New Jersey Devils: 1st Line Player and Point Projections
By Tyler Kelley
We’ve looked at every line except the first-line forwards. This one was originally going to be easy, until Travis Zajac went out with injury. For what we’ve covered already you can go here:
4th line, 3rd line, 2nd line, 3rd defensive pair, 2nd defensive pair, 1st defensive pair
1st Line
Taylor Hall 25 goals, 40 assists
Hall scored 20 goals and added 33 assists last year in 72 games. The Taylor Hall-Travis Zajac-Kyle Palmieri line was severely underrated. Without a doubt, the loss of Zajac is going to hurt Hall and Kyle Palmieri. However, they should be able to recover. Hall has never scored more than 27 goals in a season. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t expect that to change this year.
He’s had up and down assist numbers throughout his career. I expect those numbers to increase. The loss of Zajac brings an opportunity for a more offensively skilled player to step in. Losing Zajac will certainly affect the overall capabilities of the 1st line, but Nico Hischier can add speed and playmaking ability that Zajac simply doesn’t have.
Hall only had 238 shots last year and had a shooting percentage of 8.4. That’s almost two full percentage points below his career average. If Hall can increase his shot generation, it’s likely we could see him score 28 goals. Even still, it seems he’s poised for at least 25.
Nico Hischier 18 goals, 28 assists
The Devils have said that Nico Hischier will be a center in the NHL. You don’t keep a #1 overall pick in the NHL to play 4th line minutes. Being a 1st line center your rookie year is no easy task, but if anyone is up for it Nico Hischier is.
Through two preseason games, he’s netted two goals and ended up taking over as the 1st line center in the 2nd half of his 2nd game.
Surrounding Hischier with two of the Devils most offensively inclined players, Hall and Palmieri, will set him up for success. The injury to Zajac hurts this team a lot, but it gives Hischier the opportunity to show us what he’s got. Adam Henrique had opportunities to center Palmieri and Hall last year and the three just couldn’t click.
Hischier is the future #1 center for the Devils. There’s no reason to delay that. CHL draftees essentially get a 10 game tryout period at the NHL level before they can be sent back to their respective junior team. I think the Devils should take an alternate approach. Hischier’s 10 game tryout should be for the 1st line center role. Give him 10 games with Hall and Palmieri to see how he adjusts to the NHL game.
Worst case scenario for Hischier is that you drop him down to the 2nd or 3rd line. I really don’t think he should be outside the top 6 though because the more ice time he gets, the more experience he’ll get. Hischier has the speed and skill to be a 1st line center in the NHL. It won’t hurt the Devils to see what he’s got right off the bat.
Kyle Palmieri 28 goals, 25 assists
Palmieri is one of the better acquisitions Ray Shero has made since taking over as general manager. He never really got the opportunity in Anaheim’s top six, but he’s flourished in the role since coming over in a trade. Palmieri has scored 30 and 26 goals the past two years and added 27 assists each year.
I don’t expect Palmieri will return to 30 goals but 26-28 seems extremely likely. Palmieri surprisingly posted one of the better +/-‘s on the Devils last year with a +2. With Palmieri and Hall playing together for their 2nd year in a row, I would look for increased chemistry and better overall play.
Adding the speed and skill of Nico Hischier up the middle should provide a boost to this lines offensive ability.
Summary
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The loss of Travis Zajac hurts. With an earliest expected return of December, the Devils should see what the future has in store. Letting Nico Hischier center Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri will only help his development and benefit the team in the future.
As it stands, the Devils have plenty of flexibility at center. With Nico Hischier, Adam Henrique, Pavel Zacha, Michael Mcleod, John Quenneville, Brian Boyle, and Travis Zajac eventually returning from injury there could be a lot of variation down the middle of the ice.
I’ll be doing an additional write up summarizing my overall lineup projection next week and go over how its shifted through 4 preseason games. For now let me know what you think!