The New Jersey Devils have been bad for a while. They have the third least amount of points in the NHL in December. That’s quite bad. After the ridiculous start to the season, this is a massive disappointment. The Devils once had a commanding lead on the Metropolitan Division. The Carolina Hurricanes erased it completely, and the Devils are now fighting off the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, and Washington Capitals.
There’s plenty of blame to go around. The goalies haven’t been as good as they were during the winning streak. Nico Hischier is no longer in beast mode (but he’s still been quite good). The Devils desperately miss Nathan Bastian on that fourth line, and Ondrej Palat could really help them now, too.
However, the one huge drop in production that’s impacting the Devils more than anyone is the play of Jesper Bratt. Call it bad luck, a drop in progress, a lack of motivation, or whatever else, the Devils best winger hasn’t been helping his star centermen. In December, Bratt had seven points. This is after he had 11 points in November and a ridiculous 15 points in the short October month. Bratt has been worse every month.
So, what’s the issue? Bratt has played most of his time with Jack Hughes, who is by far the team’s best player. Bratt and Hughes have been playing with Erik Haula, who is as snake bitten as any player in the league. Still, Bratt is clearly not the player he was in October.
He is decent, however. He has 14 individual high-danger chances, which is good for 44th in the league in December alone. He’s created six rebounds, been on five rush attempts, and he’s taken 29 shots on goal. He just can’t finish. He has just over a 3% shooting percentage in December. That’s what defensive defensemen usually have. He hasn’t been able to turn his starts into goals.
Bratt needs to find a way to score. It can’t be entirely on Jack Hughes to score on the Devils’ top line. Bratt is the scorer amongst the Devils wingers. He is actually putting in goals just like he did in November. However, three assists in a month is unacceptable. Honestly, it should be even more from the goals side, as well.
We’ll see if Bratt’s situation changes. He is eligible to sign a new contract on Sunday. Maybe that is weighing on him in December. Either way, the Devils need more from their top winger.