Welcome to my 3rd annual Devils year in review. As I have done the last two seasons, I will be presenting the season in review in three parts: stats, some fun with numbers, and what I learned on and off the ice.
Right now we’ll start things off with Part 1: Final Stats for the 2012-2013 season.
TEAM STATS:
Record: 31-32-1-12, 75 points. Home: 14-16-0-8. Road: 17-16-1-4.
Leading Point Scorers (top 5): Joe Whitney (51), Matt Anderson (43), Steve Zalewski (41), Harri Pesonen (31) Bobby Butler (27)
Goals Leader: Joe Whitney (26)
Assists Leader: Matt Anderson & Steve Zalewski (30)
Plus/Minus Leader: Joe Whitney (+13)
Penalty Minutes Leader: Tim Sestito (106)
Power Play Goals: Joe Whitney (6)
Short Handed Goals: 4 players tied with 2
Game Winning Goals: Joe Whitney (5)
Wins: Keith Kinkaid (21)
Shutouts: Keith Kinkaid (2)
Minutes: Keith Kinkaid (2644:19)
Save Percentage: Jeff Frazee (.916)
Goals Against Average: Jeff Frazee (2.58)
Full listing of individual stats can be found here: Skaters. Goalies.
LEAGUE RANKINGS:
Record: 31-32-1-12, 4th place in division, 12th in conference, 24th overall.
Attendance: 3,860 average, 27th.
Penalty Minutes: 1,163 minutes for an average of 15.30 per game. Tied for 18th.
Power Play: 11.3%, 29th.
Penalty Kill: 81.1%, 25th.
Short Handed Goals: 10, 7th.
Goals For/Game: 2.54, 23rd.
Goals Against/Game: 2.96, tied for 22nd.
I used the same categories as the last two seasons and once again, there have been some slight improvements from the season before. Standings-wise, not much change, just two extra standings points due to more losses after regulation. And for the first time, not last place in the division! Attendance saw a jump of about 400, thanks to some corporate season ticket initiatives. You could say the lockout had something to do with it, but actually some of the biggest crowds of the season came after the NHL resumed. A slight dropoff in penalty minutes, and that was even with the addition of Cam Janssen after the All Star Break (he actually came to play, not mix it up), so there was a little more disciplined play (well, other than the occasional Sestito Penalty…I’ll explain that later this week). Power play definitely had its issues, with a dropoff of 3 percent (not having Eric Gelinas early in the season hurt, among other factors), while there was a slight improvement in the penalty kill (which really saw a drop off as the second half of the season rolled on…at one point the kill ranked #3 in the league). Goals for and against did not change much from last year…offense was definitely still an issue, with only Joe Whitney as a real goal scorer (one can only wonder if Bobby Butler did stick around all season instead of being lost on the waiver wire…or even if Adam Henrique had stayed healthy during the last two months of the lockout). Again, it’s an issue that I hope will be addressed during the offseason. Goaltending, no matter who was in net, was really not an issue. It will be interesting to see who comes back between the pipes next season.
Stay tuned for Part 2: Fun With Numbers…
