Someone Hits 20 Goals For First Time
There are plenty of players on the Devils young roster who’ve had 20 goals in their career before. HIschier did it next to Hall during his MVP season. Palmieri has done it every season with the Devils. Andreas Johnsson did it once in his first season in Toronto. Even Travis Zajac was once a big scorer for this Devils team. Now, it’s time for someone new to get to the 20-goal plateau.
Obviously, this is a harder feat to hit this season, but it’s hardly impossible. With 56 games, this puts players just under a 30-goal pace. Is it too much to ask players to hit a 30-goal pace when this team has struggled to score? This is hopefully going to be a different Devils team under head coach Lindy Ruff.
There are a few candidates that could do it. The most likely one coming into the season was Nikita Gusev. He’s struggled out of the gate with zero points in his first four games. Right now, he’s being paired with an anchor in Pavel Zacha. Eventually, he should be paired with Hischier, which will help his goal numbers. He also needs to work himself into shape. Better days are coming for our Russian sniper.
Miles Wood wasn’t likely going to be on this list, but he might be the most likely after four games. He has three goals already, putting him on pace for 42. Obviously, that’s not going to happen, but if he scores at a somewhat decent pace, 20 goals could come pretty easily.
Other candidates include Jack Hughes, who has two goals already, Yegor Sharangovich, although that’s a long shot, and Jesper Bratt, who is working from way behind.