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In my article last week, I discussed how Timo Meier needs to improve his New Jersey Devils In 2024-25. His, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes’ health and scoring will be a big factor in the team’s success or failure. But it won’t be the only factor; we’ve discussed on and off since last season what the defense and goaltending need to do to improve the team’s record. Now that brings us to another factor: the remaining forwards.
Depending on how training camp and the preseason go, the Devils will add 9-10 forwards to the roster, with one or two healthy backups. While the stars of the team obviously need to be efficient and effective, the supporting cast also needs some players to step up as at least semi-regular contributors. There is reason to be concerned about the team’s lack of starting shooting off the bench.they have to figure it out on their own. Or, we can glance at the group and make some educated guesses.
Let’s start with the returning Devils players. First, we can look at some names that could earn roster spots for other reasons. While Nathan Bastian has won some fans with his tenacity, he’s not going to suddenly blossom into a goal-scoring striker. Whether Kurtis MacDermid or Max Willman make the roster (both Now listed on Puckpedia They also likely won’t contribute much scoring due to not signing restricted free agents (RFA). The hope for them is that their other skills make them worthy of a roster spot.
Now let’s look at the next group of returning forwards who have already signed, namely Ondrej Palat, Erik Haula, and Curtis Lazar. While Lazar played well last season and never rested, his offensive skills are also more limited. If he can repeat his performance in the 2023-24 season, I can fully accept this fourth-line player who is energetic and hardworking on every shift to get 25 points. Haula has shown that he can contribute a point in every game, but he needs to be more consistent this season, and the 40-point level again will be beneficial to the team. Palat was also unable to provide a stable offense during his time in New Jersey, and his total points are worse than Haula; if he can manage to contribute 15 goals, I will consider it a success, but I don’t expect him to succeed. All three players are complementary players with auxiliary skills, but it would be better if one or two of them could improve their scoring.
That brings us to the three newly acquired forwards in Paul Cote and the two technically “returning” forwards in Tomas Tatar and Stefan Noesen. Cote is another player whose offensive ability I don’t see improving much. He has Lazar-like numbers, and while more offense would be nice, he’s another player who was brought in to play, not attack. I feel like Noesen and Tatar are two players the Devils would like to share some of the scoring burden with along with Palat/Haula and at least one player to be discussed. Tatar struggled last season after leaving the Devils, and he could be a top-six pick; if he’s reunited with Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt, he could easily repeat his 2022-23 scoring totals, which would go a long way toward moving the team forward. Noesen, on the other hand, isn’t as offense-focused as Tatar, but he’s had the most successful offensive seasons of his career over the past two seasons. The question for Noeson is whether he can produce as much with the Devils; he scored 13 goals for them in 2017-18, but that was still about 10 points less than what he produced in Carolina.
Finally, we have two players who are unsigned RFAs but should be signed before the season starts: Nolan Foote and Dawson Mercer. Foote is a bit of a wild card in that I feel like the organization wants him to accomplish something, but he hasn’t had a lot of NHL time to show for it yet. If he wants to be a regular for the Devils this season, he’ll have to at least show the potential to be a regular contributor. Meanwhile, Mercer is one of the players that I think the Devils are looking to bounce back and become a key contributor. He was in a slump last season as a junior, but Mercer has proven that he can be a big part of the offense. He’s the only one left from the Devils’ three first-round picks from 2020, so the team clearly sees a bigger role for him on the team than as a trade chip; the goal now is to find a way to get Mercer back to the form he’s been in previous seasons and shoulder some of the scoring load.
In summary, the secondary scoring has to come from multiple sources. If the Devils can get 15 goals from a couple of less offensively inclined players (Haula, Palat, Noesen) and 20 or more from a couple of potential players (Mercer and Tatar), then the secondary forward scoring committee can work. If guys like Bastian, Lazar, Cotter, and Foote can also somehow get 10 goals each, we won’t have to worry about where the scoring is coming from. If those guys don’t perform to that level, then we’ll have to hope the star players can carry the team forward, or Jersey could be in for another long season.
Now I’d like to hear your thoughts on the Devils’ secondary scoring. Do you think the newly acquired players will breathe life into the secondary scoring? Will the Devils have higher expectations for the returning players? Will the success of this season depend on players like Tatar and Mercer returning to their 2022-23 form? Please leave any comments below, and as always, thank you for reading!
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