# 2012–13 New Jersey Devils season

The 2012–13 New Jersey Devils season was the 39th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 11, 1974, and 31st season since the franchise relocated from Colorado prior to the 1982–83 NHL season. The regular season was reduced from its usual 82 games to 48 due to a lockout.
The defending Stanley Cup runners-up were eliminated from the playoff race after a 4–1 loss to the New York Rangers on April 21, 2013.

## Off-season

Entering the off season, the Devils were faced with a major dilemma of having over ten unrestricted free agents, including captain Zach Parise. The Devils were able to resign goaltenders Martin Brodeur and Johan Hedberg, defenseman Bryce Salvador and several others, but lost Parise to the Minnesota Wild.

## Pre-season

On July 19, the New Jersey Devils announced their 2012 pre-season schedule. The team would have played seven pre-season games, including a game against the New York Islanders at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but all pre-season games were eventually cancelled due to the lockout.

## Regular season

On June 21, the New Jersey Devils announced their schedule for the 2012–13 regular season. Their regular season would have begun on October 12 at the Washington Capitals, and their home-opener would have taken place the following night against the Boston Bruins. The original schedule would have ended with a game at the New York Islanders on April 13. A new schedule would need to be released if the lockout is resolved. On April 15, the Devils lost 2–0 to the Toronto Maple Leafs, their 10th loss in a row (0–6–4), which was equal to the franchise loss record set in 1983–84.
For the second consecutive season, the Devils led the League in shorthanded goals scored, as they scored 11 shorthanded goals in the 48-game regular season. However, after a 4–1 loss to their Hudson rival, the New York Rangers, on April 21, the Devils were eliminated from the playoff race, despite making it to the Stanley Cup Finals the previous year against the eventual champions, the Los Angeles Kings. This was the first time a Stanley Cup finalist missed the playoffs the next season since 2007.

## Standings

Atlantic Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 48 | 36 | 12 | 0 | 33 | 165 | 119 | +46 | 72 |
| 2 | New York Rangers | 48 | 26 | 18 | 4 | 22 | 130 | 112 | +18 | 56 |
| 3 | New York Islanders | 48 | 24 | 17 | 7 | 20 | 139 | 139 | 0 | 55 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Flyers | 48 | 23 | 22 | 3 | 22 | 133 | 141 | −8 | 49 |
| 5 | New Jersey Devils | 48 | 19 | 19 | 10 | 17 | 112 | 129 | −17 | 48 |
Eastern Conference :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | AT | z – Pittsburgh Penguins | 48 | 36 | 12 | 0 | 33 | 165 | 119 | +46 | 72 |
| 2 | NE | y – Montreal Canadiens | 48 | 29 | 14 | 5 | 26 | 149 | 126 | +23 | 63 |
| 3 | SE | y – Washington Capitals | 48 | 27 | 18 | 3 | 24 | 149 | 130 | +19 | 57 |
| 4 | NE | x – Boston Bruins | 48 | 28 | 14 | 6 | 24 | 131 | 109 | +22 | 62 |
| 5 | NE | x – Toronto Maple Leafs | 48 | 26 | 17 | 5 | 26 | 145 | 133 | +12 | 57 |
| 6 | AT | x – New York Rangers | 48 | 26 | 18 | 4 | 22 | 130 | 112 | +18 | 56 |
| 7 | NE | x – Ottawa Senators | 48 | 25 | 17 | 6 | 21 | 116 | 104 | +12 | 56 |
| 8 | AT | x – New York Islanders | 48 | 24 | 17 | 7 | 20 | 139 | 139 | 0 | 55 |
| 9 | SE | Winnipeg Jets | 48 | 24 | 21 | 3 | 22 | 128 | 144 | −16 | 51 |
| 10 | AT | Philadelphia Flyers | 48 | 23 | 22 | 3 | 22 | 133 | 141 | −8 | 49 |
| 11 | AT | New Jersey Devils | 48 | 19 | 19 | 10 | 17 | 112 | 129 | −17 | 48 |
| 12 | NE | Buffalo Sabres | 48 | 21 | 21 | 6 | 14 | 115 | 143 | −28 | 48 |
| 13 | SE | Carolina Hurricanes | 48 | 19 | 25 | 4 | 18 | 128 | 160 | −32 | 42 |
| 14 | SE | Tampa Bay Lightning | 48 | 18 | 26 | 4 | 17 | 148 | 150 | −2 | 40 |
| 15 | SE | Florida Panthers | 48 | 15 | 27 | 6 | 12 | 112 | 171 | −59 | 36 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

