We’re just over a month away from regular season games, and I have some goals in mind for every player on the New Jersey Devils. But in the name of keeping these posts short enough, it will have to be broken into two parts. Today, we look at the 15 forwards who are either assured a roster spot or have a solid chance of making the roster in the upcoming season.
Keep in mind, these are goals for each player, not predictions. I do not think that everyone here will meet their goals that I would like to
see them meet, whether due to injury, performance, or even usage. A lot of things happen in an NHL season. But without further delay, let’s get into it.
Centers
Nico Hischier
Goal: Score 40 Goals
If you ask members of the New Jersey Devils who the heart and soul of their team is, it seems the popular answer is Nico Hischier. Nico has been the Devils Captain since February 2021 and will turn 28 in the upcoming season. He already has a lot of experience under his belt, and would be reaching his 700th game if not for a combination of the Covid Pandemic and P.K. Subban taking a slap shot right into his chops. But, five years later, the Devils are in a place where they need to compete and get deeper into the playoffs. Nico’s been there three times in his nine-year career, each time playing a huge part in the process. Aside from his rookie season, there has been a common thread between the Devils’ playoff appearances: Nico Hischier was a 30-goal scorer in the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons.
I do not think it’s a total coincidence. Nico has had similar total production in other years, with 2025-26 being his fifth-straight season scoring 60 or more points. There have been mitigating factors in some of those years keeping the Devils away from the playoffs, from unacceptable goaltending to widespread injuries to the team just not racking up enough points in the standings despite being a “winning” team, but he scored 31 goals with 80 points in 2022-23 and 35 goals with 69 points in 2024-25. Those numbers were good for third on the team in goals and second in points in 2022-23 while he was first in goals and second in points in 2024-25. A serious problem tends to emerge if Nico Hischier is not putting 30 or 35 goals into the net, which is: who is scoring the goals?
That might not be what you expected from Hischier all those years ago when he was a rookie (though if you listened to Taylor Hall comment on how much he was surprised by Nico’s shooting, you might , and it might not have surprised you too much), but Nico Hischier’s goal scoring is even more important to the seasonal range of New Jersey Devils results than his ability as a shutdown center is. You can get bottom six players to play defense and kill penalties, but you can’t get them to replace top six goal scoring as easily. Therefore, I think the personal goal for Nico Hischier should be to hit a new career high as a goal scorer this season by hitting the big 40. It was quite nice to not have to think about Nico Hischier’s next contract for too long when he signed it promptly upon eligibility this July 1, and it would be even nicer for him to reward the team for giving him a decent raise.
Jack Hughes
Goal: Play 80+ Games
Contextually, Jack Hughes never playing a full season is somewhat dependent on the aforementioned Coronavirus Pandemic, as he was on track to play around 74 games in his rookie season prior to the league’s shutdown in March 2020 and played all 56 team games in the leaguewide-shortened 2020-21 season. Here’s a fun fact: Jack was the only Devil to play every game that season. But the next season began with a Jeremy Lauzon-induced shoulder injury, keeping him down at 49 games played. Jack played 78 of 82 in 2022-23, but the ill effects of his shoulder issues became bothersome during the playoffs, and those problems quickly recurred in the 2023-24 season when he missed 20 games. This has become an unfortunate standard for Jack, who has played 61 or 62 regular season games in each of the last three seasons (along with 27 goals in each of the last three seasons). This last season was unique, of course, with his injuries being the steakhouse pinky incident and a groin injury shortly before the Olympics. Given that, Devils fans actually have cause to be optimistic for Jack’s availability in the 2026-27 season.
