In sports, the scapegoat usually means one or several players are not pulling their weight and bringing the entire team down during a bad stretch, despite the sport's whole purpose being a team effort. The New Jersey Devils are just like every other team, and recently, their stretch of inconsistency in the 2024-25 season has become a problem with the fans.
Their most recent loss to the Avalanche on February 26th has left many fans and the media questioning the team's lack of offense. Whenever the team allows a goal or goes a period without scoring a goal, fans on social media are never afraid to blame the loss on one player or a bunch of them. Here are the primary targets for these scapegoats.
Timo Meier
Usually, the primary target for a whipping boy in hockey is someone who is being paid a lot of money and isn’t scoring. Timo Meier fits that category perfectly. After acquiring Timo Meier at the 2023 Trade Deadline and signing him to an eight-year extension worth $70.8 million, the expectations were that Meier would become the top goal scorer the Devils wanted him to be.
However, this is his worst season so far, as most of the negativity comes from the fact that he can’t score any goals when he gets the puck. However, most people forget that Meier is still performing well to get chances on his stick, as he was perhaps one of the better players in the bottom six. Once goals start coming more from him, he can go on a heater, and his confidence in himself and the confidence in the fans who are tough on him can rise more; it’s all a matter of patience.
Ondrej Palat
Another person who is being paid a lot of money and is underperforming is forward Ondrej Palat. Palat is in the middle of the 3rd year of his 5 year contract he signed with the Devils in the 2022 offseason. The biggest complaint of the fans and the reason why Palat gets targeted as a whipping boy is due to the role and the contract Palat was given.
The Devils added Palat to bring secondary scoring after three straight 40-point seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The results so far have been underwhelming, as he has scored only 13 points. The other problem is that he plays on a top 6 line when the stats have shown he isn’t getting many chances, and when Palat does, he misses the net or, even worse, takes a penalty. People need to keep giving Palat a chance to do anything because there are two more years left on the contract, so there is still time for Palat to prove he is a great scoring player.