed to find the back of the net. As Botchford writes, the Canucks have talent but perhaps not enough depth at this point.
  • Earlier today we learned the Rangers waived Dylan McIlrath. The former first-round pick had appeared in just one game and was the eighth defenseman on the team’s depth chart. As Larry Brooks of the New York Post noted via Twitter, the Rangers simply weren’t going to keep eight defensemen on the roster all season. Brooks also believes the chances of McIlrath getting claimed is “50-50.”

Metro Division Snapshots: Carolina, Jooris, Buchnevich, McIlrath, Poulin

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The Carolina Hurricanes, a team projected by some as a potential dark-horse in the Eastern Conference playoff chase, have won just one of their first six games and currently reside in the Metro Division basement. They’ll finally get a taste of home cooking Friday after starting the campaign on a six-game road trip as the Hurricanes will host the New York Rangers. Despite a respectable offense that is averaging three goals a game and a defense limiting opponents to the fourth-fewest shot attempts, Carolina has been undone by poor goaltending and as Ben Pope writes for Today’s Slapshot, it might be time for the Hurricanes to panic.

Cam Ward and Eddie Lack have combined for an 85.3% save percentage, the worst in the NHL, and have allowed four goals a game. Beyond the common numbers, the Hurricanes goalie duo is also performing at a below average level preventing goals against on low-, medium-, and high-danger shots, as Pope notes.

After just six games it’s fair to wonder about sample-size but Pope goes on to write that Ward, while sometimes making the spectacular save, has been a subpar netminder for much of his career. Lack, on the other hand, is nearly league-average in stopping shots from the outside but struggles mightily against attempts from in close.

Citing statistics available on Corsica.hockey, Pope opines the team’s defense hasn’t done the goalies any favors. Even though they have been excellent overall in suppressing shots, the ones they do allow have been of the medium-to-high-danger variety. The data shows 81.2% of the shots Carolina gives up are either of the medium of high-danger variety with the league average coming in at 63.4%.

Ultimately, the Hurricanes need better play between the pipes if they want to remain a relevant playoff contender. If that improvement doesn’t come internally, Carolina may have to scour the trade market to find a solution.

More from around the Metro Division:

  • With Pavel Buchnvich expected to return to the lineup Friday the New York Rangers were facing a difficult decision regarding whom to remove from their 23-man roster to open a spot for the rookie forward. But the injury to Josh Jooris Wednesday night allowed the Rangers to delay that decision a little longer, writes Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post. However, instead of taking advantage of that opportunity, the Blueshirts this morning have placed Dylan McIlrath on waivers. If he goes unclaimed, the club will likely send their 2010 first-round draft pick to Hartford of the AHL. McIlrath has suited up for just one game this season and has been a healthy scratch six times.
  • Former New York Islander netminder Kevin Poulin has signed a deal with Barys of the KHL, tweets Igor Eronko of Sports Express. Poulin showed promise early in his career after debuting in the league with a 92.4% save percentage and a goals-against-average of 2.44 in 10 appearances as a 20-year-old back in 2010-11. It’s been downhill ever since with his save percentage declining in each subsequent campaign. Poulin last saw action in the league in 2014-15, starting once and allowing three goals on 26 shots. He appeared in 29 contests for Stockton in the AHL, winning 14 and stopping 90.9% of the attempts against.

Holden Trade Led To Roy’s Departure

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It was no secret that one of the main reasons for former Colorado Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy’s surprising departure this summer was that he did not see eye-to-eye with GM Joe Sakic on the direction of the team. Roy did not hide the fact that he disagreed with several of Sakic’s personnel decisions, especially when it came to the defense. An old-school, conservative hockey mind, Roy wanted to stick to a strong, defensive unit on the back end. The highly publicized negotiations with and eventual expensive extension for Tyson Barrie was thought to be a top reason why Roy decided to move on. He did not see Barrie as anything more than a bottom-pair defenseman and hated seeing the Avalanche use such a large portion of of their cap space on a defensively-deficient blue liner.