With the season now expanded to 84 regular season games, reaching the 80-mark is slightly easier, but it would be a career first for Jack. To me, this is even more important than a specific production-related goal. The Devils have had Jack and Nico in the playoffs once together, and they went to the second round. When Jack missed the playoffs in 2025, Nico was on an island and, despite scoring a goal in all but one of the Devils’ playoff games, could not make up for his missing top six center partner on his own. If Jack were healthy for a full season, it is very likely that the Devils finish near the top of the Eastern Conference. Since his 99-point 2022-23 performance, Jack has averaged 98 points per 82 games (or 100 per 84), and it seemed like he hit a new level after his time at the Olympics.
Cody Glass
Goal: Score 20 Goals
Ever since Cody Glass scored 19 goals and 26 points in the 2025-26 season, the standard line of thinking in online spaces has been that he overperformed his ability. For a guy who has a 10.1% career shooting percentage, scoring 19 goals on 105 shots surely cannot be replicated…right?
I am not too sold on that line of thinking because of the types of goals that Glass scored over the recent campaign. You will find plenty of deflections and shots from the most dangerous areas of the ice in his highlight reel, and NHL EDGE confirms that he is among the most effective players in the league at getting shots near the crease. Glass was in the 70th percentile of forwards at taking high-danger shots (45 vs. league average 32) and in the 98th percentile in high-danger shooting percentage (28.9 vs. league average 19.6). Glass does not score an abnormal amount of mid-range goals, and he scored zero long-distance goals in the 2025-26 season. Importantly, Glass has not played a lot under Sheldon Keefe so far despite his uptick in goals, as he only averaged 13:37 of ice time per game last season.
I consider this important because the Devils lack an obvious fourth-line center at the moment, and Glass could easily pick up an extra couple of minutes per night between five-on-five and penalty kill situations. He also only played 70 of 82 games last season and would have likely passed the 20-mark for the first time in his career already had he not missed time with a minor injury. Expanding his 952:58 of total ice time last season to a potential range of 1,100 to 1,300 minutes if he plays nearly every game means more shots on goal, and Glass’s style dictates that he only takes high or medium-danger shots. If he took shots at the same exact rate in 2026-27, Glass would end up between 52 and 62 high-danger shots, depending on his total minutes. If his shot was similarly dangerous to last year, we would be looking at somewhere between 14 and 18 high-danger goals, whereas a drop to league average high-danger finishing would have him between 10 and 13 high-danger goals. He had 13 such tallies in 2025-26.
We also have to look at line context to some extent. Arseny Gritsyuk may or may not be in the top six in 2026-27, but he was an outstanding volume generator with Glass last season. But even if Gritsyuk moves up, a partnership with Evan Rodrigues could have Glass getting on top of a potential increase in rebound opportunities. Rodrigues’s high-volume, low-percentage shooting history (without missing the net much at all) tends to generate a lot of chances for his teammates to crash the net, and that type of third line could be fruitful for Glass and the Devils.
Nick Bjugstad
Goal: Stay in the NHL
Nick Bjugstad has had a long career as a secondary or depth offensive generator. He likes to create a lot of shots down the right side on the rush, but despite his 6’6” frame, he is not much of a netfront presence. That may be exactly why his production has taken such a hit as he’s aged. Three seasons ago, Bjugstad had 22 goals and 45 points, which dropped by more than half to eight goals and 19 points in 2024-25. After his most recent season, though, where Bjugstad had six goals and nine points, he’s going to have to earn his job in training camp and the preseason. Despite making slightly above what could be buried in Utica, it does not seem that Sunny Mehta is at all committing to keeping Bjugstad in the NHL.
Jesper Boqvist
Goal: Rediscover his Offense
It’s been an up-and-down career for Jesper Boqvist. He was drafted in the same year as Nico Hischier in the second round, but took quite a few NHL games to really get comfortable playing in the league. Playing under Lindy Ruff finally saw Boqvist start to break out a tiny bit in 2021-22 with 23 points in 56 games, and it looked like he may become an offensive third line center at his best. But that never really happened. His defensive game perked up a bit the next season when the Devils returned to the playoffs, but his scoring turned down a bit, and Tom Fitzgerald made an incredibly foolish move to non-qualify him, allowing him to move onto Boston.
