Unfortunately, another underwhelming and disappointing New Jersey Devils’ season has come to an end. The Devils finished with a record of 27-46-9. This put the team seventh in the Metropolitan Division and fifth-worst in the league.
With the end of the season comes our annual team awards. Below are season awards in different categories. Three different parties selected the winners/voted. The first being myself with analysis, the second being our eight participating individual staff here at Devils Army Blog, and the last being a fan survey that was opened up on our social media platforms (52 participants).
Team Hart Trophy (MVP)
There are three main candidates for this award this year: Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, and Jack Hughes. Bratt had an unbelievable season. He shattered career-highs in several different categories. His underlying one-ice impacts also measured up as one of the league’s-best. For reference, his offensive underlying ranked in the NHL’s 93rd percentile. No matter who the linemates were he performance very well.
Hischier was a close runner-up. He did everything for this New Jersey Devils team. He served on the power play, penalty kill, and did good work at five-on-five. Hischier was second on the team in ice time among forward, only trailing Hughes by a slime margin. He also set career-highs in goals, assists, and points. Furthermore, the captain had arguably the best defensive impacts of his career, albeit still around replacement-level.
Lastly, the fact Hughes, despite having no control over it, was only limited to 49 games this season, Hischier and Bratt were given the edge. Damon Severson was also a noteworthy option as he was the best all-around defenseman the Devils had this season.
My Pick: Jesper Bratt / Honorable Mentions: Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, Damon Severson
Staff Results (number of votes): Jack Hughes (4), Jesper Bratt (4)
Fan Results (number of votes): Jesper Bratt (37), Jack Hughes (11), Nico Hischier (4)
Team Norris Trophy (Top Defenseman)
The New Jersey Devils had five defenseman that played relatively well. Each excelling at different aspects. When evaluating the team’s best defenseman both offensive play and defensive play should be taken into consideration.
Damon Severson leads the way when keeping both ends of the ice in mind. Largely ridiculed for his sporadic costly mistakes, Severson is usually the team’s best all-around defenseman on a nightly basis. He tied a career-high in goals and broke career-highs in assists and points while playing a team-leading 23:34 of ice time a night (also a career-high). His total offensive and defensive expected goals above replacement (xGAR) of 8.9 is by far the highest among any Devils’ defenseman.
Jonas Siegenthaler was arguably the best defensive-defenseman in the league. He led the NHL in both defensive GAR and defensive xGAR. It was an absolutely terrific season. However, as expected, his offensive impacts were not good enough to get the nod over Severson.
My Pick: Damon Severson / Honorable Mention: Jonas Siegenthaler
Staff Results (number of votes): Damon Severson (5), Jonas Siegenthaler (3)
Fan Results (number of votes): Jonas Siegenthaler (30), Damon Severson (16), Dougie Hamilton (6)
Team Vezina Trophy (Top Goaltender)
The worst position group by far had very few bright spots. No Devil posted a goals saved above expected (GSAx) greater than zero this season. Simply put, all Devils’ goaltenders saved less than they were expected to based off the quality and quantity of the shots they faced. The below table shows how each Devils’ goaltender faired.
| Goaltender | GSAx |
| Jonathan Bernier | -1.98 |
| Andrew Hammond | -9.57 |
| Akira Schmid | -9.66 |
| Nico Daws | -10.14 |
| Jon Gillies | -14.36 |
| MacKenzie Blackwood | -14.62 |
As you can see, basically every goaltender outside of Jonathan Bernier was miserable this year. Before you blame the defense, this statistic helps take into account team-play in front of the goaltender. Of the very few options, Nico Daws is probably the most deserving. This despite a GSAx number that ranks 100th in the league among 117 quailed goaltenders, and is 47.38 goal difference from first place Igor Shesterkin. Sadly enough, the other options who have enough of a sample size are even worse.
Reality is no one deserves this award, however, the show must go on. Also, by far the most important aspect for general manger Tom Fitszgerald to address next season.
My Pick: Nico Daws / Honorable Mention: Jonathan Bernier.
Staff Results (number of votes): Nico Daws (8)
Fan Results (number of votes): Nico Daws (40), No One (11), MacKenzie Blackwood (1)
Team Calder Trophy (Top Rookie)
The Devils had 13 rookies appear for the team this season. Of those 13, Dawson Mercer, Nikita Okhotiuk, Fabian Zetterlund, and Nolan Foote led the way. Despite some good play from others, this award is one of the easier to select as 20 year old Dawson Mercer led the way.
