New Jersey Devils

Trick or Treat? Devils Skaters Who May or May Not Be Themselves

Trick or treat? Which New Jersey Devils players are tricking us, while others are treating us with their usual individual performances?

Published

5 months ago

October 31, 2024

James Nichols

New Jersey Devils left wing Jesper Bratt, left, is congratulated by right wing Timo Meier (28) after scoring against the San Jose Sharks during the second period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

The New Jersey Devils are beginning to turn a corner. They’re a good team that is trending in a great direction over the last couple of games. In the process, there are certain individual performances that may or may not be what they seem. So, which Devils are tricking us, as opposed to those who are on the money as a treat?

Jesper Bratt — Trick

What? How could the Devils’ second-leading point collector be a trick? He’s on a point-per-game pace with 13 points.

Well, of those 13 point, just two of them are goals. Jesper Bratt is shooting at an unusually low 6.1 S%, which is half of his career 12.1 S%.

Bratt is shooting 2.5 shots per game thus far as opposed to 2.4 shots per game last season when he netted 27 goals. At this rate, Bratt is only on pace for 12.6 goals by the end of the 2024-25 season, and that’s just not going to happen.

At some point, the puck will begin to fall in Bratt’s favor, and he’ll net some goals in bunches.

Timo Meier — Treat

It finally looks like the Devils are getting the consistent and healthy Timo Meier they paid for. The Swiss forward is collecting points at a near point per-game pace with 12 (5g, 7a) in 13 games.

At this rate, Meier is projected to score 31.5 goals throughout the 2024-25 season, and that’s without first unit power play time.

As a volume shooter, Meier’s production can come in bunches. So whereas you might not see him score for three to four games, he might also collect five goals in a week and put himself back on track. Meier nearly reached point per-game status once in his career, scoring 76 points (35g, 41a) in 77 games once in 2021-22.

He certainly has the ceiling to meet those numbers again, and with the surrounding talent, perhaps can surpass it. And if he works his way back up to the first power play unit, you could see a situation where he’s closer to 40 goals than he is 30.

Paul Cotter — Trick

Don’t get it twisted. Paul Cotter is an excellent player and he provides everything necessary for the Devils.

However, he’s just not 27.3% shooting percentage good.

Now, certainly an empty-net goal will heal increase both the shooting percentage and the goal total, but his one empty netter isn’t drastically changing his shooting percentage.

Part of the reason general manager Tom Fitzgerald went out and acquired Cotter was because he reminded him a lot of Miles Wood. In fact, he might be the better version. Fitzgerald saw this in the 2022-23 season when he scored 13 goals in 55 games for the Vegas Golden Knights.

Cotter was scoring in 2022-23 at nearly a 20-goal pace, whereas now he’s on pace to potentially reach the 40-goal mark.

Playing outside the top-six and with no time on the power play, that’s just unlikely to happen.

Cotter is an excellent and necessary addition to the Devils, however, it’d be a shock to see him continue scoring at the pace he has.

Nico Hischier & Stefan Noesen — Trick

Okay, we just finished praising them as scary, frighteningly good players for the Devils thus far.

However, they fall under the same category as Paul Cotter. Noesen more closely aligns with Cotter as a middle six forward. The one exception is that he does play on the first power play unit, and is excelling in that role.

Therefore, he’s likely to out-pace Cotter by the end of the season in total goals. However, Noesen won’t continue converting on 25% of his shots like he is. Noesen’s career S% average is 10.6, and at some point that 25% number will come back down. Maybe it won’t be as low as 10%, but anything over 12% feels unlikely.

The same can be said about Nico Hischier who is currently leading the NHL in goals with 10. Typically, he averages a S% of 12.8% in his career. Therefore, 22.7% pace he’s on now is bound to return to normal.

There have been cases where players ride a hot streak for the majority of the season, however, Hischier’s history doesn’t support that he’ll continue this torrid pace.

Dougie Hamilton — Trick

Never in his career has Dougie Hamilton shot lower than 4.6%. Yet, he’s currently only converted once on 44 shots, giving him a lowly 2.3 S%. Hamilton’s average with the Devils is 6.4% and in his career, it’s 6.3.

The Devils’ No.1 defenseman has yet to rediscover his form on the power play, but once he does, expect his shooting percentage to find its way back in the 6-8% range.

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