Connor Brown is the New Jersey Devils’ most impactful acquisition this offseason. The bottom-six winger is going to add some offense and a ton of defense after the Devils got very little from that unit in the second half of last season. Brown looked much better last season, a full year removed from a torn ACL that ended his Washington Capitals career.
Brown finished this past season with 13 goals and 17 assists. Thirty points isn’t exactly anything to jump for joy about, but Brown does a ton to keep goals off the board, as well.
Last season, Brown was on the ice for 36 goals and just 32 goals against according to Natural Stat Trick. This, despite the Edmonton Oilers trying to find the best matchups for Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. Brown played important minutes to keep opponents off the board.
In the playoffs, Brown was incredible on the penalty kill, despite the goalie not exactly coming to the plate. He was only on the ice for nine high-danger chances against in 41 minutes of PK time. His team also recorded three shorthanded high-danger chances. Nine chances in 41 minutes on the power play is insane, which is why the Oilers PK is among the best in playoff history.
Still, there has to be more than that for the Devils to make this move. Giving Brown a four-year deal has to come with the right thought process. Going through everything Brown brings to the table, there is one attribute that probably pushed Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald over the top: speed.
Connor Brown's speed will be utilized well by the New Jersey Devils
According to NHL Edge Stats, Brown is pretty fast. He’s not McDavid or even Miles Wood, but he’s pretty fast. He had 55 speed bursts over 20 miles per hour in the playoffs. That was in the 97th percentile of all players. He hit a top speed of 22.68 miles per hour.
In the regular season, he had similar numbers (although he never hit the top speed he had in the playoffs). He was in the 89th percentile in speed bursts over 20 MPH, and he even added five 22+ MPH speed bursts.
After the Devils added a ton of grit in the 2024 offseason, but they did it while also losing speed. Stefan Noesen is one of the slowest players in the NHL, and Tomas Tatar lost a significant step on the ice. Cotter was fast, which is probably why he played so well to start the season, but he was missing in action near the end of the year.
Brown adds that important speed element while also playing great defense in the Sheldon Keefe system. He’s going to add important elements to the Devils' 200-foot game.