Since leaving New Jersey, Boqvist has become a far more physical presence in the bottom six, especially with Florida over the last two seasons. However, he has yet to beat that career high in points, only matching it with 12 goals and 11 assists in 78 games in 2024-25. The last season saw Boqvist’s production drop sharply. If Boqvist wants to stick in New Jersey this time, he’s going to have to show he can chip in 10 or 15 five-on-five goals, preferably while taking shifts at center.
Amadeus Lombardi
Goal: Prove Sunny Mehta Right
Prior to the 2026 NHL Draft, Sunny Mehta traded a fourth round pick to the Detroit Red Wings for Amadeus Lombardi. Looking back, this was a rather silly move for Detroit, who are desperate for centers and never really gave Lombardi a chance. After all, Lombardi has 35 goals and 82 points over his last 91 AHL games. But he hasn’t been playing full seasons with Grand Rapids, and he’s going to be playing in a bottom six role if he does make the NHL this season. I have some hope for Lombardi, but the odds aren’t always great for players who take until they’re 23 to make it full-time in the NHL. For reference, that’s how old Boqvist was when he had his 23 points in 56 games in 2021-22, though the Devils were too impatient to ever give him a full season in the AHL prior to that with only 26 points in 34 AHL games from 2019 to 2022. Lombardi has had a more consistent minor league experience, so maybe that will carry over better.
Wingers
Jesper Bratt
Goal: Shoot the Puck More
The New Jersey Devils have a top-10 winger in the league when he’s at his best: that’s Jesper Bratt. But he’s apparently been playing with an injured shoulder over the years, which was finally repaired surgically in May 2025. Knowing this makes his near-iron man streak, only missing the last game of the 2024-25 season to rest for the playoffs out of the last four years, all the more impressive. But in my opinion, it also makes his production downturn in the last season, going from 88 to 71 points, a bit more understandable. This is the first time Bratt has had to play coming off a surgical rehab with the Devils, and he just did not look the same as usual. He still scored 22 goals, up from 21 the year prior, but his assists dropped from 67 to 49. I would argue that the best way for him to get back to his old self is not for him to pass the puck better though, but to shoot more.
Jesper Bratt’s breakout in 2021-22 was associated with one thing above all: shooting the puck more. After a previous career high of 101 shots on goal, Bratt got 197 on the net that season with 324 attempts, scoring 26 goals (up from a prior high of 16) and earning 47 assists (up from a prior high of 25). The next season was similar for Bratt, still scoring 73 points, but scoring 32 goals on 212 shots and 381 attempts. HockeyViz regards Bratt’s 2023-24 season as his most valuable, and it’s also the one where he shot the most. With 248 shots on goal from 448 attempts, Bratt broke 80 points for the first time. But maybe you can see the shoulder injury start to affect him the next season, as many more of his shots started missing the net. Despite setting a career high in points with 88 in 2024-25, Bratt only had 180 of his 391 attempts hit the net, while his first post-surgery season had him hit the net on 178 of 354 attempts.
It may seem subtle over a game-to-game basis, but Jesper Bratt was taking a nearly a whole extra shot attempt per game in 2023-24 (5.46) compared to the previous year (4.64), and his lessened goal-scoring effectiveness the following year correlates with when he chose to finally get surgery on his nagging injury. Since getting the surgery, that attempt per game number has continued to decline (4.83 in 24-25 to 4.32 in 25-26). A more aggressive Jesper Bratt, though, is a better Jesper Bratt.
