Devils chomping at the bit for bottom-6 scoring

JP Gambatese examines how the Devils can improve their depth scoring – or get more out of the group they have.

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By JP Gambatese (@JP_Gambatese)

There’s no skirting around it – the New Jersey Devils’ bottom-six scoring is a problem. Alex Nedeljkovic, the goaltender, had more points last night than the combined efforts of Nathan Bastian, Erik Haula, Tomas Tatar, Kurtis MacDermid, Curtis Lazar, and Justin Dowling have had since the calendar flipped to December. 

No matter how you spin it, that’s an issue. I, quite frankly, don’t care about their defensive aptitude or if they’re “winning their matchups.”

They need to put the goal in the back of the net at some point, especially considering the Devils are going to be playing playoff hockey soon enough where you just can’t count on your top-6 to carry you to Cup contention. 

With that in mind, some changes could be made.

Potential trade fits to spark the bottom-6

The Devils have been linked to both Jake Evans of the Montreal Canadiens and Trent Frederic of the Boston Bruins, though I must say both would be a mistake to acquire.

This season, Evans is producing pretty solid offensive numbers – 10 goals and nine assists – in a bottom-six role but is massively inflated by his 22.7% shooting percentage, astronomically above his career 9.9%.

On top of that, he’s only averaging one shot on goal per game, and the Devils certainly don’t need a player who is allergic to putting the puck on net. 

Frederic, meanwhile, has enjoyed a downward spiral that has completely tanked his underlying statistics over the past two seasons.

While I think he would be a decent bounce-back candidate, there’s too much at stake for the Devils to count on a resurgence from a bottom-6 grinder. 

Instead, I think the Devils should focus on Justin Brazeau and Yanni Gourde.