Gabe Desjardins has come up with a brand new feature at Behind the Net: game-by-game player graphs. The graphs chart out a player's Fenwick ratio (shooting attempts for vs. against without blocks), goal ratio (for vs. against), and offensive zone start percentage over the course of a NHL season. Gabe recently announced and released the graphs for this season over at Arctic Ice Hockey. Player graphs will be updated daily at Behind the Net and he has them for as far back as 2007-08. Who knows, more may be added or modified in the future. In any case, the current graphs are great way to quickly see how a player has been doing on the ice and where they are starting over the course of a season.

Just out of curiosity, I decided to take a look at a few of them for one of the most popular New Jersey Devils: Ilya Kovalchuk. He was acquired in February 2010, he's been through three different head coaches, and subject to all kinds of praise, criticism, and everything in between from fans, experts, and everyone else. The perception on him is that he's not much of a possession player; his real value comes from scoring - and he's not doing it at rates when he was with Atlanta. With these graphs, we can learn a little more about Kovalchuk's time as a Devil. Please follow along after the jump to find out.

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While Alexei Ponikarovsky has only been a Devil for a few games, he has been one of the more effective players for the Devils over the last few games. In his first game as a Devil, he scored the team's only goal. He's been one of the stronger performers over the last few games, with a goal and 4 assists in his last 3 games. For the price that the Devils payed for him, they're getting a pretty good deal so far. Right now, I'm going to take a look at how he's performed in his first few games. I also want to look at how he's been deployed as well.

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I've had Fenwick on the mind recently. No, not Matt Fenwick of Battle of Alberta; I'm been thinking about the statistic called Fenwick. One of the main advanced stats I tend to focus on in previews and other analyses is a team's Fenwick percentage. Fenwick counts up the difference in shooting attempts for and against a team except for blocks in 5-on-5, non-empty net situations. A team with a high percentage suggests that they have done better at controlling the game. Fenwick, like Corsi (which includes blocks) approximates possession; hence, the title and my description of using . The idea is that shots are almost always attempted in the other team's end of the rink and when a player has the opportunity to attempt a shot. That means the puck is in the opponent's end, and getting there more often than the other team consistently speaks to the team's quality.

It's a little more complicated than just counting up goals, shots on goal, and missed shots. The score of a game will normally affect how a team attempts to shoot. Losing teams will be more aggressive whereas leading teams will hang back or be forced to defend more. In order to reduce the effect of score effects, it's common to use the percentage for close score situations: when the score is within a goal in the first two periods or tied in the third and overtime. Over time, the teams who have higher Fenwick percentages in these situations tend to be the truly elite teams in a season, like Detroit. Those who are out-attempted regularly but still have a strong record usually are succeeding elsewhere - such as a really effective power play, a hot goaltender, and/or a high shooting percentage.

The Devils aren't either of those teams. Their record certainly isn't elite. They're not riding a hot power play, goaltender, or shooting to a lot of success. They are around average - particularly in Fenwick. I've noted in the January Month in Review post that the New Jersey Devils are about average as a team when it comes to close-score Fenwick percentage. They are above average relative to the rest of the league, but the actual count is closer to the 50% mark.

While looking that up before the Montreal game on February 2nd, I decided to see how this team compares with past Devils teams in Fenwick percentage. By the end of last season, I was lauding the Devils' excellent percentages in shooting attempts both in Corsi and Fenwick percentages. It was evidence that showed the team truly played better under Jacques Lemaire compared to John MacLean. With a new coach and some new players in the lineup, I was curious as to how the 2011-12 Devils compares with their predecessors so far. Thanks to the terrifyingly brilliant Gabe Desjardens' Behind the Net, it's easy to go as far back as 2007-08 and see how the Devils performed in Fenwick percentage and see how they did relative to the rest of the league. Please continue on after the jump to see the results.

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The New Jersey Devils are beginning the "final stretch" as Peter DeBoer would say. All star weekend is behind them and there are still a few injuries that are lingering. With the season eclipsing the half way mark and approaching the two-thirds mark, the Devils are a bubble team. In order to become a playoff team, the Devils need to address many things and make adjustments down the stretch.

The Devils need to keep up their scoring from Tuesday's game against the Rangers. They need the goaltending to be consistent, the defense to be stingy, and the special teams to be effective. One of the things the Devils need to be mindful of is how often their special teams will need to pitch in. In other words, are the Devils drawing enough penalties to give the power play a chance? And, do they have to be on the penalty kill for more than a small amount of time? After the jump I'll take a look at a few different groups of Devils and how they do in drawing and taking penalties.

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The next few months will be of utmost importance to the Devils. As of now, they're currently a bubble team largely in part to the 3 game slump the team has been in. With this stretch of games being oh so important to the team's future, largely in part because of the revenue of playoff games as well as making a statement to Zach Parise that the team can win. Because of this, this means the Devils are going to be buyers at the deadline. Unless the team slumps hard during February, it's unlikely that the team's stance will change. The question is, do the Devils need to make more moves to help their team win?

