New Jersey Devils: 5 Bold Statistical Predictions For 2021-22 Season

3. Tomas Tatar easily gets to 20 goals

Tomas Tatar was the Devils biggest acquisition from the forward position. Well, maybe besides Dawson Mercer who is an addition to the team despite not being an addition to the franchise. Tatar chose the Devils this offseason after a pretty bad experience in his last season in Montreal.

Tatar only had 10 goals in 50 games last season, and he went on a cold street towards the end of the season. He went 12 games to end the season without a goal. This led to him getting benched for most of the postseason run to the Stanley Cup. That’s going to be a motivating factor, especially since this is his first year with the Devils.

Tatar was great for two years with Montreal. Sure, he was a little off last season, but he’s a goal scorer. They can be inconsistent at times. However, he scored 22 goals in 68 games just one season ago. Last season sucked for Tatar, but it’s not that far removed from when he was an awesome asset worthy of top-line minutes. He will be able to get back to that no matter what line he ends up on. Since the Devils kept Dawson Mercer on the roster, they have three very skilled centers who can focus on setting Tatar up for goals. This is a great situation for the team and for Tatar statistically.