Mercer’s the only Devil to play all 82 games. He also finished sixth on the team in scoring. He does have some work to do, especially in his own end, as his -2.8 defensive GAR ranks toward the bottom of Devils’ players. Nonetheless, Mercer is certainly looking like a steal of a draft selection.
My Pick: Dawson Mercer / Honorable Mentions: Fabian Zetterlund, Nikita Okhotiuk, Nolan Foote
Staff Results (number of votes): Dawson Mercer (8)
Fan Results (number of votes): Dawson Mercer (52)
Team Selke Award (Top Defensive Forward)
This is one of the more interesting awards to select on this list. A large reason for the Devils’ defensive woes this year was how poor defensively the team’s forwards graded out.
The top five in defensive xGAR among Devils’ forwards are as follows: Nathan Bastian, Jimmy Vesey, Pavel Zacha, Michael McLeod, and Fabian Zetterlund. For those curious, Nico Hischier ranked 12th in this category. The top five in actual defensive GAR among Devils’ forwards this season are as follows: Jimmy Vesey, Michael McLeod, Nathan Bastian, Pavel Zacha, and Nico Hishcier.
My criticism of Vesey is well-documented, as his impacts anywhere besides the defensive zone have been below replacement-level. So much so he most likely would not be a NHL-level caliber on most teams. However, when just looking at defensive play, and his work on the penalty kill, he excelled and you cannot take that away from him.
Bastian is a close second to Vesey, at five-on-five he graded out well defensively. However, he did not play on the penalty kill much. In comparison to Vesey – who had 137:15 of penalty kill ice time – Bastian only played 14 minutes of penalty kill time.
Worth discussing Nico Hischier’s defensive season. Throughout his career he has posted the following defensive xGAR ratings: -5.3, 0.3, -0.7, -0.9, and -0.4. His short-handed defensive figures also below replacement level over the past three seasons. I know this is something Devils’ fans will either not want to believe or get defensive over. However, the bottom-line is Hishier is not nearly the defensive player he is, for whatever reason, made out to be. He is fine defensively, he is not a bad defensive player, just not the Selke worthy candidate several make him out to be.
My Pick: Jimmy Vesey / Honorable Mentions: Nico Hischier, Michael McLeod
Staff Results (number of votes): Nico Hischier (6), Nathan Bastian (1), Jimmy Vesey (1)
Fan Results (number of votes): Nico Hischier (46), Jimmy Vesey (3), Nathan Bastian (2), Pavel Zacha (1)
The “Blake Coleman” Award (Most Improved Player)
To gauge how an individual’s play changed compared year-over-year a couple good indicators can be used. Point total and underlying numbers.
The main candidate that jumps off the page is Jesper Bratt. Bratt saw his total xGAR jump from 3.7 to 20.1. The 20.1 figure ranks 19th among 626 qualified forwards in the league this season. He also shattered a career-high in scoring, improving by 40 points. Well-respected analytically hockey mind, JFreshHockey, also named Bratt one of his top three most-improved players in the league.
There are also other solid options such as Nico Hischier and Yegor Sharangovich who each set new career-highs in scoring. Both Nathan Bastian (change of -0.1 to 5.5 in total xGAR) and P.K. Subban (change of -1.2 to 6.4 in total xGAR) should not go overlooked either.
My Pick: Jesper Bratt / Honorable Mentions: P.K. Subban, Nathan Bastian, Nico Hischier, Yegor Sharangovich
Staff Results (number of votes): Jesper Bratt (8)
Fan Results (number of votes): Jesper Bratt (27), Jonas Siegenthaler (15), Nico Hischier (5), Jack Hughes (2), P.K. Subban (1), Yegor Sharangovich (1), Jesper Boqvist (1)
The “Taylor Hall” Award (Best Acquisition – non-draft)
The Devils’ main offseason acquisitions were Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Graves, Tomas Tatar, and Jonathan Bernier. Unfortunately, Bernier was limited to only 10 games due to a hip injury. However, the other three played most of the season. New Jersey also made a couple in season pickups such as Andrew Hammond, Mason Geertsen, and others.
Of the group, despite the down-year, Dougie Hamilton has still performed the best. Ryan Graves had a nice year in his own right, however, going forward expect Hamilton to regain his star status. Hamilton’s offensive game was still there as he ranked in the league’s 82nd percentile in offensive metrics. His defensive game just took a step back. Regardless, the star defenseman should comfortably be regarded as the team’s best acquisition.
