5 Achievable Season Milestones for New Jersey Devils Players
At this point, it’s become evident the New Jersey Devils have no chance to make the playoffs for the seventh time in eight years. They are currently 19 points out of the second wildcard spot as of Wednesday. Tuesday night’s outcome served as a painful reminder of the major factors that ultimately put New Jersey in this spot—blown leads, faulty defense, and viciously inept goaltending. For the longtime hardcore New Jersey Devils fans, watching a game feels more obligatory than something genuinely enjoyable.
For those struggling at finding reasons to tune in for these remaining 30 contests, not all hope is lost. While monitoring New Jersey’s distance from the Eastern Conference’s playoff threshold has become a lost cause, there is still reason for fans to follow the team between now and April—to monitor individual player’s progress and see how many can at least end on a high note.
This also allows us to root for certain players to hit particular statistical thresholds that would mark new career-highs, or see them finish an otherwise abysmal season strong. This also allows us to have some hope for next season by seeing these players hit milestones that add confidence to their game.
Here are five seasonal milestones some New Jersey Devils players can achieve that might make this season’s remaining 30 games worth watching. While the likeliness of each one varies, they’re worth keeping track of over the regular season’s final two months.
10 Goals: PK Subban
There’s no way to sugarcoat P.K. Subban’s epically disappointing first season with the New Jersey Devils. In 51 games, Subban only has six goals and 11 points, a far cry from the numbers that were expected of him. That isn’t even considering his mind-boggling $9 million AAV.
Assuming Subban plays the majority of these 30 remaining contests, he’ll only be on pace to score 9-10 goals. Subban finishing with double-digit goals would be subtly encouraging. Given how reputably goal-starved the New Jersey Devils are, seeing a defenseman score double-digit goals is a rarity, with just three reaching that threshold since 2013-2014.
For Subban, finishing 2019-2020 with at least 10 goals would also show a flash of his longtime ability to generate offense, which many doubt he still possesses. Over the 18 games since snapping his 21-game point drought, Subban has produced four goals and six points—.33 points per game. This is a notable uptick compared to his seasonal average of .21 points per game, so you can argue he has shown a modest degree of improvement as the season progressed.
Over the last five seasons, his points per game have been near or slightly higher than his seasonal average, however he has slowed down the two previous years. Subban will likely finish 2019-2020 with the lowest point totals of his career, but notching double-digit goals would show he’s made some headway at rediscovering his game, which could be a building point for him going into next season.
50 Points: Nikita Gusev, Nico Hischier, Kyle Palmieri
Unless they miss an extended amount of time over these final 30 contests, all three players are on pace to finish 2019-20 with at least 50 points. This would say a lot for each individual forward. They are playing on a team that’s spent the majority of the 2019-20 season as standings basement-dwellers and have currently scored the fifth-fewest goals in the league.
For Kyle Palmieri, it would mark the fourth time in his five seasons with New Jersey where he finished with at least 50 points (he had 44 points in 62 games in 2017-2018, which equates to 58 points over a full season).
This kind of strong finish for Nico Hischier would give him the second 50+ point season over his three-year career (Hischier also had 47 points in 69 games in 2018-19, which would have put him on pace for 55-56 points over a full season), and signal his development is progressing nicely.
It would perhaps be most meaningful for Nikita Gusev to reach the 50-point threshold. Not only would it make his first full NHL season a tremendous success, but also affirm how sweepingly Gusev acclimated to the North American style of play, and wasn’t inhibited by his inferior stature.
This should also make you wonder what numbers these players are capable of posting if they play on a deeper more talented roster—motivation for New Jersey Devils management to be aggressive on the player acquisition front this offseason.
20 Goals: Jesper Bratt
It’s been a roller coaster-type season for third-year forward Jesper Bratt. He has been designated roles ranging from top-line duties to healthy scratches. The most goals Bratt has scored over his young career was during his rookie season, when he tallied 13. With 30 games remaining in 2019-20 campaign, Bratt has 10, and is currently on-pace to set a new career-high with between 16 and 17 goals.
Between injuries and healthy scratches, Bratt has missed some considerable chunks of time this season, having played in just 10 games since January, over which he’s notched two goals and seven points. This includes two goals and six points in his last four contests. Bratt has historically been a streaky player in terms of point production. Despite still bouncing around the lineup, Bratt has seen more consistent time among New Jersey’s top-three lines since former head coach John Hynes’ dismissal.
One notable coinciding correlation with Bratt’s goal spurts is a spike in shots on net. On the season for example, Bratt is averaging 1.59 shots per game. If you look at the stretches of games where Bratt’s goals fall upon, he’s averaging roughly 2-3 shots per game, sometimes doubling his current seasonal average.
Bratt is more than capable of hitting the 20-goal mark this season. The key for him is to shoot the puck more and in doing so, simplify his offensive game.
25 Wins: Mackenzie Blackwood
He’s had his ups and downs this season, but Mackenzie Blackwood has embraced the role as starting goaltender. While the New Jersey Devils coaching staff mentioned they would try to cut back on Blackwood’s workload over the season’s remainder, 25 wins is still attainable for the 23-year-old netminder.
If Blackwood plays in 20 of New Jersey’s final 30 games, all he must do is win at least half of those contests. Blackwood is 15-12-7 in games where he’s credited with the final outcome, giving him a .44 win percentage. While his overall stats aren’t much to look at, you can argue they more so reflect the team’s less-than-subpar quality that plays in front of him—in terms of individual performance, Blackwood is actually holding his own this season.
Between his age, inexperience, and taking on starting goaltending duties, 25 wins might be a bit of a hurdle for Blackwood, but isn’t entirely out of the question. He’s more than capable of winning at least one-third of New Jersey’s remaining 30 contests. Since the balance of this season will primarily be spent on monitoring individual player development, the environment is ideal for Blackwood to aim high and further cement his status as the Devil’s starting goaltender moving forward.
30 Goals: Blake Coleman, Kyle Palmieri
Both players are currently on pace to score 30 goals by season’s end, which would eclipse or set new career-highs for each forward.
Kyle Palmieri hit the 30-goal mark in his first year with the New Jersey Devils, and has since been the team’s most consistent goal-scorer, having netted no fewer than 24 tallies over his four full seasons with the organization. He has every opportunity to eclipse his old career-high in goals, and possibly point totals (Palmieri had 57 points in 2015-2016 and is currently on pace for 56-57 points).
Blake Coleman has become the team’s best defensive forward, perhaps since the days of John Madden and Jay Pandolfo. Coleman has set new career-highs for himself in goals and points every season, and he’s currently projected to continue that trend in 2019-2020. Coleman’s speed, opportunistic prowess to capitalize on opponent’s mistakes and miscommunications when killing penalties, along with his ability to bury pucks in front of the net and finish on rushes has resulted in his influx of goal-scoring.
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Coleman’s offensive numbers are a welcomed addition to the defensive game he brings, which has formed a very unique player profile for Coleman that very few teams have, but many covet.