New Jersey Devils: 2023 Quarter Season Ratings
Erik Haula
GP:18 G:6 A:6 PTS:12
Rating: B+
Erik Haula has put up some impressive points, but more importantly, he has continued to be a strong defensive player and he shows up every game ready to play. His tenacity is still there and he has shown the ability to move up the lineup when needed versus last season when he was with Hughes for a long time and couldn’t hit an empty net till the last 20 games of the season. He looks settled in a lot more and is leading by example on the ice which is great to see from the veteran player.
Dawson Mercer
GP: 20 G: 5 A: 3 PTS: 8
Rating: D
Dawson Mercer had two great years in Jersey and even managed to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, but he came out this season looking lost and slow. He was always a slightly above-average skater and pretty good defensively before, but this season it was like watching a different player with his soft plays when he used to be relentless and some bad blind passes that he never made before. Since Jack Hughes returned, he has been good. He is moving his feet, but overall he was extremely disappointing and could have easily been benched at points in the first 15+ games.
Alexander Holtz
GP: 20 G: 6 A: 3 PTS: 9
Rating: B+
Alexander Holtz is averaging barely over 12 minutes a game and has got some of the lowest offensively skilled linemates almost all the time yet still managed six goals already (seven after Thursday night). He has been noticeable a fair bit in a positive way and he is making his case to be moved up the lineup. The coaching staff does seem to be way harder on him than guys like Palat who has been objectively worse. The shot we saw in his draft year has continued to improve, and his skating has taken that last stride. He needed to move from AHL star to NHL regular. The future looks bright for him, and hopefully, he can keep it up and be given the deserved opportunity by the coaching staff.
Micheal McLeod
GP: 20 G: 4 A: 4 PTS: 8
Rating: A
Michael McLeod has already matched his goal total from last season, and because of injuries, he was even forced to play on the top line for a while. That should have been a disaster, but he was actually driving the play far better than a fourth-line guy usually does. He is playing great defense and winning an insane number of faceoffs sitting at 63% currently which is also the most important thing for depth on this team and currently sits fifth in hits with 32.
Curtis Lazar
GP:18 G:4 A:3 PTS:7
Rating: B+
We weren’t the biggest fans of bringing in another smaller player to play in the bottom six, but Curtis Lazar is tenacious and willing to throw the body around, which is nice to see. He is second in hits with 41 but noticeably gets engaged far more than that shows, and he drives the net, unlike most of the roster. That’s encouraging to see. Overall, he has been a surprisingly good depth pick-up.
Nathan Bastian
GP: 19 G: 1 A: 1 PTS: 2
Rating: D-
As Nathan Bastian’s biggest supporter and the guy who was vocal to get him back during the expansion draft it is hard to watch his play this year. Despite him being third in hits with 35, he hasn’t crashed and banged like he used to and hasn’t had that grit in the corners at all. At best, his play has been invisible, and he really needs to step it up, or his fourth-line spot could be in jeopardy when the team is healthy.