Now, a New York Post article has added yet another issue on the back end in Colorado that likely added to Roy’s exit. It describes how New York Rangers coach Alain Vigneault received a phone call from Roy in June after the team had traded for former Avs defenseman Nick Holden. In it, Roy described Holden as “one of my better defensemen”. He also said that Holden was “safe, dependable, and not very flashy”. That perfectly describes Roy’s perfect defenseman, a guy who works hard, doesn’t make mistakes, and plays well in the defensive zone. While some may view this description as dull and lacking upside, and Holden’s career offensive numbers don’t exactly jump off the page, analyzing both the basic defensive stats and more analytic possession stats for Holden over the past couple seasons actually reveals a very strong player. In fact, Roy is surely not the only one who would value Holden’s ability and he is not wrong to have been upset about losing such a player for a measly fourth-round pick. Holden may be one of the most under-rated defensemen in the NHL.

Less than two months after the trade, Roy said goodbye to the place he called home as a player and coach. While the more prevalent issue at the time had been Barrie, it seems likely after the New York Post report that it was likely a combination of keeping Barrie at the expense of Holden that frustrated Roy. The Hall of Fame goalie wanted as a coach what he wanted as a player: a solid defense in front of him. While Roy has yet to find another job behind an NHL bench yet, his next GM should be careful not to trade the best defensive defenseman on the team. Meanwhile, Holden is playing alongside Ryan McDonagh and logging big minutes on the top pair in New York while the Colorado defense is having a hard time stopping goals. Maybe Roy was right all along.

 

Pacific Division Snapshots: Boedker, Megna, Stecher, McGinn

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After an “underwhelming” start to the 2016-17 campaign, San Jose bench boss Peter DeBoer has shuffled his lines in an effort to spark the 2 – 3 Sharks, writes Paul Gackle of The Mercury News. Tomas Hertl, who has spent much of the season skating on the top line with Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton, slides down the lineup and will center the third line. Meanwhile, Mikkel Boedker and Joel Ward have been promoted and will each move up a line.

Hertl, who has two goals and three points in six contests, will center a line with Patrick Marleau and Melker Karlsson on his wings. Boedker joins the aforementioned Pavelski and Thornton on the first line. Ward takes over as the second line right wing and will skate with Logan Couture and Joonas Donskoi.

For DeBoer, it’s not about punishing poor play or rewarding good; it’s about trying to find the right combinations that will allow the coach to roll four forward lines.

“It’s not a panic situation or anything, but you’re always looking for ways to get the most out of your group and our four-line game hasn’t been where I want it to be. I want to make sure that we are a four-line team and we’ll keep shuffling things until we are.”

Hertl’s play at center last year when Couture was out gave DeBoer the necessary confidence to move the young Czech forward back to the pivot spot.

 “Hertl can play anywhere, his game is at that point. He’s a good enough player now that, not only can he play anywhere, I think he can make other people better around him.”

The Sharks currently sit tied with Anaheim for third in the Pacific Division but have a minus-four goal differential and have tallied just 14 markers on the season. Whether DeBoer’s changes pay off for the Sharks remains to be seen but it’s evident some form of shakeup was needed in San Jose.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

  • The Vancouver Canucks have announced via their team website that they have recalled forward Jayson Megna and defenseman Troy Stecher from Utica of the AHL. Furthermore, according to Jon Abbott who covers the Canucks for TSN1040, Megna is slated to play on the fourth line tonight against Ottawa. Stecher is set to make his NHL debut tonight and will skate with Alex Edler, with whom he partnered during preseason action, again per Abbott. Megna appeared in six games for the New York Rangers in 2015-16, netting a single goal and two points for the Blueshirts. Stecher signed with Vancouver as an undrafted free agent following three seasons playing for the University of North Dakota. The two draw into the lineup due to the continued absences of Derek Dorsett, Alexandre Burrows and Chris Tanev.
  • The Arizona Coyotes will receive a welcome boost tonight as offseason free agent addition Jamie McGinn is set to make his 2016-17 season debut, as Coyotes Senior Director of News Content Dave Vest writes. McGinn missed the team’s first five games due to an upper-body-injury. Head coach Dave Tippett says the veteran wing will have to quickly readjust to the speed and pace of the game:  “He’s going to have to get up and going. At least he had exhibition games (and) played well in the exhibition games. He’s been off for a couple weeks now. The pace has gone up. He’ll have to get into the pace of the game, but he’s a good veteran guy. He’s hard around the front of the net. Hopefully he brings us a little veteran presence we need right now.” Vest also notes that goalie Justin Peters is slated to make his first start of the 2016-17 campaign between the pipes tonight for the Coyotes. The 30-year-old Peters, who has 67 NHL starts on his resume, appeared in a relief role for the Coyotes last Thursday and stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced. Peters has assumed the backup role in Arizona behind Louis Domingue following the lower-body-injury to Mike Smith.

