With one game under their belt as they come out of the Christmas break, the New Jersey Devils are five games away from the midpoint of the 2015-2016 season. Like I’ve said all year, things have been much better than anyone expected for New Jersey, but their shortcomings are very apparent and continue to hinder the team from further excelling. In out latest WRT edition, staff writers Alex Chauvancy, Brett Minieri, and Sam Britt look at the differences between young forwards Sergey Kalinin and Jacob Josefson, the team’s struggles versus bottom-tier teams, and entertain an interesting hypothetical question that I impose upon them.

 

It took longer than forwards Jacob Josefson and Sergey Kalinin would have liked to score their first goals of the year. Kalinin scored four more times since, while Josefson hasn’t found the back of the net a second time. From your perspective, what is Kalinin doing to finish his scoring chances that Josefson isn’t?

SB: The big difference between Josefson’s game and Kalinin’s game is where they tend to be. Josefson plays a lot of offense on the perimeter while Kalinin likes to stand in front of net and get to the dirty areas. Kalinin gets a lot of offense from getting rebounds from in front of the net and slamming them home. Josefson relies a lot more on getting open with skill and getting an open shooting lane. That is why Kalinin has more goals than Josefson.

AC: It’s hard to say. Josefson has 49 shots on the season, but has a 2% shooting percentage. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that there’s no way his shooting percentage can stay that low the rest of the season. He’s had trouble scoring his entire career. His career shooting percentage is just 6.4%. Maybe that’s just his luck unfortunately. Kalinin skates well and has been able to use his size to create scoring chances off power moves, so that certainly helps.

BM: From what I can see, Kalinin appears pretty hungry around the net. He has a presence in front that JaJo (Josefson) seems to lack. He also has smacks of enthusiasm when he does score which is fun to see. JaJo’s time to show he can be a valuable player in the NHL is running out. And unfortunately his value to the Devils (or as trade bait) lessens with each scoreless game.

 

The Devils’ records versus playoff and non-playoff teams are extremely polarized. They’re 9-4-3 against 11 of the league’s current top-12 teams, but are 2-7-1 against the bottom-eight. Their struggles against the basement teams are undoubtedly holding them back in the standings. What do you think is preventing the Devils from triumphing in these mostly winnable contests?

SB: The difference in the games against lower tier teams in the compete level. It seems like the Devils play to the skill of their opponent. They can play full of energy and play their best against the good teams but when they play the worse teams they become sloppier and not as crisp. They just need to start to bring the same energy and style of play from the games against stronger teams to the games against weaker teams.

AC: Well although Carolina’s record says they’re not a very good team, their underlying numbers are relatively good. They’ve just been submarined by very poor goaltending from Cam Ward and Eddie Lack for the whole season. I don’t want to say the Devils are playing down to their competition, because they’re not. They’ve had trouble staying consistent so far. They haven’t won back-to-back games since November 12th and 14th. If they’re able to get on a streak and put some wins together, then they should be able to overcome the problems they’ve had against teams below them in the standings.

BM: This is a hard question that pertains to many teams in many sports, not just the Devils. While I don’t know the exact answer, it could be a simple matter of preparation and motivation. Some guys get up for the “big games” and tend to sleep walk through the “easy” ones. Though there are no such things as “gimme” games in the NHL or any professional sport for that matter. So I believe it’s a lot more mental (and the effort, or lack thereof) than it is about talent and ability. The Devils have shown that they can run with (and beat) the best in the league.

 

Martin Brodeur will be the fourth player to have his number retired by the Devils organization. With Patrik Elias’ No. 26 sure to follow, these franchise greats are just two of many more notable names who helped put the Devils on the map over the past 25 years. If you could pick one player from the Devils’ past whose time with the team could arguably warrant a jersey retirement, who would it be?

SB: John MacLean. One of the longest tenured Devils he racked up 701 points in 934 games. Also was part of the team that won the first cup in 1995.

AC: I’d definitely have to go with John Maclean. He was the Devils all-time leading scorer for quite some time until Patrik Elias overtook him in 2009. He’s the team’s 2nd all-time leading scorer. He’s also 4th in assists and in 2nd in goals. If there’s another former Devil worth having his jersey retired, he’d be next on my list.

BM: Great question. There are a lot of former Devils that have made lasting contributions to the franchise and created lasting memories for the fans. Kirk Muller, Brendan Shanahan, Stephane Richer, Claude Lemieux, even (gulp) Zach Parise all have been integral parts of the Devils past, be it with points or longevity. There’s 2 guys however that stand out as most worthy for consideration. John Maclean and Sergei Brylin. In addition to arguably the most important goal in Devils history (an OT winner against the Blackhawks in 87-88 which would get the m to the playoffs for the first time ever) he had been the all-time leader in Devils history with 347 career goals (until Patrik Elias passed him a few seasons ago). Currently he is second on that list as well as second in all-time scoring with 701 points. While his success on the ice didn’t translate to behind the bench, he’ll always be a Devil and is currently doing broadcast work for the team. Brylin on the other hand wasn’t necessarily the prolific scorer Maclean was but he has the distinction of being one of 5 Devils to have his name on all 3 Cups. He was versatile, dynamic and a favorite of both the fans and Lou Lamoriello. He’s also a career Devil who’s now coaching up in Albany. There’s a good argument for both. But if I had to choose, Maclean would get the nod…first anyway.