Jonas Siegenthaler's injury another tough blow for the New Jersey Devils

Despite Siegenthaler's struggles in what has been a down year, the Devils are going to feel his absence.

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Jonas Siegenthaler hasn’t played anywhere close to his usual standards this season. His on-ice impacts are not good and he has visibly struggled on plenty of nights; especially when it comes to executing with the puck on his stick. Too many poor passes, too many failed zone exits.

That has led to a lot of lengthy shifts in the defensive zone and poor numbers when it comes to GAR, RAPM, and many of the other advanced metrics used to help evaluate player performance.

In fact, Siegenthaler ranks dead last among Devils defensemen in GAR. Taking things a step further, he sits 238th on a per minute basis – behind the likes of Joel Edmundson and Ilya Lyubushkin.

That said, I still think losing Siegenthaler will really sting an injury plagued team that can’t afford to lose anybody else.

Siegenthaler has played tough minutes alongside Dougie Hamilton and, more recently, Simon Nemec on the top defensive pairing. And it’s not like he’s been completely overwhelmed.

Although his relative numbers are in the negatives, Siegenthaler owns a 52 xGF% at 5v5 and has only been outscored by four goals over 38 games and nearly 640 minutes.

Put another way, the Devils have lost Siegenthaler’s 5v5 minutes by one goal every 9.5 games or by -0.37 every 60 minutes. It’s not as if he is getting crushed out there.

A -4 goal differential is not a lot for a guy who has seen heavy defensive usage alongside an offense-first defenseman (Dougie Hamilton) followed by a teenager (albeit a very good one in Simon Nemec). It’s not a lot for someone who owns a painfully low 6.7 on-ice shooting percentage. And it’s not a lot for someone playing in front of the worst 5v5 goaltending in the NHL.