My Pick: Dougie Hamilton / Honorable Mention: Ryan Graves
Staff Results (number of votes): Dougie Hamilton (7), Ryan Graves (1)
Fan Results (number of votes): Dougie Hamilton (30), Ryan Graves (20), Tomas Tatar (1)
The “Michael Grabner” Award (Worst Acquisition – non-draft)
This is always a tough selection to make. Especially this season when none of the acquisitions were egregiously bad. It’s unfortunate that Bernier did not get to play much. When he did play he was fine and actually holds the team’s best GSAx despite missing most of the season. Ryan Graves also did a decent job and as above mentioned Hamilton still was a solid player.
Tomas Tatar was the most disappointing of the bunch. The 31-year-old had by far the worst season of his career. He posted a career-low point total and shot a career-low 11.4 per cent. His metrics were also poor, something that has never happened to Tatar before as he often is always an analytical-darling. Tatar is certainly a bounce-back candidate as he is under contract for one more season. However, he certainly struggled this season.
It might sound counter-intuitive, however, Jimmy Vesey was technically an acquisition and struggled so bad offensively he gets the nod. Vesey’s offensive GAR ranked 623rd of 627 qualified forwards this season. He did do well defensively, as the above pointed out. However, the Devils would have been better off with Vesey out of the lineup than in. Not the same could be said about Tatar.
My Pick: Jimmy Vesey / Honorable Mention: Tomas Tatar
Staff Results (number of votes): Jimmy Vesey (3), Jonathan Bernier (3), Tomas Tatar (2)
Fan Results (number of votes): Jonathan Bernier (23), Tomas Tatar (17), Jimmy Vesey (5), Jon Gillies (4), Andrew Hammond (2), Mason Geertsen (1)
The “Patrik Elias” Award (Best Offensive Forward)
This award came down to three same players the team MVP award did: Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. If Jack Hughes played the whole season, he’d almost surely get this award. He was on pace for a 94 point season and to score well over 30 goals. Unfortunately, injury cut his season well short. With this in mind, the best choice has to be Jesper Bratt.
It is well-documented above how well Bratt played and how much he improved. He led the team in goals, assists, and points. To add to this, he also had by far the best on-ice offensive impact of anyone on the team and one of the best in the league.
Nico Hischier also deserves a shout out. He set career-highs in goals, assists, and points by hitting the 60 point mark for the first time in his career. His on-ice offensive impact impressively ranked in the league’s 78th percentile. Terrific season for the captain.
My Pick: Jesper Bratt / Honorable Mentions: Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier
Staff Results (number of votes): Jack Hughes (6), Jesper Bratt (2)
Fan Results (number of votes): Jack Hughes (37), Jesper Bratt (13), Yegor Sharangovich (2)
The “Scott Niedermayer” Award (Top Offensive Defenseman)
This is one of the tougher awards to hand out. It comes down to two players: Damon Severson and Dougie Hamilton.
Severson gets the nod with the traditional statistics as he set career-highs in points, assists, and shots while also tying a career-high in goals with 11. Meanwhile, Hamilton had a better on-ice overall offensive impact measured by GAR, edging Severson with a 7.2 offensive GAR rating to Severson’s 1.0. Interestingly enough, if you compare by offensive xGAR instead, Hamilton and Severson are tied with a 6.5 rating.
With all this said, given the actual output advantage as well as the fact the xGAR numbers are about even, an edge has to be given to Severson. Nonetheless, Hamilton, although lacking the actual point totals, had a strong impact offensively. Expect his actual production to bounce-back in a big way next year.
My Pick: Damon Severson / Honorable Mention: Dougie Hamilton
Staff Results (number of votes): Damon Severson (6), Dougie Hamilton (2)
Fan Results (number of votes): Damon Severson (27), Dougie Hamilton (25)
The “Scott Stevens” Award (Top Defensive Defenseman)
This is one of the easier awards to select on this list. Jonas Siegenthaler broke out and put up an absurd defensive season. His overall defensive metrics ranked in the league’s 99th percentile. Why so high? Siegenthaler led the whole league, 964 qualified, in both defensive GAR and defensive xGAR. Absolutely remarkable defensive season for him.
My Pick: Jonas Siegenthaler / Honorable Mention: Damon Severson
Staff Results (number of votes): Jonas Siegenthaler (7), Ryan Graves (1)
Fan Results (number of votes): Jonas Siegenthaler (46), Damon Severson (3), Ryan Graves (3)
The “Brian Gibbons” Award (Most Surprising – in a good way)
There were certainly a lot of good surprises for the Devils this season. The first few names that jump to mind are Jonas Siegenthaler, Dawson Mercer, and Nathan Bastian.
