Top 3 New Jersey Devils players who surprised us in 2023-24
The New Jersey Devils may have missed the playoffs, but it doesn’t mean there haven’t been at least a few surprise players this season amidst the madness.
Wow, there may be a lot of New Jersey Devils fans heaving collective sighs of relief and saying, “Yeah, we’re glad that one’s over.” There are few fan bases across the NHL people are feeling worse for at the moment, with the loyal Arizona Coyotes fans taking the top spot for obvious reasons.
But besides Buffalo Sabres fans, it’s rather easy to feel bad for a Devils fan base that believed they had a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, or at least serious contention to reach the Conference Finals, in their (very) near future. Instead, coaching changes, injuries, inconsistencies from top players, and horrific goaltending became a reality, and the Devils finished seventh in the Metropolitan Division with just 81 points.
Talk about a season full of awful surprises, and one fans just want to forget and start looking toward the 2024 NHL Draft, where they at least have a chance to land a top 10 or even a top 5 draft pick.
The New Jersey Devils 2023-24 season wasn’t full of bad surprises
Despite the misfortunes, it wasn’t all doom for the Devils, even if basic numbers and statistics indicate otherwise.
Jack Hughes may have been the most impressive player and the top reason fans should be optimistic that he will further improve next season. Hughes seemed to be battling an injury or an ailment every time his name popped up in the news, but he still turned in 74 points and 27 goals - the latter tied for second on the team - in just 62 games.
He could have neared the 100-point mark had he been healthy all season. And for someone in their age-22 campaign, it makes you wonder what he will do to opponents a year or two down the road.
Hughes’ performance, despite him fighting through adversity, wasn’t entirely surprising. But we can’t say the same about the following three players in this slideshow. They may not have all enjoyed outstanding or even good seasons, but when you look closely, they all played surprisingly well.
Nico Daws fared better than you may have thought
While it’s true Nico Daws struggled in the net this season, we also need to consider the overall scope of his performance, and it was rather encouraging. Sure, he won just nine games in 20 starts and 21 appearances, he never recorded a shutout, and had a save percentage of 0.894 and a GAA of 3.15, but he also hit the 0.500 mark in quality starts.
In a way, Daws reminds me of Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who had an ultra-trying season in 2022-23 when he registered just an 0.891 save percentage, a 3.61 GAA, no shutouts, and a 0.406 quality starts percentage. This season, it was a different story, and Luukkonen finished with a 0.910 save percentage, a 2.57 GAA, five shutouts, and a 0.667 quality starts percentage.
As you can see, Daws enjoyed a better 2023-24 season than Luukkonen had in 2022-23. This was also Daws’ second season in which he played in 20-plus games for the Devils, and he improved in a few categories. He slightly edged out his save percentage from 2022-23, his percentage of quality starts skyrocketed from 0.304 to 0.500, and he also allowed roughly four goals more than expected at even strength, compared to roughly 8.5 last year.
And remember, this all came with inconsistent play in the defensive zone, foreshadowing another year of experience and better defense could lead to better results for Daws if the pending restricted free agent returns.
Timo Meier’s second half of the season was inspiring
There will always be a contingent of fans who will believe Timo Meier’s 2023-24 campaign was a massive disappointment. And okay, I get it, as he finished the year with just 52 points and 28 goals in 69 starts, not quite what you wanted to see from a player whose AAV sits at $8.8 million.
Overall, his performance was a regression from what we saw in 2022-23 when, during his time in San Jose and Newark, Meier logged 40 goals and 66 points in 78 games, something we thought he would parlay into even greater numbers during his first full season as a Devil. But in his first 43 contests, Meier struggled, scoring 10 goals and logging 22 points, just barely over half per game.
It would have been more than acceptable to believe Meier wouldn’t have bounced back in the final seven weeks of the season, but his numbers between February 24th and April 15th should give us a lot of hope. In just 26 games, Meier had 30 points and 18 goals, good for a 19.8 shooting percentage, and seven of those scores came on the power play.
We don’t know which version of Meier will show up early next season, but we should all agree that when he is on form, he is more than on form.
Alexander Holtz showed depth-scoring potential
It’s not often that you see someone who recorded just 28 points in 82 contests stand out, but Alexander Holtz’s play was rather inspiring. He saw just 11:38 of average total ice time this season, but for someone who recorded fourth-line minutes, Holtz’s 16 goals and three game-winners indicate he may have the future of a depth scorer.
Holtz is still just 22, and he has another year remaining on his entry-level deal. But it won’t surprise anyone if he sticks around Newark, especially if he parlays those numbers into something more next season.
He’s also shown to be a serviceable fixture on New Jersey’s power play both in his limited time in 2022-23 and this past season, when he recorded over 103 minutes of ice time at 5-on-4.
His overall possession quality at even strength still needs to improve - it sat at minus-6.0 this season, and he was on the ice at even strength for 6.4 more goals allowed than his xGA of 35.6, but that number should get better in time.
Overall, you’re looking at a forward who can provide power play insurance at the absolute least, plus a player who can more than add some much-needed depth scoring to the mix.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)