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New Jersey Devils: 5 Bold Predictions For 2018-2019

By Jacob Weissman

NEWARK, NJ - OCTOBER 13: (l-r) John Moore #2, Kyle Palmieri #21, Taylor Hall #9 and Damon Severson #28 of the New Jersey Devils celebrate Palmieri's third period goal against the Washington Capitals at the Prudential Center on October 13, 2017 in Newark, New Jersey. The Capitals defeated the Devils 5-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - OCTOBER 13: (l-r) John Moore #2, Kyle Palmieri #21, Taylor Hall #9 and Damon Severson #28 of the New Jersey Devils celebrate Palmieri's third period goal against the Washington Capitals at the Prudential Center on October 13, 2017 in Newark, New Jersey. The Capitals defeated the Devils 5-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, And Nico Hischier All Top 30 goals

Every player on a line scoring 30 times is quite rare. Last season, only the Boston Bruins owned a top line (Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak) with three players who netted 30 goals. The season before that, not a single unit accomplished the feat. In 2018-2019, each member of the Devils fearsome threesome has a plausible path to netting 30 scores.

Taylor Hall, the Devils’ superstar, hammered home 39 goals in just 75 games en route to a Hart Trophy-winning campaign. This was despite some of the Devils best producers, including Kyle Palmieri, Marcus Johansson, and Nico Hischier, being severely hampered by injuries. There is no reason to believe that Hall, surrounded by healthy weapons, cannot eclipse 30 goals again.

The aforementioned Kyle Palmieri tallied 24 goals in 62 games in 2017-2018, good for a 32-goal 82-game pace. In the two preceding campaigns, with a weak forward group around him, Palmieri totaled 56 goals. Armed with a dangerous support group and playing on a top line that boasts a Hart Trophy winner and two No. 1 overall picks, all indicators signal another strong season for the American sniper. 30 goals is more expectation than aspiration.

Flanked by two elite goal-scorers in Kyle Palmieri and Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier should explode in his sophomore season. I have already taken a deep dive into Hischier’s career trajectory, and based on history and plain common sense, Hischier should be a safe bet for a major step forward in his second campaign. The 18-year-old Hischier netted 20 goals and 32 assists despite a nagging hand injury all year. He displayed an extremely solid two-way game and placed fourth on the Devils in Corsi at 50.1% and third in plus/minus at +10 (minimum five games played). Looking ahead, projecting Hischier for anything less than 30 goals feels like an unfair undersell.

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