Last season, the New Jersey Devils struggled on the defensive side of things, giving up 3.43 goals per game – 26th in the NHL. Sure, some of that had to do with poor goaltending, but breakdowns and missed assignments seemed to be a nightly occurrence. This season, the rebound of Jonas Siegenthaler and the emergence of Johnathan Kovacevic have finally given the Devils the shutdown pairing they’ve been yearning for.
Jonas Siegenthaler Bounces Back
In the 2021-22 season, Siegenthaler was statistically one of the best defensive defensemen in the entire league. He was only on the ice for 173 high-danger chances against, which was the fewest among all skaters in the NHL (min. 1,200 minutes on ice – via Natural Stat Trick)…and that was while playing alongside some less-than-capable partners at times.
The following season (2022-23) he was great again, as his plus-27 rating was 16th among NHL defensemen. But in the 2023-24 campaign, he fell off a cliff. He dealt with a myriad of injuries including a concussion and a broken foot. When all was said and done, he ended as a minus-7 in 57 games, had 21 more giveaways than takeaways and was in the bottom 30% of nearly every advanced defensive metric – going from top-10 to not even top-200 in many categories.
Despite this, he was adamant to The Hockey Writers that the drop-off was exclusively because of injuries. “When you’re (healthy) and in a groove, you play game after game, you can kind of just glide with it. If you’re injured for a while, you have to find your game again, which is not very easy. It shouldn’t be an excuse (but) it is more challenging,” he said to THW.
He went to the World Championship after the season and seemed to regain some confidence, as his plus-8 rating in nine games was sixth among the 357 skaters in the tournament. He also notched four points in those games, which was a rate over 181% higher than he scored in the regular season (nine points in 57 games).
Related: Devils Need Ondrej Palat to Bounce Back From Slow Start
Through 12 games this season, it’s pretty safe to say that he’s back. It’s clear that he’s healthy again, as he’s hitting opponents ~26% more often than last season. Just look at the differentials when Siegenthaler is on the ice: scoring chances are plus-22 and high-danger chances are plus-6. This is all while shot attempts are just plus-5, meaning that the opposition is almost exclusively shooting from the perimeter since Siegenthaler is shutting down the high-danger areas. And if that doesn’t do enough to show you, maybe this will: Devils goalies have a .932 save percentage (SV%) when he’s on the ice. He’s making their life ridiculously easy.
Jonathan Kovacevic Emerges
You can’t talk about Siegenthaler’s success without talking about his partner who has been equal to the task in Kovacevic. In many ways, the pairing is reminiscent of the Ryan Graves and John Marino pairing that shut down top talent with ease in the Devils’ successful 2022-23 season. It’s a smaller sample, but this pairing has been much better than that pairing was.
Despite being acquired as a depth defenseman, Kovacevic has turned heads while performing in a top four role. His plus-5 rating leads all defensemen on the Devils. He’s even shown some offensive flair, as his six points are tied with Dougie Hamilton for the most among Devils d-men. His 58.31 expected goals for percentage (xGF%) leads the entire team, just decimal points ahead of Timo Meier and Nico Hischier, and it’s top-10 among the 83 NHL defensemen with 150 or more minutes played. His differentials are great as well: scoring chances are plus-23 and high-danger chances are plus-11.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe joked about calling Kovacevic “Kovechkin” with his newfound offensive touch; he’s scoring at a rate ~139% higher than he ever has in his career. In fact, he’d need just eight more points to eclipse his career high.
And you just don't get it. You keep it Kovacevic. pic.twitter.com/YzmvH7M8TR
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) October 4, 2024
He’s only 27 years old so it shouldn’t really be surprising that he’s taking a step forward. Even though he typically played bottom-six minutes when he was with the Montreal Canadiens, he was a plus-14 over two seasons. So while the offensive flair is newfound, the responsible defensive game certainly isn’t. Physically, it hasn’t been a drastic difference from his career norm, but he’s throwing hits ~10% more frequently than he did last season.
Most Stifling Pairing in the NHL
Collectively, the pairing has been the third-best overall pairing in the entire NHL based on xGF%, according to MoneyPuck. The two ahead of them are K’Andre Miller/Adam Fox (New York Rangers) and Quinn Hughes/Filip Hronek (Vancouver Canucks). The two behind them are Mattias Ekholm/Evan Bouchard (Edmonton Oilers) and Jaccob Slavin/Brent Burns (Carolina Hurricanes).
They’ve achieved those metrics rather unconventionally, as they don’t generate a ton of offense like some of their surrounding pairings do. Instead, they’ve allowed just 1.68 expected goals per 60 minutes, which is the best mark in the entire NHL thus far. For comparison, the Devils’ most stifling pairing last season was Kevin Bahl and Marino, who allowed 2.21 expected goals per 60. That might not seem drastic, but it means that Siegenthaler and Kovacevic have been ~32% more effective than the Devils’ literal best last season.
Time will tell how it plays out, as every pairing ebbs and flows in a season. It might be a little unfair to expect them to be the most stifling defensive pairing in the entire league for a full 82 games, but if they can be top-10ish, the Devils will achieve plenty of success.
It’s an old but true saying: defense wins championships. And while the Devils’ defense as a whole has had their growing pains, it certainly hasn’t been the fault of their new revelation of a pairing.
