There was one play in the New Jersey Devils' dominant victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins that showcased the struggles of Paul Cotter. Of course, Cotter was the hottest player outside Nico Hischier in the first month of the season. He had six goals and two assists in the first month of the season. It led to Cotter getting upgraded, finding himself on Jack Hughes’ line.
Something didn’t click, and Ondrej Palat took that spot, which was ultimately the right decision. Cotter hasn’t regained the magic he had in October. Since November 12th, Cotter has one point (an assist) in 17 games. It’s a terrible stretch, no matter how one slices it. Even though he’s contributing in many other ways, Cotter has to do better.
Saturday was a perfect example of Cotter’s focus being in the wrong place. During a play in the second period, the Devils were humming in the offensive zone. Right before Brett Pesce put a shot on net, Cotter just drilled the guy in front of him. It looked like it could have been simple pushing, but he had a little too much momentum, and the play ended with the Devils still pressuring, and they had to immediately go on the penalty kill.
It was a terrible decision by Cotter, who could have put the Devils in a bad position in a tie game. Luckily, the Devils penalty kill dominated again, and Cotter was able to leave the box with no harm and no foul.
Still, it’s a learning experience for Cotter. Plays like that are not good for the Devils, and it shows he’s looking to impact the game in ways that don’t make sense in the situation. Why is Cotter looking for a hit in that situation? The Devils want players in front to screen Tristan Jarry.
Cotter leads the team in 5v5 hits with 115. That’s sixth in the entire league. We’re very glad the Devils added this type of grit, especially at forward. However, Cotter is doing it to the detriment of his offense. The Devils are getting hits across the board. Brenden Dillon is a big hitter. Stefan Noesen and Erik Haula are known to throw hits. Even Timo Meier lays the shoulder into someone at least once a game. However, that’s become Cotter’s game.
The problem with laying hits at such a high volume it comes with consequences. Cotter is second on the Devils in hits taken with 66. That means Cotter is knocked out of the play on average twice a game.
Cotter also has taken 14 minor penalties at 5v5. That HAS to be fixed. Like, immediately. If he's not contributing offensively, he can’t be in the box as often as he has been.
This is a pretty easy fix. Cotter has to let up on the hitting and focus on the best play to drive offense. At least make the change in the offensive zone. In the neutral zone and the defensive zone, keep that chip on your shoulder and drive it into an opponent. In the offensive zone, it leads to too many bad plays.
Over the first month, Cotter was doing just about everything right. He took 20 shots that month, sixth on the team. Since then, he’s taken 23 shots over two months. That volume needs to go way up. He had 12 individual high-danger chances in October, but he’s had 11 total in the two months since then. Cotter had five penalties, but he drew five penalties as well. Even what he was doing bad he immediately counteracted with positive impacts, negating any negatives.
While most of the third line is going to get better with a little more luck (especially Erik Haula), Cotter does have to make changes to get back to where he was at the beginning of the season. However, these adjustments should be small. Just change your goals once you cross into the offensive zone. That will make all the difference to Cotter’s game.
All stats via Natural Stat Trick.