Josefson played 25 minutes and 30 seconds with Jagr last season. He played 18 minutes and 32 seconds with Zajac. Jagr's numbers were a little worse with Josefson than without, but Zajac's went from 58.1 cf% without Yayo to 61.3% with. Josefson was a better influence (in a ridiculously small sample size that REALLY doesn't tell us anything...) on Jagr and Zajac than Zubrus.
Now small sample size is the reason I look at that and don't immediately something stupid like "clearly Josefson is a great candidate for the first line LW spot." And there's really not much reason to suspect that he could repeat those numbers over a much larger sample. But what I DO see is that when you look at his total WOWY chart between 2011 and 2014, you're looking at a 23-year-old forward who's a 51.8 CF% player. Adjusting for zone starts and looking specifically at corsi-close%, his numbers look even better (53.2%). He's played way more minutes with most of the defensemen on the team over that time period than any forwards, which speaks to a player being jerked around a lot when it comes to lines. Josefson was Cam Janssen's most common linemate last season. None of those pieces of info are very telling on their own, but each little tidbit helps paint an overall picture of a player that really hasn't been given much of an opportunity since 2011, despite some solid play when played with other good players. There's lots of reasons to be skeptical, but I still think he's yet to get a real fair shot with the Devils.
