5 New Jersey Devils Players Who Will Set Career Highs In Points
The New Jersey Devils are hoping to put together one of the better seasons in recent memory. That’s not necessarily hard. This is a team that’s made the playoffs once in the past ten seasons. Last year, they were “good” enough to get the second-overall pick in the NHL Draft one year after they chose fourth overall. In a word, it’s been a bad stretch.
Now, the Devils are looking to finally make the jump out of the rebuilding phase. It’s been a long time coming, and we’ll believe it when we see it, but the hope is the time is now. With that, the Devils need some players to make a jump. That means we should expect to see some career highs.
Let’s set some ground rules. Players need at least 100 career games to make the cut. That means no cheating answers like Alexander Holtz or even Dawson Mercer. We are looking at players where it’s at least somewhat surprising they would reach career highs. Let’s still start with an obvious one.
Jack Hughes
Previous career high: 56 points
Jack Hughes will break this by February if he stays healthy. That’s a big if, but Hughes has come into training camp looking as good as ever. He’s driving the Devils top line, and he should have some good linemates with him. He spent the first two preseason games with Ondrej Palat and Alexander Holtz. He played the third game with Yegor Sharangovich and Jesper Bratt.
No matter who Hughes ends up playing with (and we guess it largely has to do with the status of Nico Hischier), he is going to destroy his career high in points. He has a reasonable ability to double his previous career high.
Ondrej Palat
Previous career high: 63 points
This one might be surprising, but Palat moving to the Devils might actually help him score more points. He was on the Tampa Bay Lightning for a long time, but his role with this team is much different. He’s playing on the top line with Jack Hughes. Now, he can be the finisher to a player that’s becoming one of the best setup men in the league. Hughes is going to get the best out of his linemates. As of now, it appears that Palat is one of them.
Sure, Palat played a ton with Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos during his time with the Lightning, but he’s never been the rock of a line like he will be in New Jersey. This team relies on him to put them back into a winning mentality.
The Devils paid handsomely to sign Palat when they lost out on Johnny Gaudreau. Wouldn’t it be wild if they were able to get 65 points out of their backup plan? Palat hasn’t been a scorer in close to a decade. However, he has been getting more individual chances. He had 80 individual high-dangers chances at 5v5 last season. That was the most he’s had since his rookie season. If he continues to make chances for himself while also getting chances from Hughes, he will get 65 points easily.
Nathan Bastian
Previous career high: 18
Nathan Bastian isn’t known as a scorer, but he did pot 12 goals last season. He wasn’t much in the assist category, which is why he ended the season with just 18 points. This season, Bastian is going to be on a team that scores more. That will lead to more points. He’s going to be on the fourth line, so he’s likely to get just 10-12 minutes per game. He’s still going to get to 20 points, putting him at a career high.
Bastian had an interesting year last season. At one point, he was on the first line of the power play, and it somehow made complete sense. That’s not going to be necessary this season (please for the love of everything don’t let it be necessary). That should take away opportunities this season, but he should get other opportunities by sheer necessity. He won’t have as many hard matchups with more defensive prowess up and down the lineup. That will allow him to get a few more offensive zone opportunities.
Of course, Bastian has to stay in the lineup for this to be possible. The Devils have an insane amount of competition this season. Fabian Zetterlund and Jesper Boqvist have to fight for roster spots despite strong finishes to last season. Bastian needs to hit a career. If he doesn’t, someone will come and take his roster spot.
Ryan Graves
Previous career high: 28 points
Ryan Graves played a different type of game last season. He started the season paired on the top line with Dougie Hamilton. With the Colorado Avalanche, he was mostly used as a defensive stopper. On the left side, the Devils have Jonas Siegenthaler to do that. So, Graves can play a little more loose on the offensive side. That’s why he set a career-high with 28 points.
Graves partner is going to change this season. He was playing with Simon Nemec for part of the preseason. During the games, Graves spent the most time with Damon Severson. Those two would be a really interesting pair. Severson has been getting better offensively, and that could run off on Graves.
Graves isn’t going to be spending any time on the power play. In fact, he’s going to be spending a ton of time on the penalty kill. Graves had 183 PK minutes last season. Still, getting time on the second defensive unit will pair him plenty with the likes of Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. Graves is going to get a lot of rebound assists and secondary assists. He’s going to break 30 points, which will allow him to cash in during free agency next offseason.
Dougie Hamilton
Previous career high: 50
Dougie Hamilton was well on his way to a great season in his first season in New Jersey. He had 20 points in his first 30 games before he got injured. Over an 82-game season, that would have put him at 54 points. That is, you guessed it, a career high.
After Hamilton’s injury, he was a completely different player. He was dealing with a broken jaw and a broken toe. The jaw forced him to put a cage on his helmet. That likely stunted his vision. Even a little stunting would hurt him. He also tried playing with foot issues. That slowed him down immensely. He looked frankly worse when he returned. Maybe he returned too quickly, or maybe he was never going to be the same.
Either way, he’s coming into training camp fully healthy. He’s playing for a better team. He’s going to be on the top power-play unit. This unit will be one that will be much better. It can’t possibly be worse. That will add a few points to his total.
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Basically, Hamilton just needs to have his entire first half for a full season. That’s entirely possible. Hamilton is also getting paired with Jonas Siegenthaler, one of the best defensive defensemen in the league. That means all he needs to do is focus on the offensive because his backside is protected.