2012–13 Regular Season Game Log :
January: 3–0–3 (Home: 2–0–1; Road: 1–0–2)
GameDateVisitorScoreHomeDecisionOTAttendanceRecordPoints
1January 19New Jersey2–1New York IslandersW16,1701–0–02
2January 22Philadelphia0–3New JerseyW17,6252–0–04
3January 25Washington2–3New JerseyWOT17,6253–0–06
4January 27New Jersey3–4MontrealOTLOT21,2733–0–17
5January 29New Jersey1–2BostonOTLSO17,5653–0–28
6January 31New York Islanders5–4New JerseyOTLOT17,6253–0–39 :
February: 7–6–1 (Home: 4–2–1; Road: 3–4–0)
GameDateVisitorScoreHomeDecisionOTAttendanceRecordPoints
7February 2New Jersey1–5PittsburghL18,6353–1–39
8February 3New Jersey3–0New York IslandersW11,5584–1–311
9February 5New York Rangers1–3New JerseyW17,6255–1–313
10February 7Tampa Bay2–4New JerseyW14,8026–1–315
11February 9Pittsburgh1–3New JerseyW17,6257–1–317
12February 10New Jersey3–1PittsburghW18,6588–1–319
13February 12Carolina4–2New JerseyL17,6258–2–319
14February 15Philadelphia3–5New JerseyW17,6259–2–321
15February 16New Jersey1–5New York IslandersL15,4889–3–321
16February 18Ottawa2–1New JerseyOTLSO17,6259–3–422
17February 21New Jersey3–2WashingtonW18,50610–3–424
18February 23New Jersey1–5WashingtonL18,50610–4–424
19February 24Winnipeg4–2New JerseyL17,62510–5–424
20February 28New Jersey1–3WinnipegL15,00410–6–424 :
March: 5–5–5 (Home: 4–3–0; Road: 1–2–5)
GameDateVisitorScoreHomeDecisionOTAttendanceRecordPoints
21March 2New Jersey3–4BuffaloOTLSO19,07010–6–525
22March 4New Jersey2–4TorontoL19,43510–7–525
23March 5Tampa Bay5–2New JerseyL15,22910–8–525
24March 7Buffalo2–3New JerseyWSO17,62511–8–527
25March 9New Jersey3–6CarolinaL18,68011–9–527
26March 10Winnipeg2–3New JerseyWSO17,62512–9–529
27March 13Philadelphia2–5New JerseyW17,62513–9–531
28March 15New Jersey1–2PhiladelphiaOTLSO19,97113–9–632
29March 16Montreal2–1New JerseyL17,62513–10–632
30March 19New York Rangers3–2New JerseyL17,62513–11–632
31March 21New Jersey4–1CarolinaW16,94114–11–634
32March 23Florida1–2New JerseyW17,62515–11–636
33March 25New Jersey2–3OttawaOTLSO18,90215–11–737
34March 29New Jersey4–5Tampa BayOTLSO19,20415–11–838
35March 30New Jersey4–5FloridaOTLOT18,13815–11–939 :
April: 4–8–1 (Home: 3–4–0; Road: 1–4–1)
GameDateVisitorScoreHomeDecisionOTAttendanceRecordPoints
36April 1New York Islanders3–1New JerseyL17,62515–12–939
37April 4New Jersey0–1BostonL17,56515–13–939
38April 6Toronto2–1New JerseyL17,62515–14–939
39April 7New Jersey2–3BuffaloOTLSO18,70315–14–1040
40April 10Boston5–4New JerseyL17,62515–15–1040
41April 12Ottawa2–0New JerseyL16,09915–16–1040
42April 15New Jersey0–2TorontoL19,42515–17–1040
43April 18New Jersey3–0PhiladelphiaW19,72716–17–1042
44April 20Florida2–6New JerseyW16,01817–17–1044
45April 21New Jersey1–4New York RangersL17,20017–18–1044
46April 23Montreal2–3New JerseyW15,21918–18–1046
47April 25Pittsburgh2–3New JerseyW1612219–18–1048
48April 27New Jersey0–4New York RangersL17,20019–19–1048 :
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Player statistics

Final stats
Regular Season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| Patrik Elias | 48 | 14 | 22 | 36 | 5 | 22 |
| Ilya Kovalchuk | 37 | 11 | 20 | 31 | −6 | 18 |
| David Clarkson | 48 | 15 | 9 | 24 | −6 | 78 |
| Travis Zajac | 48 | 7 | 13 | 20 | −5 | 22 |
| Marek Zidlicky | 48 | 4 | 15 | 19 | −12 | 38 |
| Andy Greene | 48 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 12 | 20 |
| Adam Henrique | 42 | 11 | 5 | 16 | −3 | 16 |
| Steve Bernier | 47 | 8 | 7 | 15 | −7 | 17 |
| Ryan Carter | 44 | 6 | 9 | 15 | −2 | 31 |
| Stephen Gionta | 48 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 14 |
| Andrei Loktionov | 28 | 8 | 4 | 12 | −2 | 4 |
| Dainius Zubrus | 22 | 2 | 7 | 9 | −3 | 12 |
| Alexei Ponikarovsky$^†$ | 30 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| Mark Fayne | 31 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 16 |
| Adam Larsson | 37 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| Steve Sullivan$^†$ | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −4 | 4 |
| Anton Volchenkov | 37 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 37 |
| Peter Harrold | 23 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −8 | 6 |
| Henrik Tallinder | 25 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 10 |
| Matt D'Agostini$^†$ | 13 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −1 | 6 |
| Jacob Josefson | 22 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −10 | 2 |
| Stefan Matteau | 17 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 6 |
| Bryce Salvador | 39 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −12 | 22 |
| Bobby Butler$^‡$ | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −6 | 0 |
| Tom Kostopoulos | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 |
| Matt Anderson | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mattias Tedenby | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Krys Barch | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 44 |
| Cam Janssen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
| Tim Sestito | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Eric Gelinas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Alexander Urbom | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Harri Pesonen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
| Totals | Totals | 109 | 173 | 282 | −60 | 489 |
Goaltenders
Regular Season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Martin Brodeur | 29 | 29 | 1757:21 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 65 | 2.22 | 654 | .901 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Johan Hedberg | 19 | 19 | 1108:16 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 51 | 2.76 | 435 | .883 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Keith Kinkaid | 1 | 0 | 25:45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.31 | 13 | .923 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeff Frazee | 1 | 0 | 18:36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | Totals | 48 | 2909:58 | 19 | 19 | 10 | 117 | 2.41 | 1105 | .894 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Devils. Stats reflect time with the Devils only. $^‡$Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Devils only. Bold/italics denotes franchise record

