New Jersey Devils' offense among league’s best since Feb. 1

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By Alex Chauvancy (@AlexC_THW)

You wouldn't know it by their record, but the New Jersey Devils have been playing pretty good hockey since Feb. 1.

It may be hard to realize it because they're only 7-8-0 since then, however, they are outplaying teams most nights. A significant reason they've been able to get some results is because of a high-flying offense that's averaging 3.53 goals per game.

It's not just about the goals. It's about the process, and the Devils have had one of the best offenses in the NHL since Feb. 1.

They've been driving play at five-on-five and their power play has improved. It's not coming at the expense of their defense either.

With Nico Daws settling in as an NHL goaltender, there's a chance for a relatively strong close to the 2021-22 season. 

How Devils offense has improved

You can say plenty of things about head coach Lindy Ruff's system but the ability to generate offense has never been an issue. During the weird, COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, the Devils were a middle-of-the-pack shot generation team. They got off to a pretty good start to 2021-22 as well, even improving from where they were a season ago. 

Through the Devils' first 44 games of the season, they were averaging 58.63 shot attempts per 60 minutes, raning eighth in the league. Their 2.58 expected goals per 60 ranked ninth, so they had a top-10 offense. The issue was their inability to convert on five-on-five chances — their 7.56 shooting percentage ranked in the bottom-10 of the NHL. 

It's not the easiest thing to build and improve on an offense that was already top-10 to start the season. That's what the Devils have done. Since Feb. 1, their offensive rates at five-on-five have ticked up quite a bit:

• Corsi per 60 minutes: 60.19 

• Scoring chances per 60: 34.04

• High-danger chances per 60: 12.68

• xG per 60: 2.84

No team has averaged more scoring chances per 60 than the Devils, while only the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers have averaged more high-danger chances per 60. When it comes to xG per 60, only the Panthers and Calgary Flames, the Devils' opponent on Wednesday, have averaged more. 

The difference now is the Devils are beginning to find the back of the net more often. Their shooting percentage at five-on-five has improved to 8.73 percent, 15th in the league.

You'd probably like to see that be even higher given the number of quality chances they're generating. That underlies the need for some more scoring punch on the wing, but it's still better than where they were six or seven weeks ago. 

What's impressive about the Devils' high-flying offense is that it's not coming at the expense of their defense. In fact, their defensive numbers have even improved a bit over the last 15 games: 

All the stats above rank 18th or better in the NHL over the Devils' last 15 games. They've even given up the fourth-least amount of high-danger chances per 60, part of the reason why Daws has a .920 SV% across his previous seven starts.

A high-flying offense with an at least average defense and a goalie giving them above average goaltending is a pretty good recipe for success. 

The power play has also been scoring more consistently since the Christmas break. Early on, it was mostly because of an insane shooting percentage. With that said, they've been generating more shots and chances across their last 10 games, as Todd pointed out in his Devils/Ducks preview yesterday morning:  

Expand the sample size to the team's last 15 games, and they still rank 16th, 13th, 13th and 4th in the stats listed above. There's been legitimate improvement on the power play. They need to sustain it over the final 23 games of the season. 

There isn't one singular reason the Devils' offense has taken off over the last six or seven weeks. Jack Hughes is a big part, but so are Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier. Dawson Mercer and Yegor Sharangovich have been playing well, and even Jesper Boqvist has injected some life into the middle-six as the team's third-line center.

Damon Severson has 12 points in his last 15 games, and Dougie Hamilton is beginning to look more like Dougie Hamilton since returning from a broken jaw a little over two weeks ago. 

The fact that the Devils' offense has improved without hurting the defense because of a team effort, and not one or two individuals, is a good sign. They need to keep it up over the final 23 games of the season to show it's legit and not a weird stretch through a 15-game sample. But they're definitely trending in the right direction. 

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Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick