The New Jersey Devils' lack of scoring is basically all anyone can talk about within the fanbase. It's not a big surprise since it's directly leading to losses. Jack Hughes is the only one scoring with any consistency lately. That has led to some players getting criticized heavily as of late. Timo Meier is facing the majority of the hate. His bloated contract and two goals since Christmas is the biggest reason for the criticism. He has been very unlucky, but it is what it is. He has to do more when the cap hit is that close to $9 million.
Others who get criticized are Erik Haula, who hasn't scored since before Thanksgiving, Ondrej Palat, despite the fact that he's tied with Nico Hischier for goals since Christmas, and most of the bottom six. It's been rough for the entire team, as if they all have a weird mixture of bad luck and terrible execution.
One player that's evaded criticism is Jesper Bratt. The peanut butter to Jack Hughes' jelly has just three goals in his last 26 games. It's not for lack of trying. He has taken 48 shots since Christmas. That's good for fourth on the team behind Hughes, Meier, and Dougie Hamilton. He's shooting 6.25% since Christmas. That's way below his career average.
If he shot at his 22-23 rate (15.1% shooting percentage), Bratt would have four more goals since Christmas. It’s not a ton, but it would definitely help.
Jesper Bratt needs to start focusing on his scoring to go along with his crazy assist numbers.
Nobody is going to complain about what Bratt is doing this season. He’s putting himself up there with the best passers in the NHL. Despite his lack of scoring, Bratt has 20 assists in 23 games since Christmas. Eleven of those are primary assists.
Bratt just broke the franchise record for most consecutive games with an assist. That streak was broken in the dreadful loss to the Colorado Avalanche. He has a real chance to beat Scott Stevens' record for assists in a season.
Playing with Hughes does take away a lot of opportunities, but Bratt hasn’t made the most of the ones he is getting. That should change soon. Hughes is also an awesome passer, so getting him to focus on putting the puck in the best scoring opportunity would help the Devils overall. If he thought Bratt was going to put the puck in the back of the net with consistency will help.