The New Jersey Devils knew they had done a phenomenal job building this roster with youth and talent when everything hit soup to nuts in 2022-23. The Devils looked like one of the best teams in the league, and they were driven by youth like Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Dawson Mercer. They were set up to win for a decade or more.
Despite having so much great, young NHL talent, the Devils still had a great prospect system. The Devils were going to eventually face a situation where they didn’t have room to add NHL-ready talent. The defensive situation was especially interesting, as Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec were on their way, but the Devils still had players like Shakir Mukhamadullin, Nikita Okhotyuk, Reilly Walsh, and Seamus Casey.
The Devils knew that it made more sense to make a move on their prospects at the time instead of waiting for them to either work out and force their way to the NHL or set up a future trade after some had lost their value.
Enter Timo Meier.
The Devils were always the team tied closest to Meier. He’s been someone that Devils fans had their eyes on for years. Nico Hischier and Meier had amazing chemistry when they were playing internationally with Switzerland. They were the two biggest Swiss stars at forward, so it made sense to bring in the captain’s countryman.
Meier added a very important element to the Devils. They had playmakers all over their top nine. However, they didn’t have a pure scorer who could play 200 feet. They were hoping Alexander Holtz would become that, but he never did (and was traded this offseason). So, they went out and got one.
For Meier, the Devils sent Mukhamadullin, Okhotyuk, Fabian Zetterlund, and what became a first and second-round pick in the NHL Draft. The Devils also got pieces back, including defenseman Santeri Hatakka. It was a huge trade, one of the biggest of all time in terms of total pieces moving.
Meier immediately became one of the Devils' best players, scoring his first Devils goal just nine minutes into his time in a new jersey.
He famously did not have a good offensive series against the New York Rangers, but the Devils still don’t win that series without Meier. His physicality replaced something the Devils were missing, and this time, it wasn’t scoring. He got under the skin of Igor Shesterkin, and he forced Jacob Trouba to go head hunting instead of trying to… you know… play defense.
Meier finished that season with 40 goals. It was his career high, but he did have 35 goals the season prior. It seemed like the future was bright for Meier, and he could have a 50-goal season if everything went right. Being paired with either Hischier or Hughes on a high-powered offense made anything possible.
Then this season, he was literally one of the reasons the season went off the rails. Meier was pretty bad in the first half of the season. He had just signed an eight-year contract, so maybe that weight was on his shoulders. Maybe he was struggling as he was shuffled all around the lineup. There’s also the injury excuse, as he never looked healthy except at the very end of the season.
While there are excuses for him, the question must be asked: have we already seen the best of Meier?
Forty goals is very impressive, even if a player only does it once. Scoring 50 goals seems incredibly hard, happening just 34 times in the 21st century. Asking Meier to hit that as a ceiling is a lot to ask. However, we saw four players do it this past season. With the right situation, which Meier has on paper, a player of his caliber should be able to do it.
Meier’s issue has always been consistency. We even saw that during his 40-goal campaign. That season, he had one goal in October. He ramped it up, scoring 11 in November. Then he had eight in both December and January before slowing down again. He isn’t a volume scorer. He’s someone who does it in spurts.
So now to the question: did we see the ceiling for Meier already? The truth is he’s 27 years old. It seems like a good bet to say no. We saw last March that when this man turns it on, he can go on a tear. He just has to time it correctly in concurrent years. If he gets that hot in April and May, he could become a Conn Smythe winner.
Is 50 goals still on the table for Meier? It’s a tall task, but on the table it still sits.