New Jersey Devils: 2023 Quarter Season Ratings

(Editor’s Note: This article was written at the 20-game mark prior to the Devils-Flyers game.)

The NHL season has now hit its quarter-season mark, and of the 82 games the Devils have got in their first 20 and currently are sitting in a disappointing spot. They are sitting closer to the bottom than the top, with a record of 10-9-1. That’s good for 6th in the division, 12th in the conference, and 21st in the league, which is a far cry from the top-five team they were last season.

Fans are disappointed for good reason. That being said, they are only one point behind the Islanders and Capitals and two behind the surprising Philadelphia Flyers as of Thursday morning. It wouldn’t take much of a run to get ahead of the ball again and they should still be a playoff team. That being said we will take a look at the players individually and once again we will note that ratings are based on where they slot in the lineup and expectations as well.

Jack Hughes

GP: 15 G: 7 A: 19 PTS: 26
Rating: A+

Before his injury, Jack Hughes was the top point performer in the league and even though he missed multiple games, he still sits 16th overall in the league and has the highest points per game at 1.73 which is just insane. He is magic with the puck on his stick, controls the play in a way no Devils player has before, and he will be challenging for league MVP and the first Devils player to hit 100 points in a season.

Nico Hischier

GP: 9 G: 4 A: 1 PTS: 5
Rating: C

Nico Hischier has only played in half the games this season. His performance pre-injury and post-injury were just two different tales, and not in the way you see almost every time. He was slow and not generating anything at the start of the season, but since his return, he has been the catalyst that got the Devils going and looked exactly like the player we saw last year who was pushing for a point a game. More importantly, he was one of the league’s best defensive forwards, one who is also rocking a 57% win rate in the faceoff circle this season. While his rating looks bad, it is only because he had six or so bad games to start the year like a good number of players on this team. We should expect Hischier to get back to that A+ player we know he can be far before the midseason mark.

Timo Meier

GP: 14 G: 5 A: 6 PTS: 11
Rating: B-

Timo Meier has a good number of points this year, but he has not been that impressive. He doesn’t drive the play at all and is mid-tier defensively. While he has been successful offensively, which is what he is here to do, he has relied a bit too much on teammates to get him some easy points.

That being said, the biggest problem so far is the physical side of the game. The Devils needed to get bigger, stronger, harder to play against. On top of points, this was something he was supposed to bring. While it would be fun to see him knock guys out like Anton Volchenkov used to do, that is asking too much from the modern NHL. However, a guy who has Meier’s build and was described as a bull coming onto this team last season should at least push some guys out of the way and lay the small hits on the boards.

He is a very tough guy, but his physicality looks more like it is just about him taking big hits and getting sticked in the face every other game. The team desperately needs him to just bring more intensity.

Jesper Bratt

GP:20 G:8 A:17 PTS:26
Rating: A+

Jesper Bratt signed long-term and Devils fans breathed a sigh of relief this offseason, but already only one season in, we should be very thankful that he is under $8 million per season and could have easily been looking at $10+ million on the open market. He continues to drive the play and put up points; on pace for 33 goals, 70 assists, and 103 points, which would make him either the first or second Devil in history to do that depending on Hughes’ performance this year. That is incredible to think about after this team waited for decades to get just one. On top of that, he has been relentless on the back check and his defensive play never gets enough credit around the league. It is just massive to have him and Hischier so good on both ends of the rink.

Ondrej Palat

GP: 20 G: 2 A: 8 PTS: 10
Rating: C-

Ondrej Palat was a contract that many gave flak on day 1, saying it was way too long and an overpay. As we sit here in year 2, fans have turned him into the team’s whipping boy already. He has managed to get some points as of late, but it looked like he might be on pace to score about 20 points the whole season for a while. He was making some surprisingly bad plays for a usually good two-way veteran guy who shouldn’t be done yet. Fortunately, like most of the team, he has turned it on lately though and if it continues could have a solid season. The best place for him is probably on the third line.

Tyler Toffoli

GP: 20 G: 11 A: 9 PTS: 20
Rating: A+

Tyler Toffoli has been the team’s best scorer, looks dangerous from anywhere on the ice, and the team got him for Yegor Sharangovich and a 3rd-round pick which looks like a great trade right now. He had chemistry right away with Bratt and Hughes which sometimes can take a long time to build. The addition of him has given this team the top 6 we dreamed of and he was the perfect addition.

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.

Dougie Hamilton

GP: 20 G: 5 A: 11 PTS: 16
Rating: B

Dougie Hamilton’s offense has been there this season like it always has been, but he has been getting taken advantage of on more bad pinches this season and has been on the ice for some soft goals that he could have stopped from happening. That being said, if the team tightens things up, he will be back to the same star level.

Jonas Siegenthaler

GP: 20 G: 0 A: 4 PTS: 4
Rating: D

After a show-stopping Game 1 with three assists, Jonas Siegenthaler has one point in 19 games, but far more important than that is the defensive play for the guy who is supposed to be a shutdown defender. In this regard, he has been borderline awful and keeps getting caught puck-watching, out of position, and making bad pinches that we didn’t see in previous years. Hopefully, he settles back in because this team has enough firepower, and his job is to stop goals not score them.

John Marino

GP: 20 G: 1 A: 9 PTS: 10
Rating: B-

John Marino has put up a shocking number of points, and he might soar past his career high of 26, but has been a mixed bag defensively. That’s even more surprising. Last season, he was a top-end guy at shutting down the opposition, but he hasn’t been that guy this season so far. Much like Siegenthaler, the team needs him to be better defensively.

Kevin Bahl

GP: 20 G: 0 A: 3 PTS: 3
Rating: A

He’s big, can use his stick and positioning better every game, and leads the team in hits. Kevin Bahl is rounding himself out into a great supporting defensive defender, and the team should be very happy with his continued progress.

Brendan Smith

GP: 20 G: 0 A: 2 PTS: 2
Rating: D

On defense, Brendan Smith was trying way too hard to pinch, took dumb penalties, and could get blown by at times, making him not a very good asset to this team even as a 6/7 guy. That being said, he has had a great time on offense as a fourth-line guy who somehow looks twice as fast and like a solid forechecker. Hopefully, he stays on forward for a while because, as it stands now, he is a better option there than some of the other forwards.

Luke Hughes

GP: 20 G: 2 A: 11 PTS: 13
Rating: A+

Luke Hughes has come pretty much as promised. He is far more ready than most at his age. The kid can move his feet, move the puck, and has a big shot that will make him a terror to other teams in a few seasons, just like his brothers. That being said, he still can get caught out of position and makes some risky plays, but as a rookie, that is expected. His offense has more than made up for it.