When the Devils were consistently bad most of the last decade, they struggled to shoot at consistently high levels. They lost a couple of key shooters after last season and will need other forwards to step up and shoot more to improve this offense.
Last season, among all forwards with at least 500 minutes at 5 on 5, the New Jersey Devils had 5 guys ranked in the top 100 in terms of shots per 60. That is very good, as the average over 32 teams should be 3 (3.125 to be exact). This means that the Devils had some guys who shot way above the average, upping the team’s shot totals. This is something NJ really needed in the past, so it is good to see and is something we want to see continuing this season.
Jack Hughes is a shooting machine and had 11.12 shots per 60 minutes at 5 on 5 last season, which was the 7th highest rate in the entire NHL. He shoots, shoots a lot, and does good with those opportunities. The other true, consistent shooters last year were Timo Meier, sitting 29th on the list at 9.69 shots per 60, and Jesper Bratt, sitting 37th on the list at 9.44. They both more or less shoot a shot and a half less than Hughes in any given game, but still at a high clip in the grand scheme of things. All three of these guys will be back this season, and the team will be relying on them to continue their shooting ways to produce points when the top 6 is out on the ice.
Behind those three stars, two others cracked the top 100 in terms of shots per 60 at 5 on 5: Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Holtz. However, you might notice something troubling about this fact, and that is that neither of those two guys is on this team this year. Both were traded away earlier this year, leaving the Devils without any other guys who shoot at very high clips. They added Tomas Tatar and Stefan Noesen, but neither of them rank anywhere close to the top 100 in shots/60, so while they might be able to replicate Toffoli’s and Holtz’s points, they will not do so with volume shooting.
The next Devil on the list is Erik Haula, followed by Nico Hischier. They are fairly close to each other, Haula ranking 123rd with 7.59 shots/60, and Hischier ranking 158 with 7.02 shots/60. These are ok numbers in terms of shots, they are not solely pass-first guys. However, as we know with Nico especially, he is a playmaker more than anything else, not a shooter. Haula is fairly similar when centering his own line, but can shoot a little more if he is playing wing on the top 6. These two are decent shot producers at 5 on 5, but are not true shooters. They will get the job done, but we don’t want them to lead the team in shots, or else things will not be going well offensively.
After them, however, that really is about it. For this upcoming season, next on the list is Stefan Noesen, who ranked 197 with 6.58 shots/60 with Carolina. That isn’t too bad as a third line winger and would lead to decent production at that level, but really is not good enough if he were expected to be a top 6 winger this season. Next ranked last season was Michael McLeod, ranked 207 with 6.44 shots/60. He is playing in the KHL this season, so say goodbye to him. That puts the next Devil this season as Ondrej Palat, ranked 251 with exactly 6 shots/60 at 5 on 5. Again, not really good enough for a top 6 winger who needs to produce points at a high clip. Last year, Palat had 31 points in 71 games, and if he wants to have a bigger role as befitting his contract and expected production, he needs to shoot more and produce more.
It gets worse from there. Dawson Mercer was at 5.85 s/60, Curtis Lazar was at 5.37, and Tomas Tatar was at 5 even. Again, for bottom 6 forwards who are not expected to even get a half-point per game, that would be fine. But I am pretty sure we have higher expectations for Mercer this season after a sluggish year last year, and Tatar is only paid like someone who will have 5 shots per game, but two seasons ago he was much better than that for Jersey, so there should be some hope that he can improve on those shot numbers and raise his point totals this year.
In the end, what I am trying to say is that by trading away Toffoli and Holtz, the Devils lost some key shooters they had on this offense. They still have the top three of Hughes, Meier, and Bratt, and they will be vital in producing shots and, ultimately, goals. But outside of those three, others will need to step up to fill the void left by those who are no longer here. Before the Devils’ resurgence two seasons ago, those terrible Devils teams between 2012-2022 did not shoot all that much. They had some shooters here and there like Ilya Kovalchuk and Kyle Palmieri, but it was never enough to really vault this offense into the top half of the league, never mind the top 10. The Devils were 12th last season in terms of goals scored, and if they want to break into the top 10 this year, a place they should be given the talent on this squad, they will need to shoot more and not rely only on Hughes, Meier, and Bratt to achieve those numbers. A team with too many distributors is no good, others will need to step up more. It will be interesting to see who does this season.