As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season passes the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the New Jersey Devils.
What are the Devils thankful for?
The World Junior Championship.
Look, it’s not very pretty watching Devils games right now. The team has lost six in a row, nine of their last ten, and now own the worst goal differential in the Metropolitan Division. In a season where they were supposed to be at least competitive, things have gone downhill, fast.
So around the holidays, what better way to soothe that ache than watching some of the Devils’ top prospects do battle on the international stage. Fans got an up-close look at Alexander Holtz when he played six NHL games earlier this season, but he’s now back with Team Sweden at his third WJC tournament. Shakir Mukhamadullin is one of the leaders of the Russian team and looks like he’ll be in the NHL in no time. Perhaps the most exciting is Luke Hughes, that fourth-overall pick and key building block who is suiting up for the U.S.
Of all the prospects in the Devils system, those three are arguably the most important. You can watch them all battle when the event kicks off tomorrow.
Who are the Devils thankful for?
If there’s one player that has been anything but disappointing this season it’s Mercer, who only turned 20 in October but is already handling NHL minutes with aplomb. Another one of those first-round picks, Mercer has 16 points in 30 games, strong possession numbers, and is averaging more than 16 minutes a night. Sure, he’s been completely outclassed in the faceoff dot and still has plenty of work to do to polish his overall game, but there have been so many brilliant moments that his ceiling looks higher than expected and his absolute floor has risen to that of an NHL middle-six player.
It’s hard to see why there would ever be a time moving forward that the Devils don’t pencil Mercer into the lineup and that’s a huge step forward for an organization that needed to build out support for Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. It looks like there will be more pain this season, but things are trending in the right direction, at least in terms of development.
What would the Devils be even more thankful for?
A healthy Hughes.
It was supposed to go so differently. This was the year that Hughes was supposed to take a big step forward and establish himself as a true top-line player in the league. He looked stronger in the offseason and things got off to a great start. In his first game, he scored twice, including a brilliant overtime winner that showed just how much confidence he had entered the season with. He had an assist in the first period of his next game before a hit from Seattle’s Jeremy Lauzon resulted in a dislocated shoulder for Hughes and a recovery period of six weeks.
While he avoided surgery, it immediately stole all of that offseason momentum for the young forward and forced him to–as Ray Ferraro of ESPN often says–jump on a moving train when he was ready to return. He’s done fine since rejoining the club, registering three goals and five points in 11 games, but is still missing some of that swagger from the start of the year. If Hughes can stay healthy for the rest of the season and get that back, perhaps the team can do a little more damage in the second half.
What should be on the Devils’ Holiday Wish List?
A Jesper Bratt extension.
The Devils don’t need to sell at the deadline this year. They likely will, if they can find a taker and add a few draft picks, but they’re past the hoarding section of the rebuild. Now they need to lock in these good young players and find a way to put together a competitive roster.
If Mercer’s development is the best thing from the team this season, Bratt’s play isn’t far behind. The 23-year-old forward has been the most reliable player on the roster from the start and is scoring at a career-best pace. His 24 points in 29 games lead the club and almost all of that damage has been done at even strength. If the Devils’ powerplay could improve–it’s currently clicking at just 12.9%–there’s a real chance Bratt could put up a 60 or even 70-point season at this rate.
While that’s a wonderful threshold to break for the young forward, it would also come with a cost for the Devils. Bratt will be a restricted free agent again this offseason and this time he’s eligible for arbitration. That kind of production would put him in the driver’s seat in terms of arbitration leverage, meaning a big ask would be on the table. An extension now at a more reasonable price might be prudent, if GM Tom Fitzgerald can get his representatives to the table.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Canadians South. The Hurricanes are thankful for both.
Dougie Hamilton is performing up to expectations. At least that’s what I glean from Gamecast. With the Xfinity-MSG dispute, I’ve seen like two minutes of live hockey. What a crap year.