3 New Jersey Devils Players Who Need to Bounce Back in 2024-25
Following a disappointing 2023-24 season, the New Jersey Devils need to elevate their play in 2024-25.
Missing the playoffs means the New Jersey Devils have a long offseason to think about all of the things that went wrong in the 2023-24 season. Over the summer, Tom Fitzgerald will make changes to the roster and the coaching staff to piece together a stronger team. The Devils hope to turn things around in 2024-25.
The team as a whole fell short of expectations for a variety of reasons. Aside from injuries, coaching decisions and other factors, several players failed to live up to individual expectations. While the disappointing season doesn’t fall squarely on one player's shoulders, regression contributed to the team’s struggles.
In order to contribute next season, several players need to return to form or elevate their level of play. Here are three Devils who need to bounce back in 2024-25.
3. Nathan Bastian
The Devils re-signed Nathan Bastian to a two-year contract last offseason to continue his role as a fourth line winger. Bastian has never been known for scoring goals but has always been a physical player who can grind and bring energy to his team. Bastian missed the final two months of the season after he was injured by Matt Rempe, but up until then, the Devils didn’t get as much pop from Bastian in 2023-24 as they would have liked to.
Bastian’s points production dipped a bit from the previous season, with 12 points in 54 games. He wasn’t as visible on the ice as he had been previously. He did contribute 143 hits in 54 games, but he wasn’t driving play or winning as many puck battles. In 2022-23, Bastian averaged 12:26 of ice time per game. In 2023-24, he averaged just 10:09. His coaches chose not to have Bastian on the ice as much as he used to be, which says a lot.
A revolving door of linemates made it a tough season of transition for Bastian. Gone is the consistency that he once had with the BMW line where his regular linemates were Michael McLeod and Miles Wood. McLeod’s exit surely shook up the whole team, but it must have been particularly tough on Bastian.
Since Bastian isn’t someone who can really be moved up in the lineup, he has to bring something special to the fourth line in order to stick around. His shining moment of the season came during the Stadium Series when he scored two goals and produced a viral goal celebration. The Devils need more from Bastian next year.
2. John Marino
The Devils figured there would be growing pains with changes to their defense between 2022-23 and 2023-24. Amid those changes, they counted on John Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler to be their strongest defensive defensemen. That didn’t happen. Both players had terrible seasons. Marino was a trusted stay-at-home defenseman for the Devils in 2022-23, but for most of the 2023-24 season, he looked like an entirely different player.
Marino put up some offense this season with 25 points, but the shutdown defense he provided the year before was nowhere to be found. The hockey IQ, the feel for the game that he previously displayed, was just gone. There were moments where he seemed to find it again, but those moments were fleeting.
At first, we thought he missed Ryan Graves as his partner and just needed some time to adjust. We wondered if he just had a bad start to the season. But then we wondered what on earth happened to Marino. Was he hurt? Did he underachieve what he's capable of in his second season with the Devils or did he overachieve in his first season? Perhaps it’s both.
Whatever happened this season, Marino has a lot to prove next season. The Devils need him to be a steady, reliable force in the defensive zone. Can he recapture the magic of his first season with the team? If not, the Devils could look to move him, especially with Seamus Casey in their future.
1. Dawson Mercer
Following a strong rookie campaign and an exciting sophomore season, the New Jersey Devils had high hopes for Dawson Mercer. His third season in the NHL failed to deliver. Mercer was completely invisible early in the season. Even once he started to produce, it wasn’t at the level that was expected of him. He looked like a shell of who he was the year before.
Mercer finished the season with 33 points, the lowest point total of his three seasons in the NHL. He scored 20 goals, seven less than the previous season. Mercer took less shots on goal, didn’t create as many chances, and wasn’t involved in different areas of the ice. His -26 +/- was second-worst on the team.
Despite the down year, Mercer ranks fifth in goals and points in the 2020 draft class. Both of these stats dropped from third during the 2023-24 season. He also dropped from third to sixth in assists. He has played in the third-most games of his draft class.
While this season showed regression, Mercer’s first two seasons earned him the opportunity to prove that this season was the outlier, not the new norm. His down season will affect his contract extension, but it shouldn’t erase the confidence in Mercer’s ability to grow.
These three Devils will look to bounce back next season and show how valuable they can be to the team.
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