Devils Bold Predictions Check: What Looks Right, Wrong Halfway Through 2024-25

We’re a smidgen over the halfway mark of the 2024-25 season and the New Jersey Devils sit comfortably in playoff position, and near the top of the Metropolitan Division. Put aside the recency bias, and the Devils look like a team who resembles closer to their 112-point self as opposed to last season’s disaster. At the beginning of the season, we put 10 bold predictions on the line for 2024-25. So, what’s on track, and what’s off… and perhaps way off?

PRESEASON: 10 New Jersey Devils Bold Predictions for the 2024-25 Season

Johnathan Kovacevic has Career Year

Yeah, this one was bang on. And it’s not even the point total. Thus far, Johnathan Kovacevic has a goal and 11 points in 43 games this season. He’s just four points shy of his career high, and has 39 games left to play this season. He’s certainly going to eclipse his career-high just by making the right plays and collecting secondary points. However, it’s not even his offense that has Kovacevic being looked at as one of the steals of the offseason.

Top defenders by Rating: pic.twitter.com/QxtXlaFB4b

— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) December 31, 2024

Kovacevic fit in like a glove next to Jonas Siegenthaler this season, and the two have formed one of the NHLs best defensive pairings. The former Montreal Canadiens defenseman has been a revelation for the Devils. His defensive impact has been irreplaceable and has brought the two-way puck skating ability to compliment.

Kovacevic certainly goes down as one of the steals of the summer, so far.

Paul Cotter Scores 25 Goals

This was looking good by the end of October!

And then Cotter went cold. Like, blizzard conditions wear a snowsuit, cold.

He’s begun to turn things around, however. He has goals in back-to-back games and three in his last five. Cotter is scoring at nearly a 20-goal pace over an 82 game season. He won’t shoot at a 50% clip like he has been since the beginning of the road trip. But he’s displayed clear offensive ability, and 20 goals shouldn’t be a total surprise.

Maybe I fall five goals short, maybe I don’t. Who is to say he doesn’t get hot, again?

Seamus Casey Competes in the Calder Trophy Race

Yeaaaaaaah.

Look. Seamus Casey looked awesome through training camp and the preseason. Perhaps that had a slight impact on the judgement to boldly predict he’d hang with the likes of Macklin Celebrini, Matvei Michkov, and Lane Hutson.

READ: Devils Head Coach Hinted the Reason for Seamus Casey’s Demotion

And although he made clear offensive impacts from the blueline, he still had much to learn defensively and, ultimately, was reassigned when both Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce returned from injury.

That was always the likely outcome. He was even reassigned before Simon Nemec was sent to the Utica Comets as well.

However, that’s why they’re BOLD predictions, right?

Jacob Markstrom Re-Enters the Vezina Trophy Race

A month ago, this wasn’t looking all that hot.

Now? Jacob Markstrom has arguably been one of the NHLs best goaltenders since the beginning of December.

Granted, Markstrom has played behind a strong defense for the most part. However, through the Devils’ recent stretch of games, Markstrom has been the silver lining amid a tough line of outcomes on a brutal western road trip.

The Devils’ netminder has the second-most wins in the NHL (20) only to Connor Hellebuyck (24), with a strong .911 SV% and 2.17 GAA to support. He’s also made 11.3 saves above expected this season, ranked eighth among all goaltenders so far this season.

He might not beat out the Winnipeg Jets netminder by the end of the season, but as far as having a horse in the race, Markstrom’s name would certainly be in the conversation if the award was given out tomorrow.

Tomas Tatar Regains 50-Point Form

This one hasn’t worked out quite the way general manager Tom Fitzgerald would have hoped.

Tatar was brought back to New Jersey after big names such as Jonathan Marchessault and Steven Stamkos came off the board last summer.

The idea was he would slide back on a line with Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer to recreate their magic they sparked in the 2022-23 season. Instead, he’s been reduced to a fourth-line checking role and is the first one to be a healthy scratch when head coach Sheldon Keefe deems it necessary to make a change.

Barring an immaculate second half of the season, it seems plausible that Fitzgerald will let him walk this summer.

Dawson Mercer Scores 75 Points

After remaining unsigned through the entire summer and for the first day of the Devils’ training camp seeking a contract that made him comfortable, Dawson Mercer has just been okay this season.

He’s got 10 goals and 21 points in 43 games. At a new $4 million cap hit, his 40-point pace isn’t far off from some other players who make as much as Mercer, given Patrick Kane (21) and Nino Niederreiter’s (22) point totals.

However, it’s certainly not the 75 points we predicted at the beginning of the season.

Mercer was nearly a 30-goal scorer by the end of the 2022-23 season. The idea was that the Devils on paper looked closer to that version of themselves coming into 2024-25. However, Mercer’s offense remains in the 20-goal, 40-point trajectory.

Nico Hischier Wins the Selke

The Devils captain started the season on a heater. It seemed like every puck he touched found the back of the net, scoring 10 goals through his first 13 games. He’s since cooled off, but has 19 goals through 43 games and is on pace for about 36 goals.

But the Selke Trophy isn’t for offensive players.

Last season didn’t highlight Hischier’s strengths as much as this season does. The Devils’ captain is a relentless forechecker who makes an elite positive defensive impact on the ice for the Devils.

In fact, he’s making the same defensive impact he made when Hischier was the runner-up for the award in 2023 to Patrice Bergeron.

#NJDevils Nico Hischier is a very, very good hockey player…but so quietly. pic.twitter.com/tsjTo6WOLm

— Daniel Amoia (@daniel_amoia) December 17, 2024

Jack Hughes Becomes the First Devil to Eclipse 100 points

He’s not quite on the triple digits pace at the moment. However, he’s not far off, either.

The Devils don’t have a single player in their franchise’s history to score 100 points or more. Jack Hughes came close when he registered 99 points by the end of the 2022-23 season. He literally came one point shy of setting the record.

Now, Hughes is on a 92-point pace with 15 goals and 48 points through 43 games.

He’s been on a recent cold spell, with just two assists in his last five games, and hasn’t scored a goal in his last six games.

He’s due to get hot again to help keep the Devils from falling back into another losing streak… right?

Timo Meier Scores 45-Plus Goals

Timo Meier has certainly been better playing alongside the Devils captain this season.

Finally rid of the injuries that hampered his first season and a half with the Devils, Meier has showcased his workhorse motor and plus skating ability which is a scary sight for a man who has quads built like tree trunks at 220 lbs.

Through 42 games, Meier’s collected 14 goals. He’s even had one or two called back on separate infractions recently. But still, the Devils forward is on a 33-goal pace this season.

He certainly has 45-goal ability, having reached the 40-goal mark once in his career during 2022-23. However, unless he shoots at a significantly high shooting percentage this season, he’s unlikely to hit the lofty prediction.

Still, don’t sleep on Meier’s 30-plus goals and impact in all three zones. He’s been great this season.

Devils Win the Metropolitan Division

No one foresaw the Washington Capitals rebounding the way they have this season. Yet, they sit three points ahead of the Devils for the Metropolitan Division lead with three games in hand on New Jersey.

There’s half of a season left to play. The Devils could certainly improve and perhaps get back to their stalwart status from before the holiday break. And the Capitals could still cool off, although Alexander Ovechkin’s chase to catch Wayne Gretzky’s goal record is certainly extra motivation added to their quest for a playoff berth.

The Devils are one of the best teams in the Metropolitan Division. With just under 40 games left to play, they could still squeak out a division title.

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