2. Offense has been stagnant for a month
There is no way around it; the Devils haven't scored in well over a month. Nico Hischier was one of the only players who performed during the slump, and now he's injured after an illegal check by Nick Suzuki. That has the Devils offense looking rough. Even with Erik Haula coming back, he's immediately playing on the second line despite going scoreless for the entire month of December.
Haula working in lines, centering Meier & Mercer. Good sign of his progress.#NJDevils workflow...
— Sam Kasan (@samikasan) February 3, 2025
Palat - Hughes - Bratt
Meier - Haula - Mercer
Cotter - Dowling - Noesen
Tatar - Lazar - Bastian
Siegenthaler - Hamilton
Dillon - Pesce
Hughes - Kovacevic
(MacDermid - Halonen)
This is not the offense we expected when we came into the season. Just losing Hischier makes this team so much worse, but the offense was struggling before that. Since Christmas, only four teams have scored fewer goals than the Devils (Utah HC, Canucks, Sharks, and Kings). Despite being 12th in the league in high-danger chances during that time (211), the Devils cannot finish.
The Devils' goal leaders at 5v5 since Christmas are Paul Cotter and Dawson Mercer. As much as we talk about the needs on the bottom six, the stars are not scoring at even strength. Jack Hughes has four goals at 5v5 since Christmas. Jesper Bratt has two in that time. Timo Meier only has one. This team has quickly become a power play merchant, and that's not winning hockey.
Whatever Keefe is doing has to do with getting Hughes, Bratt, and Meier scoring at the top of his list. Does that mean putting them all on a line until Hischier returns? Does he separate the three so there's a threat on every line? He has to test things to get the offense out of this, and it just hasn't worked yet.