New Jersey Devils notes: On life without Siegenthaler and a nod to Nico

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A few New Jersey Devils notes on this off-day:

On Jonas Siegenthaler’s injury

If you think the Devils had problems before, wait until you see how they defend down the stretch without Jonas Siegenthaler. I think that will show just how impactful the team’s defensive ace really is.

Siegenthaler has spent more than 40% of his ice this season against elite competition, per PuckIQ. That’s a lot. For comparison, Cale Makar spends 35% of his time vs elite competition while Roman Josi comes in at 28%. Yeah, Siegenthaler plays tougher minutes than the Norris favorites.

In those difficult minutes, he has helped the Devils break even in shot share while out-scoring opponents 21-20.

That may not sound overly impressive; it is. Holding your head above water against top players every night is difficult enough as is. To post a positive goal differential with the level of goaltending the Devils have suffered through this season is downright remarkable.

With Siegenthaler out, Ryan Graves took the role of LD1 and moved up to play with Damon Severson on the shutdown pairing. The returns against Dallas were not good.

The Devils were out-attempted 16-6 with that duo on the ice and they controlled only 30% of the expected goal share. Unfortunately, Graves struggling in those minutes is not surprising.

Graves owns a 47 CF% and -6 goal differential vs elite competition this season, per PuckIQ.

While he is capable of playing a top-4 role, he is out of his depths on a top shutdown pairing. Not to mention, his offensive impact is better than his defensive; and it’s the latter that will be tested going up against opposing team’s best weapons.