At the half-season mark, the glass is both half-full and half-empty for the Devils.
They’re miles ahead of last season’s first half, yet not nearly as hot as they were in last year’s Preposterous Dream second half. Another half-season like the one they completed with Saturday’s 3-1 victory in Pittsburgh and the Devils would have 96 points, almost certain to be enough to make the playoffs after missing for the first time in 14 seasons. But any tail-off would be dangerous, because the Flames missed with 94 points last year.
As the Devils open the second half tomorrow in Calgary, they stand 23-16-2 compared to 10-29-2 in last season’s first half before they exploded to go 28-10-3 in last year’s second half.
The Devils have scored 106 goals and allowed 116, not including shootout credit, far better than 70-129 in last year’s first half, but far worse than that second half’s 101-78.
General manager Lou Lamoriello would not say whether he will be a buyer or seller by the Feb. 27 trade deadline. But his familiar refrain suggested he will buy, if the financial situation permits.
“We’re going to do everything we can to improve our team,” he said.
“We’re extremely pleased with the way the team has come along and adjusted to [coach] Pete [DeBoer’s] system, not that there have been many changes,” Lamoriello added. “They’ve adjusted as far as the way we pursue the puck and done other things. We’re also pleased with the way they’ve adjusted to adversity, not that other teams haven’t had injuries. We’re looking forward to having everybody back.
“Overall, it’s been extremely positive. The last [31] games we’ve been going up and that’s the most important thing.”
Last year, the Devils lacked Zach Parise for 65 games, and Parise is heating up lately. Whether they can resist the urge to trade him now if they don’t think they can re-sign him will help determine how the second-half plays out.
In last season’s first half, Ilya Kovalchuk was the Devils’ only double-digit goal scorer with 10. This season, they have seven in double-figures, including Kovalchuk and David Clarkson, tops at 15 each. Kovalchuk had 21 in last season’s second half.
There are plenty of areas for improvement, starting with the power play. They went 20-for-142 on the power play in the first 41 games, up from the basement to 26th. Last season, they had the fewest power-play goals in the NHL.
But their power play has allowed a league-worst 12 short-handed goals, on-pace to break the NHL record of 22. Conversely, their league-best penalty-killing also paces the NHL with nine short-handers.
They must also fix their terrible third periods, in which they have been outscored 32-52, compared to their 46-31 second-period edge.
But they’re hoping Travis Zajac will have a strong second half coming back from Achilles tendon surgery, and Anton Volchenkov and Andy Greene will be able to return to the lineup shortly.