Siegenthaler has always been a pretty solid defensive-defenseman. However, not once came close to putting he season together like he did this year. When he was acquired for a conditional third round pick, it was thought he could possibly be a nice penalty-killing, third-pair defenseman. Little did everyone know he would go on to put up the best defensive season in the league this year.
Nathan Bastian was also a pleasant surprise, doing some very nice work after being re-acquired. Meanwhile, rookie Dawson Mercer carried over his QMJHL success into a nice rookie campaign. However, no one saw Siegenthaler turning into a top defensive-defenseman in the NHL coming.
My Pick: Jonas Siegenthaler, Honorable Mentions: Nathan Bastian, Dawson Mercer
Staff Results (number of votes): Jonas Siegenthaler (5), Dawson Mercer (2), Nathan Bastian (1)
Fan Results (number of votes): Jonas Siegenthaler (26), Dawson Mercer (16), Nathan Bastian (10)
The “Mattias Tedenby” Award (Most Surprising – in a bad way)
Unfortunately, there were quite a few Devils that disappointed this season. None probably more than defenseman Ty Smith did. The second-year defenseman had lofty expectations this season. However, after missing the beginning of the season, he turned in a woeful year. His total GAR of -5.7 ranked dead last of any Devils’ skater this season. Furthermore, this figure ranked 323 of 337 qualified defensemen this season.
Tomas Tatar, as mentioned above, also turned in the worst year of his career which was very surprising given how consistent he has been. He is certainly the runner-up to Smith. Janne Kuokkanen also struggled after a very promising rookie season.
My Pick: Ty Smith / Honorable Mentions: Tomas Tatar, Janne Kuokkanen
Staff Results (number of votes): Ty Smith (7), Tomas Tatar (1)
Fan Results (number of votes): Ty Smith (49), Janne Kuokkanen (2), Tomas Tatar (1)
The “Ben Lovejoy” Award (Scapegoat – actual production versus fan perception)
Examining our social media pages throughout the season while updating games, analyzing response to our content, etc. helps making select this award pretty easy. In a landslide victory, no Devil receives more unwarranted hate than defenseman Damon Severson. Most likely due to his occasional egregious blunder, which wrongly skews some fans’ overall opinion of his entire game.
Another good candidate is P.K. Subban. It is no secret the Subban experiment did not go well. Especially the first couple years, however, he rebounded nicely this season and turned in an underrated season in a bottom-pair role. However, given how much he struggled in his first couple years in the Devils’ sweater, fan opinion may have become too skewed in one direction. This resulting in some heavy scrutiny.
My Pick: Damon Severson / Honorable Mention: P.K. Subban
Staff Results (number of votes): Damon Severson (6), P.K. Subban (2)
Fan Results (number of votes): Damon Severson (28), P.K. Subban (16), Nico Hischier (5), Andreas Johnsson (3)
The “Eric Gelinas” Award (Over-Valued – actual production versus fan perception)
As mentioned above, surveying fan responses to certain material we produce makes choosing these awards pretty easy. The first two names that come to mind are Michael McLeod and Nathan Bastian. These two are easily fan favorites and the way they play makes fans enjoy them even more. Bastian actually turned in a very strong season, so to include him anywhere near this award would be unfair. McLeod, on the other hand, although a good defensive season, appears overrated by many.
Another good option would be Kevin Bahl. He only played a handful of games for the Devils but earned praise from several simply due to his size. Bahl’s numbers when paired with Dougie Hamilton were solid, as expected given the fact he was playing with such a good partner. However, as soon as he got away from Hamilton his numbers nosedived.
If Bahl had some more sample size, I’d give him the nod over McLeod. However, McLeod did play most of the season. Other possible options would be Jimmy Vesey and Mason Geertsen.
My Pick: Michael McLeod / Honorable Mentions: Kevin Bahl, Jimmy Vesey, Mason Geertsen
Staff Results (number of votes): Michael McLeod (3), Jimmy Vesey (3), Nathan Bastian (1), Kevin Bahl (1)
Fan Results (number of votes): Michael McLeod (37), Jimmy Vesey (5), Nathan Bastian (4), Nico Daws (2), Kevin Bahl (1), Andreas Johnsson (1), Pavel Zacha (1), Dougie Hamilton (1)
Conclusion
Thank you for all those that participated in the voting this year. Also, thank you to everyone that followed along with our coverage. We hope you will stick with us through an offseason that will surely be extremely busy for the New Jersey Devils. We will have all the coverage right here.