New Jersey Devils: Setting High Standards And Breaking Records

The seeds of New Jersey Devils’ draft classes are coming to fruition. Veterans like Miles Wood, Nathan Bastian, and Michael McLeod have panned out to be key role guys on offense, while Damon Severson has been a key cog on the blueline quarterbacking offensive breakouts and attacks.

It was easy to take credit for Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, picking them with their first two ever number-one overall picks. Fellow first-round pick and stud winger Dawson Mercer takes a big burden off offensively and defensively from both Hischier and Hughes. Two Swedes who came from lower picks, Jesper Bratt and Jesper Boqvist, are making different impacts to this team’s bottom line.

The Devils focus on veterans with meat on the bone when it comes to external additions. Ondrej Palat, Erik Haula, Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton, John Marino, and Tomas Tatar have all added their necessary blend of talent to wins.

Having a veteran netminder in Vitek Vanecek alongside three other European-born goalies in Nico Daws (Munich, Germany and raised in Canada), Akira Schmid (Bern, Switzerland), and Vitek Vanecek (Havlickuv Brod, Czechia). There has been a really good balance of goaltending this season as opposed to a wacky carousel from last season. Goaltending Coach Dave Rogalski has been doing a fine job working with the netminders this season and has seen Akira Schmid and Vitek Vanecek come up huge lately, scoring a shutout in the biggest game so far this season on Sunday. This comes just days after some questioned Vitek Vanecek.

There is so much room for growth that a 3-0 shutout against Carolina is a huge step forward to making big noise in the playoffs. It always seems when the Devils hit one crescendo of a win they look forward to putting other teams on notice. Before the Timo Meier acquisition, the Devils were already giving opponents a pitchforked attack style. They were already beating teams on special teams like the power play, playing a bit of physical forechecking game prior to Bastian’s injury, beating teams on the rush, and out-enduring teams in the 3rd period or even over time.

Timo Meier comes in like a scarlet knight who wastes no time jousting for the puck. Meier creates so much Bedlam that teams are afraid of what he brings, and now you have guys like Jesper Boqvist or Jack Hughes who can run wild raising hell offensively. For those of you keeping track at home, Meier did score in the shootout for the Devils to win against the Capitals in epic fashion. If shootout goals counted it would be his second Devils goal.

Having that kind of offense going toward the playoffs and the long-term future will only increase the odds of the Devils doing a lot of damage. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald pulling off that trade without giving up Kevin Bahl, Dawson Mercer, and Alexander Holtz in the deal is a video game hockey trade level of grand theft larceny.

Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Timo Meier are in the Top 20 of the MoneyPuck’s Expected Goals. All three players are in the Top 40 of NHL Goals scored, and this kind of depth and value on this team is only gonna help win even more games.

The Devils are basically a lock to make the playoffs for the first time since 2018. It’s a long way since Taylor Hall won the Hart Trophy, pulling the Devils passed the playoff threshold by himself.

If Hughes goes on another big points streak, it could propel him past Patrik Elias’ record of 96 points in a season. Three more goals for Jack Hughes will get him tied for 9th with Patrik Elias for 40 goals in a season by a Devils forward and one step closer to the 48 set by Brian Gionta for the all-time season goals record.

With a lot of this put into context, there is a high new standard for untapped potential in this franchise’s upcoming years. Having players like Hischier, Hughes, Mercer, and Meier averaged more than 50 takeaways each this season, and this kind of Selke Trophy-type play can become a Swiss Army knife for coach Ruff.

It would get Ruff’s team the ability to win puck possession and be able to cash in on tightly fought playoff games. This certainly means to whoever faces New Jersey in the playoffs that it won’t be an easy task going up against a pitchforked-style team that knows how to defend on both ends of the ice.