The New Jersey Devils have gotten a ton of production from all ends of the ice from first-overall pick Nico Hischier. The one place he hasn’t been great at is scoring. Should Devils fans be worried?
The New Jersey Devils have been flying high all season long. Their hot start continued through December, and they went into the Christmas break in first place in the Metropolitan Division. Just about everyone has been hot during the holiday month.
Nico Hischier has been contributing in many ways throughout this season. However, in December he hasn’t been great offensively. At least, that’s what the numbers say.
Hischier has zero goals this month, and just three assists. Honestly, it was hard to notice he wasn’t scoring before Dan Rosen brought it up during his Super 16 rankings. So the big question here is this, should we be worried about Nico’s lack of scoring?
Hischier’s scoring ability comes in spurts. He scored two goals in one game, and another two on back-to-back nights. Outside of that, he’s struggled to light the lamp.
It’s not for lack of opportunities. He’s taken more than two shots per game. There were situations that he was absolutely robbed of a goal by either a great play by the goalie or a ridiculous block by a defender. Again, Hischier has been doing well at putting himself in a great position. Sometimes, that’s just how the cookie crumbles.
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Honestly, Hischier is probably doing the right thing. He’s playing on a line with Taylor Hall and either Jesper Bratt or Kyle Palmieri. All three of those players are pure scorers. If he can get the puck on their stick, they can make things happen.
Should we be worried about Hischier? Probably not. Sure, the numbers say something may be wrong, but watching him on the ice shows something different. The scoring will come. I predict that his shooting percentage will even out near 10 percent (it’s sitting at 6.4% right now).
The rest of the team has been playing out of their minds. Every single line is producing offensively right now. That takes the pressure off the first line to produce every shift. Let Hischier ease into the New Year, and his offensive skill will eventually take over. Bad puck luck can only last so long. Expect much more scoring from Nico in 2018.