Jonas Siegenthaler emerging as high-end shutdown defender

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Today’s post was written by ALEX CHAUVANCY. You can find Alex on Twitter @AlexC_THW.

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New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald went big on upgrading the team's blue line over the last year. He signed Dougie Hamilton to a seven-year, $63 million contract in free agency and acquired Ryan Graves through a trade from the Colorado Avalanche prior to the expansion draft in July. 

While Graves and Hamilton have done their part, there's one lesser-known move Fitzgerald made towards the end of last season that's paying off big time. That would be the acquisition of Jonas Siegenthaler, who the Devils picked up from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2021 draft. 

Siegenthaler has eight points in 30 games this season. Counting totals don't tell the story with defensemen, but that's especially true with him. Although there's still plenty of season to go, he's slowly emerging as one of the better top-four shutdown defenders in the NHL in 2021-22. 

Siegenthaler among elite company

There's no doubt the Devils took a gamble on acquiring Siegenthaler. At the time of the trade in April 2021, he had only played in seven games for the Capitals and was mostly a healthy scratch. With that said, his expected numbers seemed to indicate he was capable of being an NHL regular. 

In 97 games with the Capitals between the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons, Siegenthaler had an expected goals percentage (xG%) of 52.79 percent at five-on-five. That was in large part due to his ability to suppress quality scoring chances — his xG against per 60 minutes of 2.11 ranked 24th in the league among defensemen with 1,000 minutes played. 

Siegenthaler would only play in eight games with the Devils in 2020-21 after coming down with COVID, but his numbers were encouraging. He was one of the Devils' best chance-suppressing defensemen, allowing 1.89 xGA/60 at five-on-five. Those encouraging numbers seem to have carried over into the 2021-22 season.

Though the Devils' team defense has been less than stellar this season, Siegenthaler has stood above the rest. He's been the team's best chance suppressing defenseman, allowing 2.16 xGA/60, the best rate among blueliners with at least 10 games played. His even-strength defense has been worth an expected goals above replacement of +4.2, the best on the Devils by a comfortable margin. 

Not only has Siegenthaler been one of the Devils' best defenders, but he's also been one of the best defensive defensemen in the NHL this season. His even-strength defensive xGAR of 4.2 ranks second in the league among all blueliners, with only Miro Heiskanen (4.3) ahead of him. In that regard, he's ahead of other elite blueliners such as Charlie McAvoy (3.4), Adam Pelech (2.8) and Adam Fox (2.7). That doesn't mean Siegenthaler is better than those defensemen, but he's playing top-tier defensive hockey right now.