What a storybook ending it was for New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes and the rest of Team USA at the Olympics games on Sunday. Hughes scored the “golden goal” propelling the United States to their first gold medal since the 1980 ‘Miracle on Ice’ team. Hughes was a standout performer all tournament long and received the ultimate reward in the form of an overtime-winner against the United States’ fiercest rival in Canada.
Hughes was not the only Devil that excelled at the games. Forwards Nico Hischier and Timo Meier each had big showings for Team Switzerland. Meanwhile, defenseman Simon Nemec led Slovakia to a strong fourth-place finish. Jesper Bratt, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Jacob Markström all also made impacts for their respective teams as well.
Further evidence of how strong the Devils played can be seen through their scoring chance generation rates. Below are where each ranked at their respective positions:
Forwards:
- Hughes: 17th
- Meier: 22nd
- Hischier: 26th
- Bratt: 43rd
Defense:
- Nemec: 1st
The above rankings are only factor in preliminary round play. There were 162 forwards that were tracked and 95 defensemen.
Notably, Nemec’s 5.7 scoring chance creation average ranked 15th among all 257 players tracked. He also played one of the highest ice times in the entire tournament. Bratt, who still ranked in the 74th percentile among forwards in chance creation, received extremely limited ice time. When rated over 60 minutes, Bratt’s 25.4 chance contributions per 60 minutes was tops on Sweden. Going even further, that 25.4 figure ranked fourth in the whole tournament (minimum three minutes of ice time). He played quite well despite the mismanagement by the Swedish coaching staff who deservingly underperformed drastically at the games.
To further exemplify how strong the Devils were, when you look at the final numbers entering Sunday’s Gold Medal game, three Devils finished in the overall top-20 in scoring chance creation. Hughes ranked 13th, Hischier 16th, and Nemec 18th. Nemec remained the top defenseman and was the only one that broke the top-20. Hughes, specifically, when you look at his chance creation rate over 60 minutes, ranked second in the whole tournament (minimum three minutes of ice time).
If chance generation was not enough to show how strong members of the organization played, you can look at the traditional figures as well. Below are some notable final statistics from the Devils’ representatives:
- Hughes: four goals, three assists, seven points (six games)
- Meier: three goals, four assists, seven points (five games)
- Hischier: one goal, three assists, four points (five games)
- Markström: 0.936 save percentage, 1.97 goals against average, 2-1-0 record
Notably, Hughes and Meier were tied for eighth in total scoring. Märkstrom’s 0.936 save percentage ranked fifth among goaltenders and his goals saved above average of 2.09 ranked fourth. This was among 25 goaltenders to play a game. He was specifically splendid in the elimination game against Team USA where the Swedes lost in overtime. Markström stopped 38-of-40 in a losing effort.
Final Thoughts
There is no way to sugarcoat it, the season the Devils have had up to this point has been a monstrous disappointment. However, this lengthy Olympic break has been a splendid change of pace where several of the Devils representatives played terrific on the world’s largest stage. Hopefully, each can bring that strong play back with them to New Jersey and the team can at least make it interesting down the stretch.
All statistics above are courtesy of Hockeystats.com.