The internet is mad at Jesper Bratt's ranking over Brady Tkachuk

For years, NHL Network has used August as their time to rank the players in this league based on position. Oftentimes, the Devils players are underrated. We have seen years where players are ranked earlier than expected, like when they put Jack Hughes in the top 20 centers prior to his true breakout in 2022-23. 

One player who never got the proper recognition is Jesper Bratt. The New Jersey Devils winger has been close to a point-per-game winger for a few years now, and he repeated that last season with 88 points in 81 games. Despite his impact, including breaking 30 goals in 2022-23, Bratt has never been ranked as one of the 20 best wingers in the NHL. 

Last season, players like Philadelphia Flyers Travis Konecny and Utah (now) Mammoth winger Clayton Keller were ranked ahead of Bratt, while Patrick Kane (who was a free agent at the time) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were ranked ahead of him (and many others) in 2023. It’s clear the rankings still had name recognition in mind in previous years, but maybe that’s finally changing.

Bratt was ranked between two talented Lightning wingers, Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel. He was also ranked ahead of Ottawa Senators winger Brady Tkachuk, coming in a 12th overall in the NHL Network rankings.

Many fans were not happy with the rankings, especially Bratt’s ranking. These rankings are always controversial among fans, but Bratt seemed to take the brunt of the criticism this season. We’re not sure why, since the rankings are correct. Bratt deserves this recognition for his offensive consistency and his continued defensive impact. He was the only forward to record 80 points and 80 hits this season. 

Meanwhile, Tkachuk failed to his 60 points, and Hagel followed up a 90-point season with a doughnut in the playoffs. Nobody is touting Bratt’s playoff performance, but he had least registered a point. 

That didn’t stop people in the comment section to go nuclear about Bratt’s ranking. Most of the Twitter comments are too mean to post in this article (which is not a surprise since it’s Twitter). Reddit comments were definitely nicer to Bratt, but there were still detractors there. 

Tkachuk is riding a reputation that comes from his style and last name. Tkachuk would be great on the New Jersey Devils, but they should never replace Bratt with Tkachuk. This is why Bratt is ahead of Tkachuk. It’s because he’s better than him. 

Hagel is a great player who is playing a much different role than Bratt. He gets to ride under the radar with Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel on his team (both ranking higher than both Bratt and Hagel). Meanwhile, Bratt is by far the Devils' best winger, and he was even contributing when Jack Hughes was injured. 

So while there is outrage, this is unfounded. Bratt is indeed the 12th-best winger in the league. The guys in front of him make sense. Bratt and Guentzel are pretty comparable. Tkachuk is on the list for a reason. It’s a list we should celebrate, at least for once.