New Jersey Devils: Nolan Foote Brings Big-Time Scoring Ability

The New Jersey Devils are going to see Nolan Foote score a lot of goals one day.

The New Jersey Devils fanbase was really excited to see Blake Coleman lift the Stanley Cup as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was a great player for New Jersey and showed how important depth is on a team like the Lightning who have so much star power. Well, in order for the Bolts to obtain a player like Coleman, they paid a lot to the Devils to get him. They gave up the 1st-round pick that ended up being 20th overall, but they also sent Nolan Foote to the Devils.

Foote is now one of the top prospects in the New Jersey Devils organization. He is a left wing that played his junior career for the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL. He served as their captain in 2019-20 and had an awesome year doing it. He had 15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points in 27 games last season. He also played in seven games for the World Juniors Gold Medal-winning Canada, where he had three goals and two assists for five points.

This guy knows how to play in the offensive zone. He is best known for his very good shot. That skill is going to allow him to score a lot of goals throughout his pro career. He also showed, when playing with great players, that he has the ability to make others around him better by making sweet passes in tight spots.

For his goal scoring, we know about his shot but he has also let us know that he can score in many different ways. He is capable of deflecting pucks and scoring grimy goals near the net. For the Devils, he is certainly eventually going to get his chance to impact the lineup. After playing with a kid like Alexis Lafreniere in the World Juniors, he showed that he can play with high-end linemates. He might be afforded that opportunity as there is a good chance he gets a look with Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes one day.

One thing that was apparent throughout the last year or two, is that he has good chemistry with Ty Smith. They were never on the same club team but they played together on all-WHL teams and Team Canada. Smith has been able to find Foote with clear shooting lanes and Foote has been able to deflect Smith point shots. It would be really cool to see this combo come together in the National Hockey League.

Fans should be very excited to see what Foote can do next season. He is probably going to spend the year with the Binghamton Devils but you never know if he gets his chance to make his NHL debut. Either way, he will get time to develop which should lead to a long career for a great scorer.