The New Jersey Devils have been all over the place when it comes to predictions from national analysts. We take one decorated writers predictions for points of every player, and we give our view of the number.
The excitement surrounding the New Jersey Devils this season. There’s no surprise why. They added Jack Hughes, P.K. Subban, Nikita Gusev and Wayne Simmonds in the offseason. They could also add Ty Smith and Jesper Boqvist if they make the team, two of the best prospects in the team’s system. That’s not even including the return of a healthy Taylor Hall. This team looks like they are ready to compete for a long time.
It all starts with the team’s offense. Last season, 108 players scored more than 50 points. None of those players were on the Devils. There was enough for three players on each team in that category, then enough for half the teams to have another such player. Yet, the Devils had none.
Yes, injuries had to do with it, The only players to play 82 games last season were defensemen (Damon Severson and Andy Greene). Palmieri led the team with 50 points, and he saw his production plummet due to the injury to Taylor Hall. In fact, most of the forwards on the team saw big drops in production due to the loss of Hall.
This season, the Devils are different. There’s so much added talent, and this team just plain expects to be a playoff contender. They’ve looked great at times during the preseason, and they look to build off the hype.
Dom Luszczyszyn with The Athletic predicted the point output of almost every player on every team, so we used his model to find a good over under for our players and seeing if we agree.
Taylor Hall
Prediction: 78 points
It’s no surprise that the top player on the list is Taylor Hall. What is surprising is the writer doesn’t expect Hall to get to 80 points. He does predict Hall will only play 72 games, so that’s likely a factor, but one should still expect the top player on a playoff team to hit 80 points, right? This likely shows how The Athletic feels about the Devils playoff chances, or at least this writer’s opinion. Still, we expect Hall to come out like a bat out of Hell trying to get the best possible contract now or in the offseason.
Pucks and Pitchforks Prediction: Over