Under Lindy Ruff, the Devils offense generated a lot of rush attempts, especially with its better forwards. Will that remain the same under a new coaching staff?
With a new coaching staff comes the potential for a new system and new style of hockey. It will be interesting to see how the New Jersey Devils play this season as opposed to what they had been doing previously. One of the main methods of attack for the Devils has been the rush. When you look at rush attempts for forwards at 5 on 5 over the last few seasons, there have been a high number of Devils skaters near the top, way above the average.
Last season was a little bit down from the year prior, but even with fewer rush attempts last year, there were still 5 Devils forwards in the top 60 in terms of 5v5 rush attempts per 60. That is a very high number, way above average for the NHL. Check out the stats thanks to Natural Stat Trick, ranks are among all NHL forwards with at least 500 minutes played at 5 on 5:
Having those five guys in the top 60 among forwards in the NHL in rush attempts per 60 says a ton. And that is out of 375 eligible forwards, so this just goes to show how much the Devils’ offense relied on rush attempts and utilized them to score and generate offense last year and under Lindy Ruff in general.
Interestingly, there is some data to think that things might not change so much under Sheldon Keefe. Last season, under Keefe, Toronto also had a lot of forwards near the top of the list in terms of rush attempts. Check out the Toronto numbers:
Toronto only had 4 guys in the top 60 as opposed to NJ’s 5, but that is still a high number, and they had the number 1 ranked forward in the NHL in terms of rush attempts per 60. No one generated more per 60 than Bobby McCann. That shows that Keefe is good with a fast-paced offense that utilizes rush attempts as a good, valid means to score.
The good thing is that when you look at the names in both tables, the Devils forwards who generate rush attempts are, overall, higher-value guys. Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Timo Meier are the three highest-paid forwards on the team and, along with Nico Hischier, are the most valuable and important forwards on the team, period. The fact that these guys are the ones who value rushing and do well at it bodes well for Sheldon Keefe utilizing this once again heading into the 2024-25 season. It would seem counter-productive for a coach who took advantage of rush attempts in Toronto to all of a sudden not scheme them into his system in New Jersey with guys who are successful with it.
Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how the new coaching staff implements its system given the players on this team, and if Keefe wants to keep this offense high-paced and generating lots of rush attempts. It surely is fun to watch if nothing else.