Devils Stat Attack: Meier, Hughes, Shutouts & More

It's time for another written edition of Stat Attack. What stood out about the New Jersey Devils from games 21-30?

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It's time for another written edition of Stat Attack. The New Jersey Devils have already played 30 games (31, to be exact) and look like one of the better teams in the NHL, especially since there don't seem to be many great teams.

The Devils went 6-4-0 in their ten games prior to Tuesday night's loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Three of those four losses were shutouts, but what other stats jumped out from those ten games? (All stats included in this post are from before the Maple Leafs game).

Luke Hughes Has Arrived

Perhaps the first thing that jumped out to me is how well Luke Hughes played from games 21-30. He recorded seven points in ten games, but what's more impressive is how good his underlying numbers were.

Hughes was second on the team in expected goals share (xG%) over that stretch at 64.78 percent, with only Stefan Noesen ahead of him. It's not just his offensive game that's standing out, either.

Hughes' two-way play has been fantastic. The Devils averaged 3.86 expected goals per 60 minutes with him on the ice but only allowed 2.10 expected goals per 60 minutes from games 21-30.

Hughes has an xG% of 59.87 percent for the season, second on the team to his brother, Jack. The Devils haven't handed him the lucrative contract extension yet, but that's coming. He's arrived and looks like a budding star.

Meier Is Due

I briefly touched on it in the takeaways post of the Maple Leafs game and figured Stat Attack would be a good place to expand on it, but the Devils need more from Timo Meier.

It's not that Meier is playing poorly. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Do you know who's the third on the team in xG% after Hughes and Noesen from games 21-30? It's Meier at 64.18 percent.

Meier did have six points in nine contests from games 21-30 (remember, he served a one-game suspension for cross-checking Zachary L'Heureux), but he should be scoring more. So what's going on?