Evaluating New Jersey Devils' Underachievers: Martin Havlat and Michael Ryder

Though there are plenty of New Jersey Devils who have been disappointing this season, but there are two who stand out above the rest—Martin Havlat and Michael Ryder. The Devils needed goal scorers this season, and both players simply did not come through for the team.

Havlat and Ryder have both been healthy scratches for the majority of New Jersey's games since the All-Star break. Ryder returned to the lineup Friday against the Arizona Coyotes, but only because Patrik Elias was a late scratch due to back spasms. 

During this stretch, defenseman Peter Harrold has been dressing as the Devils' fourth-line right wing, the position that both Havlat and Ryder play, elucidating exactly how far the pair have fallen.

It seems almost certain that neither player will return to New Jersey after the season ends, so we are left wondering what could have been.

Thus, here we will take a look at what some of the factors that contributed to this season's disappointment for both players.

Numbers This Season

Player	Games Played	Goals	Assists	Points	Plus/Minus	Penalty Minutes	Shots per game
Martin Havlat	38	5	9	14	-12	10	1.24
Michael Ryder	45	6	12	18	-2	30	1.96

What Went Wrong for Havlat

It is tempting to quickly write both players off as aging, uninterested and simply offensively ineffective, but there are a series of subtle differences between what has gone wrong for each player.

In the case of Havlat, perhaps the top issues were an inability to ever get momentum going and a misuse by both coaching staffs.

Havlat missed nine games in October and November due to injury, then another three in December and finally four more games at the end of December with the mumps. By the time he returned, the Devils had made a coaching change. 

Under former coach Peter DeBoer, the highest number of consecutive games Havlat played was nine. He had three goals, nine assists and a minus-10 rating before the Devils changed coaches.

Havlat played well during New Jersey's West Coast road trip before the All-Star break, picking up three points over three games from January 14-19. But that is as good as it got. After the All-Star break, he had no goals and two assists in the team's next seven games. Since a February 9 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, he has played only twice, amassing no points and a minus-four rating.

Though his points total draws the most attention, Havlat's most interesting numbers are actually his plus/minus and shots per game. Havlat is not a great defensive player, yet both coaching staffs repeatedly put him in a position where he was forced to defend more than attack.

According to Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com, only 23.9 percent of the faceoffs Havlat has been on the ice for have come in the offensive zone, which gives him the lowest offensive zone faceoff rate of any forward on the Devils with a minimum of 300 minutes this season. In Havlat's last successful full season (2010-11 in Minnesota), his offensive zone faceoff rate was 32.1 percent.

If Havlat is an offensive player who was brought to New Jersey to score goals, why has he been starting his shifts in the offensive zone so infrequently? The most likely explanation is that Havlat has spent most of his time in the lineup this season on a line with Elias, whose line is usually asked to defend extensively. Elias' periodic struggles probably did not help either.

So, Havlat has spent most of his time on ice 175 feet from the offensive goal. As a result, his shots per game for this season are half of what he has averaged the rest of his career, and his plus/minus is dreadful. 

This is not to say that the Havlat project would have definitely worked out if the Devils handled him differently, but it does show that the team's misuse of the Czech forward has severely handicapped his ability to succeed in New Jersey.

What Went Wrong for Ryder

If you ask Ryder, he would probably tell you that the Devils gave him an even worse chance to succeed than Havlat. In reality, though, that is probably not the case.

Days before the firing DeBoer, Ryder made these comments about his playing time, according to Rich Chere of NJ.com: 

"

You look at the guys around the league who score goals and their average ice time is about 16 minutes. I just find it tough to produce when you play 12 minutes, 14, 10. It’s hard. You get one chance a game, two chances, instead of five chances a game.

I think I’ve played over 16 minutes only nine times this year. The games I do, I think I play better. I’ve been like that my whole career. As the game goes on you feel better, you get in a better flow, you’re not as cold and those plays come a lot easier for you.

"

In the same article, Chere noted DeBoer's response: "I’ve had discussions with him. I think it’s the old player/coach. The coach is saying, 'Play better and I’ll play you more,' and the player is saying, 'Play me more and I’ll play better.'"

Was Ryder right, though? Did he play better when given more playing time? In short, no.

Ryder has played 16 or more minutes 14 times this season (though it was only nine when he made the above comments in December), and the numbers are not extremely encouraging. He had three goals, two assists, six penalty minutes and a minus-five rating in such games.

Those games make up around one third of Ryder's season, so the fact that half of his goals have come in those contests might lend some credence to his argument. But his two assists and minus-five rating in such games immediately revoke any case Ryder could have made.

So, while an increase in playing time may have boosted Ryder's goal total slightly, it did not help him set up goals, and it certainly did not help the team as a whole.

Ryder is not an enthusiastic backchecker, he is not strong on the boards and his poor plus/minus in games in which he is often on the ice affirms his status as a liability defensively. 

Perhaps the most telling statistic is the team's record in games in which he plays 16 or more minutes—the Devils are 3-8-3.

In limited time, Ryder has not been successful either. His shooting percentage this season is an appalling 6.8 percent, 4.0 percent lower than last season and 5.5 percent lower than his career average.

Ryder's zone start rates are a little puzzling but nowhere near as confusing as Havlat's. His offensive zone faceoff rate is 27.1 percent, 12th on the team out of 20 players who have played at least 300 minutes. That number is somewhat low for a goal scorer, but it's not so drastically low that it can be pointed to as a significant factor in Ryder's struggles.

In the end, Ryder has no one but himself to blame for his struggles.

Final Thoughts

It is interesting that although Havlat seems to have been mishandled more by the Devils, it is Ryder whose attitude has appeared to be a problem at times this season. 

At the end of the day, though, both players will be gone after the season ends. They will leave a stark reminder for general manager Lou Lamoriello about what happens when the Devils sign older, offensive-first forwards who are unlikely to change their ways. 

The Devils tried to make Havlat a player who could play defense and contribute offensively. It did not work.

They tried to make Ryder a team player who's content and able to produce with 12 or 13 minutes a night for the good of the organization. It did not work.

Lamoriello would do well to remember this experience as New Jersey's period of transition continues.