5 Bold Predictions for the New Jersey Devils in the New Year

The New Jersey Devils are certainly hoping that the rest of 2015's games resemble their second game of the new year.

The Devils notched a comfortable 5-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night in what was one of the team's most complete performances of the season.

Though it is necessary to keep the win in perspective (the Flyers have lost five straight), the victory gives the Devils and their fans hope for the rest of the season.

With that hope in mind, this list will look at five bold, positive predictions for the Devils for the rest of the 2014-15 season.

5. New Jersey's Penalty Kill Ends the Season in the Top Half of the NHL

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Andy Greene and Adam Larsson, two key players on the penalty kill, fight for a loose puck in front of the net.

One of the biggest culprits for the Devils' October and November struggles was their putrid penalty killing. 

The team was taking a ton of penalties and was operating as low as 65 percent even a month into the season. The result was a deluge of power-play goals against.

Though New Jersey is still taking too many penalties, the team's penalty kill has been improving at a phenomenal rate over the last two months. 

The Devils are now 24th in penalty-killing efficiency, up to 78.8 percent. 

The improvement is even more impressive when considering the injuries New Jersey has faced. 

The team lost Bryce Salvador to a lower-body injury, which may well have been addition by subtraction, but several other useful penalty-killers have missed out as well.

Patrik Elias, Dainius Zubrus, Travis Zajac, Adam Henrique, Michael Cammalleri, Jacob Josefson, Jon Merrill, Damon Severson and Adam Larsson all kill penalties, and all have missed at least seven games this season.

With all but one of those players (Severson) either already back or nearly back from injury, there is no reason to think the strong play of the penalty-killers will not continue.

To get to 15th—a reasonable goal after the horrid start to the season—the Devils will have to bring their efficiency up to around 81 percent. If the team takes approximately the same number of penalties in the second half of the season, around an 83 percent penalty-killing rate will get the job done.

That would be an impressive rate, but a totally manageable one.

4. Adam Larsson Stays Paired with Andy Greene on the Team's Top Defense Pairing

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Adam Larsson celebrates a Devils goal.

When Damon Severson went down with a fractured left ankle, so did half of New Jersey's top defense pairing. The 20-year-old Severson had done a tremendous job with veteran Andy Greene, but facing a month off the ice, the Devils had to find another defender for the top pairing.

Former coach Peter DeBoer gave Jon Merrill a chance, while the new coaching staff tried using Peter Harrold along with Greene. But with Harrold out after taking a slash to the face, the team gave Adam Larsson a chance to play with Greene against the Flyers on Saturday night.

He has earned the opportunity and ought to stay there permanently. 

Larsson spent the last two seasons of his young career bouncing between the NHL and AHL, with DeBoer's high expectations of the young Swedish defenseman not being met. His treatment of Larsson came under scrutiny at the time, but it seems that DeBoer may have known what he was doing after all.

Larsson entered the league as a player expected to become an elite offensive defenseman, but his time in Albany with the Devils' AHL affiliate has clearly helped hone his defensive skills. Larsson is regularly killing penalties and has a minus-three rating on a team that has given up a ton of goals.

His possession stats are strong as well. His Corsi (which measures the number of shots a team faces when a player is on the ice against the number of shots a team takes when that player is on the ice) is 10th on the team and fourth-best among defensemen on the team, according to Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com.

Given that over 40 percent of the faceoffs he has been on the ice for have been in the defensive end, those numbers are tremendous.

As Larsson has gained confidence this season, the offensive aspect of his game has been slowly appearing as well. Against the Flyers on Saturday, he picked up an assist, led a few offensive rushes and played on the power play. 

If he continues this strong play, he will make it impossible for the coaching staff to move him off the top pairing with Greene.

3. New First Line of Adam Henrique, Scott Gomez and Jaromir Jagr Clicks

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Jaromir Jagr returns to the bench after his third goal against the Flyers.

The Devils have yet to find consistent scoring from any source all season, be it a single player or a line.

