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So going into the offseason soon. I thought it would be helpful to have a list of things to pay attention to that Devils fans could come back to look at during the draft, free agency, and preseason. At the end of my list, if you have something that you think I either got wrong or omitted, then please feel free to add #26 and more. Without further ado...here is ...... MY LIST OF 25 THINGS GAHHHHHHH. ....ahem ... enjoy :)
1. Michael Ryder, Martin Havlat, Jordin Tootoo, Steve Bernier, Scott Gomez, Bryce Salvador, Peter Harrold, and Mark Fraser are all Unrestricted Free Agents.
2. Adam Larsson and Eric Gelinas are Restricted Free Agents
3. Dainius Zubrus is neither ... he's also going to make $3.1 million dollars.
4. Bryce Salvador was the Devils' captain in 2014-2015.
5. He is amenable to giving up his captaincy and return as a role player and mentor.
6. Adam Henrique, Michael Cammalleri, Andy Greene, Travis Zajac, and Cory Schneider are all signed through at least 2019 (via Spotrac).
7. Matt Beleskey, Shawn Matthias, Joel Ward, Erik Cole, Martin St. Louis and Eric Fehr are UFAs that averages over 1 goal per 60 minutes, and scored at least 15 over the course of the year.
8. I left out Steve Bernier from that list.
9. Jiri Tlusty, Mike Ribeiro, Mike Fischer, Carl Soderberg, and Michael Frolik are also UFAs.
10. The Blackhawks, Capitals, Kings, and Penguins, have negative cap space.
11. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Brandon Saad, Tyler Toffoli, Marcus Johansson, Marcus Kruger, and Beau Bennett are RFAs. (#7 through #11 used HockeyBuzz in conjunction with WAR on Ice)
12. The Devils were 28th in the league in goals scored in 2015 (via ESPN)
13. The Devils had the oldest crop of forwards in the NHL in 2014-2015 ... by a lot. And adjusting for playing time didn't help (see below ... we're that blue thing).
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14. SC%Rel describes how much the ratio of scoring chances for and against improves when a player is on the ice. The Devils top 4 players in SC%Rel were Marek Zidlicky, Jaromir Jagr, Adam Larsson, and Scott Gomez.
15. Jagr and Zid are no longer with us, and Larsson and Gomez currently do not have contracts in the 2015-2016 season.
16. In the past 11 years, 176 teams have made the playoffs. 122 of them made the playoffs the previous year (70%). This means roughly 5 teams every year make the playoffs that didn't the year before.
17. This year there were 7 (Vancouver, Washington, Ottawa, NYI, Winnipeg, Nashville, Calgary). 4 of them had made the playoffs 2 years ago.
18. 25 teams in the past 12 years have made the playoffs with a CF% (shot attempt ratio) of 48% or less. That's one-seventh of the playoff teams or just over 2 per year.
19. The Devils had a 47.2% CF%.
20. The Devils had a better even strength scoring chance ratio than the Canadiens. Makes you wonder if a good goalie is enough to force a team into the playoffs.
21. The Devils had the 4th-worst Faceoff percentage in the league.
22. The Rangers had the 3rd worst ... ok ignore #21 it is clearly not important.
23. The Devils had the 2nd worst penalties drawn versus penalties taken ratio in the league, ahead of only CBJ.
24. The Devils 97.2 shot attempts for and against per 60 is lowest in the league. In fact on a graph it looks like we are
playing a different game from everyone else.
25. This article took longer to create than it seems. (#14-24 all utilized WAR on Ice to some degree ... and this file I made from them -->WOI Team Info )
That's it for now guys. See you next week when I give my first Draft Prospect Profile. Feel free to add to my list of 25 or tell me what I screwed up. There's normally something. Enjoy a crazy sports weekend and don't do anything we at ILWT wouldn't do.