5 Reasons To Watch New Jersey Devils Hockey

3. Milestones/Career Highs

This New Jersey Devils team has very few things to root for, but there are a few players that are going after some round numbers, and others going after career highs. You’d be surprised how excited it might be to root for these arbitrary numbers.

Kyle Palmieri comes to mind, even though he’s injured right now. He was well on his way to career highs, but his injury makes those numbers harder to reach. He’s four goals away from tying his career high with 30 on the season. If he can play the final two weeks of the season, he could easily break that high. He’s also nine points away from his career high, so that’s attainable.

Rooting for Blake Coleman to get to 20 goals is another fun wrinkle to end the season. He’s only two goals away, but it would be amazing to see him hit that plateau. Nobody thought he had this particular season in him, and while he’s falling off in a major way, he’s still going to hit those numbers hopefully.

Travis Zajac is 13 points away from hitting 50 on the season. It’s a long shot, but again it’s possible. Getting excited every time he puts a rebound in the net, or wins a faceoff that ends up in an assist gives you a little extra juice. It’s been nine seasons since he hit the 50 point mark. Have we ever seen a player with more seasons in between 50-point seasons?

Jesper Bratt is two points away from his career high, and he’s been playing the best hockey of his career. His passing is on point, and he’s back to scoring goals again. He hit 11 points in February, the first time he’s ever had an 11 point month. 50 seems impossible with this team around him (he’d need to be at a better than point-per-game pace). He could still get close, and it will be fun to watch him get better every game.

Damon Severson already has his career high in points this season, but he needs one more goal to break that career high. When we’ve come to this place in a bad season, it’s time to start rooting for defensemen to score.