After its strong performance against the Flyers though, the line of Adam Henrique, Scott Gomez and Jaromir Jagr has a real chance to become that.

There are a number of reasons that this line could become a bona fide top forward line.

First and foremost, all of these players are great playmakers. Henrique had 35 assists his rookie year. Gomez has had at least 50 assists in a season four times and at least 40 assists nine times. Jagr is seventh all-time in the NHL in career assists.

Two of these players, Henrique and Jagr, are talented goal scorers as well. Henrique had 25 goals on a mediocre Devils team last season, and Jagr is one of seven players to score 700 goals in an NHL career.

In Henrique, the line has a supremely responsible defensive forward. Henrique has a plus-three rating this season, had a plus-three rating last season and kills penalties 

In Jagr, the line has the team's best player in possession. He has the highest Corsi on the team, and he is incredibly difficult to knock off the puck.

This line checks all the boxes—passing, scoring, defense and possession. If each player can stay healthy, there's no reason why this line cannot find success the rest of the season.

2. One of Joe Whitney or Reid Boucher Makes an Impact at the NHL Level

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Joe Whitney celebrates his first NHL goal.

Though this has been the season of young defensemen for the Devils, no young forward has yet been able to make an impact with New Jersey.

Joe Whitney perhaps got closest to doing so when he scored his first NHL goal this week. He managed to score that goal while playing on a line with Jordin Tootoo and Tim Sestito—no small feat. In doing so, he has earned himself the right to get more chances at the NHL level.

Unfortunately, the Devils hand was once again forced by injury, and they had to send Whitney down to the AHL to call up Mark Fraser after an injury to Peter Harrold. With the length of Harrold's injury still unclear and Eric Gelinas still out with the flu, Whitney is likely blocked from a recall in the next few days.

But, Tom Gulitti of the Fire and Ice Blog reported that the Devils were interested in keeping Whitney in New Jersey before the injury to Harrold, so it would not be a surprise to see the team bring him back.

The other young forward that could make an impact this season is Reid Boucher.

Boucher, who scored 68 goals in 2012-13 with the OHL's Sarnia Sting, is certainly the Devils' most promising goal-scoring prospect, but he got off to a poor start in Albany this season. In his first 18 games, Boucher only had two goals and five assists.

But, he has come alive in his last 12 games, picking up eight goals and five assists.

New Jersey management wisely left Boucher in Albany following injuries to Steve Bernier and Stephen Gionta last week. The last thing the 21-year-old winger needs is a shake-up after finally hitting his stride this season. 

If his strong play continues into the coming weeks and months though, and he appears to have permanently found his touch in Albany, Boucher deserves a chance to ply his trade at the NHL level.

If his current pace continues, there's no reason to think he will not make some noise in New Jersey.

1. The Devils' Record for the Second Half of the Season Will Be Above NHL .500

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The team celebrates a late goal against Montreal.

Unless New Jersey makes arguably one of the greatest turnarounds in NHL history, the team is not going to make the playoffs. 

While such an improvement is likely out of the question, a significant change from the first half of the season is still possible. There are three reasons why it seems plausible that the Devils' second-half record will be above NHL .500 (more wins than regulation losses). 

First, the team's top forwards are finally healthy. While some injuries to defensemen and fourth-line forwards are still lingering, the biggest injuries have healed. Given that the team's biggest issue is probably scoring goals, the return of these players is crucial.

Second, the Devils have already started to show improvement under the changes of the new coaching staff. Since the coaching change, the team earned a win over a talented Pittsburgh club and notched a comfortable win over the struggling Flyers. 

To see such improvements from a team clearly still in transition is encouraging.

Last, New Jersey's second-half schedule is much easier than the first half. After the All-Star break, the Devils have a five-game homestand which includes two games against the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs and games against mediocre Ottawa and Florida.

In February, a six-game stretch at home brings Carolina, Buffalo and Arizona to Newark. These two stretches, 11 games in total, should help the Devils pick up some easy wins. 

Given these three factors, the Devils should be able to have a respectable second half of the season.