4 New Jersey Devils' Skaters to Keep an Eye on in Round One
The Devils will need these players to step up if they want to succeed in the playoffs against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs starts today for the New Jersey Devils, where they will be taking on the tall task of trumping the Carolina Hurricanes. Individual performances become more important than ever, despite the general notion that depth in the NHL wins championships — there’s a reason Connor McDavid won the Conn Smythe trophy last season despite losing in the Finals.
With that in mind, here are some individuals to keep your eyes on for Round One:
1. Nico Hischier (and Jesper Bratt)
It’s a bit of a cop-out, but I’m counting these two as one player for one reason: they’re going to be matched up against Jordan Staal’s line. If I were Sheldon Keefe, I’d probably have split these two up to give the Devils better matchups throughout the lineup, at least while the Devils were operating with first change.
Regardless, these two are going to be given the entrustment to carry the weight both defensively and offensively. It’s unlikely that Staal, Jordan Martinook, and Logan Stankoven will match up against the Hischier-Bratt combo at all times the Devils’ combo is iced. It is likely, though, that in the minutes they aren’t matched up against each other, Hischier and Bratt will likely be tasked with shutting down Sebastian Aho’s line. The point is that regardless of who they’re playing against, those two are going to have difficult assignments.
It’s a monster job to do, in all honesty, but if there’s any two players on the Devils who can handle those minutes, it’s Hischier and Bratt. Hischier was second in the NHL in expected goals above replacement (xGAR) behind only Leon Draisaitl this season, sporting superb two-way impacts at even strength and being arguably the most prolific power-play player in the league. Bratt, meanwhile, is the shiftiest and most dynamic player on the roster, and he really only needs one chance to capitalize by virtue of his truly elite skating ability.
2. Timo Meier
Out of the Devils’ Big 3, Timo Meier is the one who should be tasked against lesser competition — lesser defensive competition, anyway. This makes him all the more important over the next week plus.
There’s some legitimacy to the argument that Meier has been the Devils’ second-most important player this season behind Hischier. No healthy player on the team has a higher expected goals for per 60 minutes (xGF/60) than his 2.99, nor does anyone have a higher expected goal share (xGF%) than his 55.43%. He’s expectedly caught fire from a goal-scoring standpoint since the beginning of March, having scored 11 goals in his last 21 games — a 42-goal 82-game pace. The only difference in Meier’s game, though, is that he’s occupying a role on the first power-play unit as opposed to the PP2 he was playing on all season prior to Jack’s season-ending injury.
Meier is one of the very few players in the league who are truly elite in both their skillset and in their physicality. The short list there is truly limited to the Tkachuk brothers, Tom Wilson, Filip Forsberg, and himself. This bodes well for playoff-style hockey, which leans more toward physicality and playing in tight space than in the regular season.
For offense, the Devils are likely going to be leaning on Meier more so than they have in the past. With Bratt and Hischier likely to be garnering the Staal minutes, it’s more important than ever for Meier to channel his March Madness. He truly could be the game-changer for this squad.
3. Dougie Hamilton
Dougie Hamilton is back and more important than ever, and I would honestly regard him as the Devils’ most important defenseman in this series, even more so than Luke Hughes. I might be overreacting to his re-addition a bit, to be sure, but I really cannot stress how important it is going to be to have Hamilton back in the lineup as opposed to one of Simon Nemec or Seamus Casey, both of whom would be eaten alive by the voracious Carolina forecheck.
Beyond that simple fact, though, Hamilton really is just an excellent defenseman, through and through. From an offensive standpoint, he’s a true game-breaker, with a shot from the point like just about no other defenseman in the league and an innate ability to keep the puck in the offensive zone regardless of what it looks like he’s doing. Hamilton has constantly gotten knocked for his defensive game, but the reality is that he’s just barely below average in that regard:
Hamilton was spectacular in his one game back, and it’s a good indication of what he’s capable of when firing on all cylinders. With basically an AHL lineup playing, the Devils out-attempted the Red Wings 30-11, out-chanced them 13-4, and held a 5-0 high-danger attempt advantage when Dougie was on the ice. All of that resulted in a 1.76-0.21 expected goal share — that means the Devils controlled 89.11% (!!!) of the xG — with No. 7 out there.
Believe it or not, Hamilton is shooting the rock more often than he ever has, contrary to some opinions I’ve seen floating around. He’s pumping 17.7 shot attempts per hour (iCF/60) in 2024-25, which is more than all but two seasons in his career: last season, where he only played in 20 games, and 2018-19, where he put up 18.6 iCF/60.
The Devils will need him to activate that part of his game more than ever in Round One, and I, for one, think he’s going to be up to the task. I’ve always thought him deserving of his $9 million paycheck, but now it’s truly time to put his money where his mouth is.
4. Paul Cotter
I contemplated putting Ondrej Palat in this spot, but he’s honestly been so atrocious this year that I feel as though he’s going to be a non-factor, regardless of his stature as a “playoff performer.”
Enter Paul Cotter, though, who has never played a minute of playoff hockey in his semi-brief NHL career.
Cotter is and has been one of my absolute favorite case studies of a player. He’s clearly highly-skilled, with lightning-quick hands and surprising shiftiness for a 6’2, 213-pound forward. His shot is heavy but quickly released and accurate, and he possesses an explosion in his stride to make defending players look foolish at times with a short burst of speed. Defensively, he’s a stalwart, generally taking away any and all shooting lanes with an active stick and generally great positioning. At the same time, though, he generally lacks any sort of hockey sense, leaving him just a brain short of being a permanent fixture in any NHL top-six.
His game, theoretically, is made for the playoffs as well. Cotter plays extremely heavy hockey, and with referees typically putting away their whistles in the postseason, he probably has a bit more leeway to throw the types of punishing checks along the boards that he wants to. Like the Devils’ upper-echelon players, all Cotter needs is one opportunity in prime real estate to capitalize and get the Devils on the board. With a bit more freedom to play the type of game he wants to (and is best at), that prime real estate might be easier to come by.
Cotter’s suspension gave him two games of rest to really get into the playoff mindset, and with him playing on the third line alongside Cody Glass and Daniel Sprong, there very well may be some solid opportunity for him to show off his chops.
If these four (five) players are on their A-games during the first round, the Devils might be able to provide a bit more offense than anticipated against an incredibly difficult Hurricanes defense. In particular, Meier and Cotter are intriguing names in this series by proxy of their skillsets — Cotter’s game translating to postseason hockey will be especially interesting to me.
Game One starts at 3 pm EST.