Timo Meier was always meant to be a part of the New Jersey Devils core. When they traded for him at the beginning of 2023, it was meant to be a “final piece of the puzzle” type move. He was coming in as a 40-goal scorer who added an element of offense that was missing. Jack Hughes was the superstar who could do everything everywhere. Nico Hischier was their two-way dynamo who added status on both sides of the ice. Jesper Bratt was their key contributor who could find the open man wherever they ended up on the ice. The Devils needed a scorer who wouldn’t back down to physicality, and on paper, that was exactly who Meier was.
While we haven’t seen that version of Meier (outside of the annual appearance of March Meier), he’s playing that way at the Olympics. After another two-point performance against Italy on Tuesday morning, the Devils' star has seven points in four games at the Winter Olympics.
Only Connor McDavid has more points at this year’s Olympics with nine, but everyone is going to start seeing much harder opponents. Meier has seven points, but he’s faced Italy, France, and Czechia.
Meier was held off the scoresheet when the Swiss took on Canada, but he did take a game-leading five shots. Not even anyone on the powerhouse Canada took five shots. He was getting into scoring areas, but he wasn’t able to get past Logan Thompson.
Timo Meier is having himself a fantastic Winter Olympics
If Meier stays on this pace, he will finish the tournament with either nine points if they lose to Finland, or 12 points if they beat Finland and make it to the medal round.
If he’s able to make the medal round and continue this pace, those 12 points would actually be the Olympic record (when NHL players were invited). Finland’s Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu share the record from the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Of course, Meier is still behind McDavid, who is only two points behind the Olympic record. He is much more likely to break it, but Meier doing this is significant. The Devils hope this means he can bring that momentum back with him to New Jersey to help them in the stretch run.