New Jersey Devils Point Predictions For The 2022-23 Season
New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier (13) congratulates center Yegor Sharangovich (17): Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
After an abysmal 2021-2022 regular season, the New Jersey Devils and their fans hope to improve this October. Luckily, the team has improved over the offseason, and with the natural progression of their young stars, should be a much better team this year. Let’s look at my point predictions for each Devils player.
Forwards:
In my opinion, the skater group last year was good enough for playoff contention. With the goaltending and power-play woes, the unit posted 2.99 goals/game, good enough for the 19th best in the league. We should expect an improvement on this number. With the hiring of Andrew Brunette and the hopeful decrease in injuries, the Devils should be fun to watch this year.
Jack Hughes: 35 G, 56 A – 91 points
Jesper Bratt: 30 G, 44 A, – 77 points
Nico Hischier: 26 G, 41 A – 67 points
Ondrej Palat: 21G, 32 A – 53 points
Yegor Sharangovich: 34G, 22 A – 56 points
Dawson Mercer: 24 G, 33A – 57 points
Erik Haula: 15 G, 27 A – 42 points
Tomas Tatar: 22 G, 23 A – 45 points
Fabian Zetterlund: 17 G, 20 A – 37 points
Jesper Boqvist: 14G, 27 A – 41 points
Nathan Bastian: 12G, 13 A – 25 points
Miles Wood: 16 G, 17 A – 33 points
Alexander Holtz (if he makes the team): 21 G, 19 A – 40 points
Defense:
Defensively, the Devils have been getting a modest amount of offensive production. Still, Hamilton and newly-acquired John Marino need to have bounce-back years. Perhaps an additional year of Lindy’s system could help trigger Hamilton. While second-overall pick Simon Nemec could help with this issue, it’s unlikely that he makes the roster right out of the gate. Honestly, he shouldn’t. When you see the rest of the defensemen, you’ll know why.
Dougie Hamilton: 15G, 37 A – 52 points
Jonas Sigenthaler: 3G, 14A – 17 points
John Marino: 5G, 27A – 27 points
Damon Severson: 11G, 31A – 42 points
Ryan Graves: 6G, 19A – 25 points
Brendan Smith: 2G, 13A – 15 points
The Devils should and need to be a much better team in 2022-23
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As you can see, I predict a scoring increase for a majority of the Devils’ players. With a healthy Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton, we should see a bonafide 1D & 1C combo for the first time in a decade. Other guys should take a step in development as well.
Hischier, Boqvist, and Mercer should all build off of what they achieved last year. I also think the coaching changes could have a big effect. Both Andrew Brunette and Ryan McGill have shown the ability to improve players, such as Shea Theodore and Mason Marchment. They will hopefully bring that development to Newark. This year also marks the last year of Lindy Ruff’s contract, so if he wants another head coaching gig, he needs to show results on the ice. In the same vein, GM Tom Fitzgerald should slowly be feeling the hot seat if the season goes as poorly as it did last year. For his and my sake, I hope the Devils do play meaningful games in March.