## Notable achievements
### Awards

Regular Season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| Martin Brodeur | NHL Third Star of the Week | February 10, 2013 |

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Patrik Elias | 900th Career NHL Point | January 27, 2013 |
| Matt Anderson | 1st Career NHL Game | January 29, 2013 |
| Harri Pesonen | 1st Career NHL Game | March 16, 2013 |
| Eric Gelinas | 1st Career NHL Game | April 25, 2013 |

## Transactions

The Devils have been involved in the following transactions during the 2012–13 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| February 6, 2013 | To Los Angeles Kings 5th-round pick in 2013 | To New Jersey Devils Andrei Loktionov |
| February 13, 2013 | To Winnipeg Jets 7th-round pick in 2013 4th-round pick in 2014 | To New Jersey Devils Alexei Ponikarovsky |
| March 22, 2013 | To St. Louis Blues Conditional 5th-round pick in 2015 | To New Jersey Devils Matt D'Agostini Conditional 7th-round pick in 2015 |
| April 3, 2013 | To Phoenix Coyotes 7th-round pick in 2014 | To New Jersey Devils Steve Sullivan |
Player signings
PlayerDateContract terms
Steve BernierJune 29, 20122 years, $1.5 million
Ryan CarterJune 29, 20122 years, $1.55 million
Stephen GiontaJune 29, 20122 years, $1.125 million
Peter HarroldJune 29, 20121 year, $525,000
Cam JanssenJune 29, 20121 year, $575,000
Martin BrodeurJuly 2, 20122 years, $9 million
Johan HedbergJuly 2, 20122 years, $2.8 million
Bryce SalvadorJuly 3, 20123 years, $9.5 million
Stefan MatteauAugust 14, 20123 years, $2.5275 million entry-level contract
Reece ScarlettSeptember 6, 20123 years, $1.86 million entry-level contract
Damon SeversonSeptember 6, 20123 years, $1.9275 million entry-level contract
Travis ZajacJanuary 16, 20138 years, $46 million contract extension
Reid BoucherMarch 13, 20133 years, $2.0775 million entry-level contract
Mattias TedenbyJune 20, 20131 year, $600,000 :

## Draft picks

The New Jersey Devils picks at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 29 | Stefan Matteau | C | United States | U.S. National Team Development Program (USHL) |
| 2 | 60 | Damon Severson | D | Canada | Kelowna Rockets (WHL) |
| 3 | 90 | Ben Johnson | C/LW | United States | Windsor Spitfires (OHL) |
| 4 | 96 | Ben Thomson | LW | Canada | Kitchener Rangers (OHL) |
| 5 | 135 | Graham Black | C | Canada | Swift Current Broncos (WHL) |
| 5 | 150 | Alexander Kerfoot | C | Canada | Coquitlam Express (BCHL) |
| 6 | 180 | Artur Gavrus | C | Belarus | Owen Sound Attack (OHL) |

### Draft notes

* The Devils' fourth-round pick went to the Carolina Hurricanes as the result of a January 20, 2012, trade that sent Alexei Ponikarovsky to the Devils in exchange for Joe Sova and this pick.
* $^a$ The Toronto Maple Leafs' fourth-round pick went to the New Jersey Devils as a result of an October 4, 2011, trade that sent Dave Steckel to the Maple Leafs in exchange for this pick.
* $^b$ The Calgary Flames' fifth-round pick went to the New Jersey Devils as a result of a July 14, 2011, trade that sent Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond to the Flames in exchange for this pick.
* The Devils' seventh-round pick went to the Anaheim Ducks as the result of a December 12, 2011, trade that sent Kurtis Foster and Timo Pielmeier to the Devils in exchange for Rod Pelley, Mark Fraser and this pick.