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We're in the middle of a break in the season for the NHL All Star Game. After Sunday's game, the real crunch of the season will take hold. The playoffs will start becoming a pressing concern, the mindset of teams will turn to maximizing points, and schedules will get tighter - especially in March. Teams are taking this break to take stock of their team and determine where they could stand to improve if they have something to play for this spring or who they should keep if they do not. The New Jersey Devils are no different in that sense. However, they do have a problem not shared by many teams: Zach Parise.

You see, Zach Parise is an impending unrestricted free agent and his status has remain unchanged. Parise will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2012 once his current one-season deal ends. It's an open question as to whether Parise would sign with the Devils prior to that date or if he'll play the market. It will remain an open question since Lou doesn't discuss contract negotiations. Moreover, according to this post by Tom Gulitti on Thursday, there haven't been any contract talks. And we're not going to know if there are any until after it's happened. Therefore, it's only natural to wonder whether the Devils will trade Parise since his future in New Jersey is in doubt.

Making matters more difficult is the team's financial situation. Tom Gulitti wrote an excellent post about the subject which you all should read. In summary: the team's received an advance on money they would normally receive from the NHL; Ray Chambers has yet to have his share bought out; and their outstanding debt of $80 million has yet to be refinanced. It's not nearly as bad as the articles from Josh Kosman have made it out to be, as Matt Ventolo suggested a few weeks back. Also: I wouldn't expect Nelson Peltz to do anything, given this insightful comment from Gulitti that user Zelepukin pointed out in this FanPost. Yet, it's not a good situation either. It could definitely impact Parise's future presuming Parise will demand (and command) a very large contract. The Devils could very well not have the money to give #9 what he wants.

When you combine the two situations along with the general worries involving any free agent (e.g. where do they really want to be, how much are they looking for, etc.), the big question looms larger. Should the Devils trade Zach Parise? Should the Devils get something in exchange for one of their top forwards so they don't end up with nothing? Kevin put together a post answering that question: what would be acceptable return for Parise His desire - a first round pick, a young NHL player, and a forward prospect - would represent a possible outcome. And I understand and respect the opinion of those who don't want the Devils to possibly see Parise walk away on July 1.

However, I have an opposite opinion: the Devils shouldn't trade Parise this season. At all. To put it bluntly, Lou would be really stupid to trade Parise this season. I think the only way he should do so is if Parise himself walks up to the GM and demand a trade in an angry and/or disrespectful fashion. Even then, I think there should be some second thoughts; there are good reasons for the Devils to keep Parise this season. Please read on those reasons after the jump.

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The New Jersey Devils are not an elite team, they're about an average squad. Now that the NHL season has hit a break for All Star Game, the Devils are sitting in eighth in the East and are in a five-way tie in the NHL (13th through 17th) with 55 points. They've got more wins than losses and OT/SO losses; but it's not by much either overall (26-19-3), at home (12-9-2), or on the road (14-10-1). Devils fans want to know whether his team is really going to be pushing hard to stay atop of the playoff bubble from January 31 onward. The fear is that they'll struggle. I couldn't tell you; I don't know what the future will hold. Although, I doubt the Devils will be making a push for elite status any time in the near future.

The main reason I'm confident in my doubts is possession. The Devils have done a very good job preventing shots, but they don't generate a lot of them. According to Behind the Net's situational stats in 5-on-5 situations, their SA/60 rate is the third lowest rate in the league at 26.2; but their SF/60 rate is only a little better at 26.7 - the fourth lowest rate in the league. If the Devils want to get more wins and really help themselves out in their drive to make the playoffs, then the team would be wise to get the puck more and out-attempt teams more often. When a team controls the puck, it means the opposition isn't attacking and it's further opportunity to get on the board. It's no accident that the true elite teams in the league, like Detroit, Boston, and St. Louis, are ahead of a vast majority of the NHL when it comes to possession.

How can the Devils increase their ways? Well, we need to identify how the skaters are used by the coaches and how they're doing. Back in the middle of November, I took a look at how Peter DeBoer was utilizing the forwards and defensemen. With the data at Behind the Net, I charted their adjusted Corsi rates on an axis defined by their defensive zone start percentage and their quality of competition. The graphs showed who was taking on tougher competition, who got favorable zone starts, and how they were doing in those spots. That was after 17 games into the season. Now that the team is heading into the toughest part of the regular season, it's a good time as any to identify who's doing well and who needs help. The updated graphs and analysis are after the jump.

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The Devils struggled into the All-Star weekend with a lack of scoring. While the NHL is on pause for some skills competition, Peter DeBoer has some thinking to do. He can start with questions like: How do we score power play goals? What happened to our penalty kill? And how can I get my top players to score more at even strength? The players should be able to recoup and refocus on hockey since there is not a single New Jersey Devil participating in this weekend's events. In my opinion, if the Devils are trying to ship out Parise for draft picks and what not, it would have been nice to have him show off in the all star game and hopefully whet the appetite for a few more GM's.

However, this post isn't to speculate on Parise, but to figure out where the Devil's scoring has went. In the last three games, the Devils have put up one goal each game. Now, three games isn't the end of the world for a scoring drought, but its concerning. After the jump I'll break down the scoring trends for our top five goal scorers and hopefully shed a little more light on the situation.

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