To Not Have Much to Complain About on Festivus

Here at All About the Jersey, this is usually a time of year that we take stock on how things are going.

We are approaching the height of the 2024 holiday season, and today, we have one game with the New York Rangers at 1:00. Since I joined this blog in 2017, I have recapped two Festivus games: a 4-1 win for Cory Schneider and a 4-3 loss for Mackenzie Blackwood with Vitek Vanecek in relief. I hope to go up to 2-1-0 later today. While that game could have easily turned into an airing of violent grievances and associated feats of strength, the NHL’s decision to suspend Matt Rempe for eight games will keep him out of this contest, likely limiting the fireworks that will be set off in the Prudential Center this afternoon. On that, I do have at least one grievance: more on that later.

For the New Jersey Devils, though, I have so few issues with this team that I cannot think of anyone to complain about, though I can look back at previous holiday seasons to gauge where this team is at and where the franchise is heading. Seven years ago, the Devils had their first hope of a playoff appearance following the end of the Brodeur and Elias years. Just two years later, John was asking if the Devils were better off than when they had Pete DeBoer behind the bench while CJ was wondering if Ray Shero was trending towards being fired.

What a difference five years can make.

Five years later, the Devils have the best defense in the league alongside a top-10 offense. Only the Winnipeg Jets can say they have done better at preventing goals so far this season, and they have the best goaltender in the league behind their defense. With the Devils continually limiting teams to under 20 shots in recent games, they have etched themselves into a rather uncommon air in NHL history, tying the 2013 Devils and 1997 Stars with the fewest shots allowed in a 6-game span in the Expansion Era.

With so little to complain about, the team can roll the same guys out there on a nightly basis and not have to worry about if they’re getting the best lineup possible. This is a Devils team with structure, with roles for each player that allow them to positively impact the team in their own ways. There are no square pegs in round holes or players way out of their depth on this team. I think the Rangers will be a tough team to keep this streak up against, but it is not very surprising to me that a team with Pesce, Kovacevic, Siegenthaler, and Dillon — not to mention the best defensive impact player in the league in Luke Hughes — has been very difficult to earn shots against.

And believe me on that Luke Hughes note. Of defensemen who have played more than 470 minutes at even strength this season (only a handful of guys other than Pesce and Hughes — including Dahlin, Spurgeon, Hedman, and other top defensemen have played this much in under 30 games), Luke Hughes is seventh in CF% and second in xGA while being first in xGF% by a longshot. With 63.14 percent of expected goals in the Devils’ favor with Luke on the ice, he is well above the second-place defenseman in Dmitry Orlov, who has a 59.30 xGF% for the Hurricanes. Luke’s oldest brother, Quinn, has the eighth-best CF% and 14th-best xGF% in the league. Luke is already a monster for opponents to deal with — so one grievance there is that he is not slated to be on the Four Nations Team USA. He was never a bad defender, but people who didn’t watch the game well at the collegiate level were too blind to see how his speed would make him a top defensive player in the NHL. Even now, it will probably take another year or two for the public perception to catch up with reality.

Other Devils in that air of defensive players are Pesce, Kovacevic, and Siegenthaler, who are fifth, seventh, and 11th in xGF% among league defensemen, respectively. Up front, Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, and Nico Hischier are third, fourth, and sixth in the league among forwards in xGF% (min: 450 minutes). With Nico doing that against the toughest matchups, Timo becoming a two-way player after being a defensive liability in previous years, and Jack not just relying on linemates and taking care of business in the defensive end by himself, Sheldon Keefe has used the tools handed to him by Tom Fitzgerald and built a machine ready for playoff hockey.

But that’s enough of that. This is Festivus — I will leave a grievance here before I recap the game later today.

One Grievance: Larry Brooks and the Ministry of Rangers Propaganda

I got a lot of problems with you people and now you’re gonna hear about it.

I have him blocked on Twitter so I don’t have to see his…well, you know. But thanks to Athlon Sports, I was subjected to this indescribable stupidity and am now passing this onto you. You see, Brooks believes that this suspension for Rempe is “selective prosecution” from the league, and that Rempe should appeal his suspension. Since I and many others have memories that span further back than a goldfish, I remind Brooks that this Matt Rempe is a repeat offender, and this was his fourth ejection in 22 NHL games. With two suspensions now: one for four after a hit on Jonas Siegenthaler, and now eight games for his hit on Miro Heiskanen, Matt Rempe is quickly approaching Raffi Torres territory without any of the associated hockey skill.

I watched that old Torres suspension video earlier today. When he was suspended 41 games for a hit that Rempe delivers, on average, once every four and a half games — or once for every 10 minutes of his ice time — Torres had played 635 NHL games, scored 137 goals, and only had 497 penalty minutes. That was a hockey player who crossed the line too many times, though Stéphane Quintal noted that Torres had only played in 15 games since his prior suspension and showed the four times he had been suspended between 2011 and 2015, leading up to that 41-game suspension. Quintal also noted the three fines and two warnings he received.

Well, Rempe has been ejected four times, probably warned on at least a couple occasions, and suspended twice. Torres had 497 penalty minutes and four suspensions before getting the 41-game treatment, though he had played 8,149 minutes of ice time in the league. Rempe has played 22 games, has 95 penalty minutes, and has played just under 127 minutes of ice time. If Rempe played as many minutes as Raffi Torres and played without any alterations to his current game, you could expect him to throw hits leading to about 257 match penalties. which, on their own, would earn him over two and a half times as many penalty minutes as Torres received in his career. If Rempe plans on having an NHL career, he should keep his head down, his elbow down, and start playing hockey with the puck for awhile before thinking about living on the edge again.

But this is not just a Rempe thing. EJ Hradek recently asserted that the Rangers would be able to flip press box-caliber defenseman Will Borgen for a first-rounder if he turned out to not be a great return for Kaapo Kakko. Kevin Weekes, meanwhile, was running interference for the team, saying the trade had nothing to do with Kakko calling out the coaching staff for scratching him above players who were playing worse and trying less than him. Even as the Rangers descend in the standings after trading yet another captain, league media is devoted to making things seem just peachy over there.

I’m tired of it.

Your Thoughts

Do you have any Festivus grievances? Are you looking forward to the match later today? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.