 

Metro Division Snapshots: Nash, Capitals, Devils

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New York Rangers forward Rick Nash is the team’s highest-paid skater with an annual salary cap charge of $7.8MM. Since being acquired from Columbus, Nash has been expected to lead the Rangers offensive attack while serving as a vital cog on a Stanley Cup contender. The team has made it to the Eastern Conference Final on two occasions and appeared in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final since the gifted winger joined the team. However, following a first-round playoff exit and a disappointing, injury-filled season from Nash in 2015-16, the Rangers focused on adding youth and speed to the forward ranks this summer, and as Brandon Cohen of Today’s Slapshot writes, the spotlight does not shine as brightly on Nash anymore.

As Cohen noted, in the past when the Rangers offense would struggle to put the puck in the net or convert on the power play, Nash “would have a target on his back.” But with the additions made in the offseason, and the continued development of players already on the roster, Nash can be just another one of the guys, so to speak, and essentially function in a complementary role.

Jimmy Vesey was the team’s most notable addition, signing with New York as a college free agent following a four-year career at Harvard. Through five games, the 23-year-old rookie winger has three goals and has proven he belongs in the top-six of a playoff team.

Michael Grabner and Brandon Pirri add depth and serve as specialists, with Grabner seeing a lot of action on the penalty kill and Pirri with the man advantage. They’ve combined to tally four goals while playing mostly fourth-line minutes.

New #1 center Mika Zibanejad is off to a fine start, averaging better than a point-per-game with two goals and four assists. He’s been fantastic in the face-off circle winning nearly 60% of his draws and his right-handed shot gives the team an added dimension on the power play.

On top of the new additions, Mats Zuccarello, Derek Stepan and Chris Kreider have combined to add five goals and 15 points. For his part, Nash has two goals and an assist through five games and is playing his usually terrific two-way game. With the talent and depth added up front, it appears Nash no longer has to be relied on to carry the load for the Rangers.

Elsewhere in the Metro Division:

  • After losing to eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh in the second round of the playoffs last season, Washington, much like the Rangers, went to work in the offseason to add speed to their lineup. Those efforts resulted in a rebuilt third line with Lars Eller, acquired in a draft-day trade with Montreal, centering a combination of Brett Connolly, rookie Zach Sanford and Justin Williams. As the Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan writes, the new line is beginning to pay dividends for the Capitals. Eller, who cost the Capitals two, second-round choices, replaces veteran Mike Richards at the pivot position and tallied his first marker for his team in Washington’s 4 – 2 loss last night to the Rangers. Richards was signed during the 2015-16 campaign to fill a role on the third line but was a shadow of his former self, scoring just five points in 39 games with the Caps. Connolly was originally selected sixth overall in the 2010 draft but has yet to fulfill his potential at the NHL level. Still just 24, the untapped upside exists for this to turn out to be a smart signing for Washington. Sanford was inked after playing two years at Boston College and while he’s yet to find the score sheet, he’s had several quality scoring chances his last couple of games.
  • The New Jersey Devils, who finished last in goals scored in 2015-16, made it a point to upgrade in that department this offseason. The team traded for Taylor Hall and Beau Bennett and added P.A. Parenteau via waivers just prior to the beginning of the season. Those additions were expected to boost the goal-scoring output for New Jersey, but as Chris Ryan of NJ.com opines, it hasn’t worked out as planned quite yet. Hall is off to a good start with three goals in five games, including the OT winner last night, but the Devils have managed to pot just eight so far this season. Fortunately for the Devils, they’ve allowed just nine goals and with Cory Schneider between the pipes should remain one of the stingiest defensive teams in the league. But if they want to challenge for a playoff spot, the Devils need to get their offense cranked up.

 

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