Stock Watch for the New Jersey Devils' Top Six Forwards
The New Jersey Devils forwards have been less than stellar this season to say the least.
Injuries have devastated New Jersey, with 18 forwards playing for the Devils over the team's first 33 games and only one forward playing every game.
This has left the team's top two lines in constant flux, and the effectiveness of the team's top forwards has suffered as a result. With Michael Cammalleri out with injury, the Devils currently have no healthy forwards with more than eight goals.
So, it comes as no surprise that a stock watch of the Devils' top six forwards is not exactly flattering to New Jersey's most important players.
Bottom Six Forward Overview
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The play of New Jersey's third and fourth lines have not been attention-grabbing but are worth noting as well.
Michael Ryder: Falling
The fact that Ryder is not a top-six forward for the Devils while Ryane Clowe, Dainius Zubrus and Michael Cammalleri are all injured tells the story of the winger's season. Ryder has not scored in his last 19 games and has only four goals this season.
The Devils need Ryder's goals desperately, but his play does not warrant putting him on one of the team's top two lines. But sliding him down to the third line may not help the Newfoundlander score goals either. Until Ryder can start converting some chances, though, that is where he will likely stay.
Stephen Gionta: Rising
With injuries continuing to ravage New Jersey's forwards, Gionta has jumped up to the third line, after a successful couple of weeks on a fourth line with Jordin Tootoo and Steve Bernier that saw Gionta score twice.
Gionta's plus-four rating is the best on the team. He has also spent significant time killing penalties, helping the team turn around its horrid shorthanded record from the start of the season.
Steve Bernier: Rising
Bernier started the season in the AHL but has been a solid fourth-line player since returning to the NHL club. He has two goals and six assists in 22 games this season, and his plus-three rating is second only to Gionta.
It will be a mistake to ask Bernier to play a role greater than that of a fourth-liner, but in his current place on the team, Bernier is a solid contributor.
Martin Havlat: Falling
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Statistics this season:
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | Plus/Minus |
| 20 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -9 |
Martin Havlat's numbers on the season are pedestrian to begin with, but a look at his performances over his last nine games are even more disappointing—one goal, no assists and a minus-five rating.
Not only has Havlat struggled to put up points, but the team has struggled to score when he is on the ice in general. New Jersey scores 1.27 goals per 60 minutes Havlat is on the ice—second-worst on the team.
In fairness to the 33-year-old, injuries have shortened and fractured his season thus far, not to mention injuries to other players have meant Havlat has not had consistent linemates all season.
There could be room for Havlat to turn it around, though. On Wednesday night against Ottawa, he played on a line with Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias, both of whom recently returned from injury.
Both Zajac and Elias historically have been defensively responsible and reliable playmakers. Both are the kind of player that Havlat needs around him to succeed.
Can Havlat's new linemates help him turn his season around? It is certainly possible.
But, for now, Havlat is a downtrending player.
Travis Zajac: Too Soon to Say
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Statistics this season:
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | Plus/Minus |
| 25 | 4 | 4 | 8 | -4 |
Zajac has been back for two games after missing two weeks with the mumps and a lower-body injury, so it is still too early to determine which way he is trending.
When healthy, Zajac's performance was average on a struggling team. He certainly has not been the disappointment that Ryder or Havlat has been, but he has not found the levels of players like Cammalleri or Jaromir Jagr.
Zajac's Corsi percentage (a statistic that measures possession by comparing the number of shots faced and taken while a player is on the ice) is second on the Devils to only Jagr, according to HockeyAnalysis.com.
Part of his favorable Corsi likely stems from the amount of offensive-zone faceoffs he is on the ice for, due to his place as the best faceoff man on the team.
Still, it affirms his status as a two-way forward who generally makes smart decisions with the puck.
The Devils are paying Zajac to be more than a smart two-way forward though, and they need playmakers and goal-scorers to stay afloat.
Can Zajac find that aspect of his game again? Only time will tell.
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Patrik Elias: Too Soon to Say
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Statistics this season:
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | Plus/Minus |
| 27 | 3 | 9 | 12 | -13 |
Elias, like Zajac, has just returned from injury.
Elias, like Havlat, has a brutal plus/minus (minus-13) and team goals scored per 60 minutes of ice time (1.29).
Unlike Zajac and Havlat, Elias has been one of the Devils' best and most consistent forwards for the last 15 years.
So, now that Elias is fully healthy, which Elias will the Devils get: the one who holds New Jersey's all-time records for goals and assists or the one who has the worst plus/minus on the team?
Scott Gomez: Rising
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Statistics this season:
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | Plus/Minus |
| 9 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -3 |
There have not been many pleasant surprises for the Devils this season.
But there cannot have been many people who predicted the presence of Scott Gomez as a first-line winger.
Gomez, who played his first game this season on December 2, has six points over nine games. His 0.66 points per game is second only to Adam Henrique.
Of course, this is not the Gomez who had 33 goals and 51 assists in the 2005-06 season, nor is it even the Gomez who won the Calder Memorial Trophy with 19 goals and 51 assists in the 1999-00 season.
But if Gomez can keep this pace the rest of the season, he would pick up another 30 points before the season ends. On a team struggling for goals, those 30 points would be a tremendous boon.
Adam Henrique: Steady
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Statistics this year:
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | Plus/Minus |
| 26 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 2 |
On a team overflowing with aging forwards, Adam Henrique is a beam of young, goal-scoring talent. He is second on the Devils in goals and points and third in assists.
Henrique is strong defensively as well. He kills penalties and has a positive plus/minus on a team that has given up significant more goals than it has scored.
He has dealt well with the constant merry-go-round of forwards around him, which has caused a shuffle between center and forward for the 24-year-old.
So why is he only steady and not rising? In short, he has fallen off the scoresheet at a terrible time.
Henrique has only two points in the team's last five games—all of which have been losses. The Devils need clutch goals desperately right now, and though that has been Henrique's calling during his brief time in New Jersey, he has not found the net in the last week and a half.
It is tough to put so much pressure on the shoulders of one player, but if Henrique cannot start scoring or setting up goals again, the Devils will be out of the playoff race by the All-Star break.
Jaromir Jagr: Steady
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Statistics this season:
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | Plus/Minus |
| 32 | 5 | 15 | 20 | -9 |
Jaromir Jagr has had a season similar to that of Henrique. Jagr leads the team in assists and points, and the team would be even worse than it is now if not for Jagr occasionally putting the team on his back.
Jagr is tremendous in possession as well. He has the team's best Corsi and an incredible skill for staying on the puck. Even at 42 years old, Jagr is clearly one of the strongest players on the ice.
But even the ageless Jagr has been far from perfect. His minus-nine rating is poor, and he has 24 penalty minutes, far too many for a player who is not being asked to do much defending.
Like Henrique, Jagr has not been able to find the clutch goals that the Devils needed in their recent stretch of close games.
Is it unfair to ask that of the 42-year-old Czech forward? Possibly.
But the Devils need them to score those goals if they want to get back into the playoff picture. Until he can do that, his stock is steady.
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