18 Quick Stats for the ‘18 Devils

I normally do a little bit of research before an article to find something interesting worth writing about. This time I just made the research the piece. There were a lot of interesting stats, but most of them were also self-explanatory and so not worth a full write-up on their own. The result of that process is ...

18 STATISTICAL FACTS YOU DIDN’T ASK FOR THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE INFORMATIVE WHICH MILDLY SURPRISED ME.

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It’s really probably more like 14 important ones and 4 random ones. I was stretching at points.

Anyway. Here are the stats!

1. Taylor Hall did NOT lead the Devils in 5v5 Primary points — Nico Hischier did.
2. Taylor Hall did NOT lead the Devils in RelT CF% — Noesen and Butcher were both higher.
3. According to data from Offside Review, Will Butcher won the score-adjusted Corsi battle (CF>CA) in 50 of his 81 games. That 61.7 Win% is highest on the team. Santini was lowest at 25% (8-24).
4. Of 18 Devils forwards with 50+ minutes played, Brian Boyle had the easiest QoC (Quality of Competition) and also had an average Zone Start Ratio. He was likely the most “sheltered” Devils forward.
5. In new-stat era (since 2008), the only Devil season with a higher penalty differential than Nico Hischier’s (+17) was Zach Parise’s 2010 season (+22).
6. Blake Coleman played 79 games for the Devils and started 41.72% of his faceoff shifts in the defensive zone. That’s the highest percentage of any Devils forward who played 60+ games in the new stat era.
7. Blake Coleman had 216 hits this year — 17th in the NHL. Only one of the 16 above him scored more than his 13 goals (Tom Wilson, 14), and only one of the 16 above him had more than his 146 shots on goal (Milan Lucic, 147). He was one off the lead in both.
8. Coleman and Gibbons both scored 3 shorthanded goals. The only other team combos to each score 3 or more were Florida (Barkov, 5 & Trochek, 3) and Nashville (Watson, 4 & Arvidsson, 3)
9. The Devils have 3 players in the top 20 in the NHL in turnover differential (according for Corsica’s data). Hischier (+29, 8th in NHL), Coleman (+23, 17th), and Hall (+22, 20th). We are the only team with 3 forwards in the top 20 (Carolina has 3 players, but one is Slavin — the only D in the top 20)
10. Miles Wood led all Devils players in iCF60 (shot attempts per 60 minutes), narrowly edging out Taylor Hall.
11. Taylor Hall had the most offensive point shares for a season in Devils franchise history. He also had the most points per game ever.
12. Travis Zajac is 8th all time in Devils scoring with 461 points. Next season, he will likely pass Broten (469), Holik (472), Niedermayer (476) and Gomez (484) to rise to 4th all time.
13. The 2nd highest active Devil on the franchise scoring list is Andy Greene (210)
14. The Devils had 4 rookies score 25 or more points this year. The were the only such team this year, there’s only been 3 this decade (2017 Leafs, 2011 Oilers), and the only other such team in franchise history was in 1985 (Maclean, Muller, Driver, and Hiemer).
15. Will Butcher’s 39 assists are the 14th most for a rookie defender ever (relevant stats only go back to 1970). He had the most assists for anyone rookie Dman in franchise history, and most points for any rookie D-man in Devils history — Barry Beck had 60 for the Rockies in 1978.
16. The Devils had the 2nd lowest team HDSv% (high danger save percentage) in the league ahead of only Buffalo.
17. Of the 579 skaters in the NHL with 500+ minutes, Steve Santini as 579th (Last) in RelT CF% and 574th in RelT xGF%, but was somehow a plus in RelT GF%. He was a possession and expected goal liability, but through either luck or something unmeasured, came out on top in goal differential.
18. Assuming he makes it through the year, John Hynes (246 games) will become the 2nd longest-tenured coach in franchise history, passing DeBoer (248) and Carpenter (290), and trailing only Jaques Lemaire (509)

Your Turn

Do you have any fun facts you want to share with the class? What did you think of mine? Were any particularly surprising? Do they change your thoughts on any player, dynamic, or narrative?

Leave your comments below. And, as always, thanks for reading!