Timo Meier
Goal: Remember Who He Is
I might not be as low on Timo Meier as others, as I think his 2025-26 season is worthy of more context than recent evaluations seem to be giving him. This is what I wrote about him back in March:
In the first 26 games this season, Timo Meier had 10 goals and 12 assists, putting him on track for 32 goals and 38 assists. He had 84 shots on goal and was shooting 11.9%. He had five power play goals and four power play assists. What happened on that 26th game for the New Jersey Devils? That was Brenden Dillon’s original 1,000th game celebration, in which he was jumped and injured by Dmitri Voronkov. After that incident, Timo Meier played four games, scoring one goal before going on a personal leave of absence for a family health matter.
I want to make it clear that my view of Timo Meier this season is very much colored by that leave of absence. I am far more inclined to say this is an unfortunate season and I hope he’s been doing alright than I am to say I think Timo Meier isn’t deserving of his contract and is in decline. But I will point out how his decline in play since leaving the team has affected others around him.
Despite Timo’s struggles on the ice down the stretch, his lines with Nico Hischier remain some of the most favorable in the league in terms of expected goals shares and possession play. These guys are really hard to get the puck from, and there is only so long that Timo can have stretches like he had after the return from his personal leave where he had 21 points on 7.4% shooting in 47 games, or five points on 3.6% shooting between the return from his leave and the Olympic break. If you cut that 22-game stretch of the season out, Timo had 21 goals and 39 points in 55 games, which is a 31-goal, 58-point pace over 82 games (or 59 points over 84). That’s still down from where he started the season up until the last few games before he left the team, but it’s more Timo Meier appropriate than what fans see on the context-free stat line.
So, I think the key for Timo Meier is to keep his confidence up. He’s still a great player, and I hope that the upcoming season goes a lot more smoothly for him, both off and on the ice, than the most recent one.
Arseny Gritsyuk
Goal: Double His Numbers
You might be thinking: whoa, that’s a pretty steep goal, but I don’t think it’s really out of reach for someone like Arseny Gritsyuk. Gritsyuk is a great skater, he has a great shot that he can fire from anywhere in the offensive zone, and he has the right attitude to play a hard game in the NHL. Going from 31 points in 66 games to 62 points in hopefully closer to the full upcoming 84 games should not be out of reach for him, especially if he is rightfully elevated to the top six next to one of Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes.
What can Gritsyuk do to accomplish this, though, on a personal level? I think he can shoot a little closer to the net. If you look at his shot map on NHL EDGE, he takes far more long-range shots than average. Against a league average of eight long-range shots per forward in 2025-26, Gritsyuk took 37 in only 66 games. That translated to 0 goals, but it did feel like a lot of those just sailed over the crossbar. He is, however, slightly above a league-average shooter from the rest of the ice, scoring 20% of his high-danger and 12.7% of his mid-range chances, per EDGE. However, there may be something to his affinity for long-range shots, as the only nine forwards who had more last season are all top scorers. They are:
- Nikita Kucherov, 38
- Nikolaj Ehlers, 39
- Mika Zibanejad, 39
- Dylan Guenther, 40
- Tage Thompson, 41
- David Pastrnak, 41
- Alex Ovechkin, 42
- Adrian Kempe, 46
- Artemi Panari, 51
So, keep shooting for the stars, Arseny Gritsyuk. Confidence and the will to take chances is the only way to make the best plays…but also get more shots near the net, where most of those guys have around double your chances.
We all know that Gritsyuk has the skating ability to get inside for those chances.
Dawson Mercer
Goal: Play a Faster Game
We know that Dawson Mercer can definitely do three things: play every game on the schedule, score 20 goals, and kill penalties. But where is the fast playmaker we saw from 2021 to 2023? Whether it’s coaching influence or an idea in Mercer’s head telling him that he needed to mature his game, Mercer’s drop in total productivity over the last three seasons to me seems visually associated with him trying to slow the game down. In a league like the NHL, where the game comes fast and heavy, I think that’s the wrong approach. I want to see more intensity out of Dawson Mercer.
Back in 2021-22, when he was a rookie, Dawson Mercer ranked in the 81st percentile in 22 MPH speed bursts, the 93rd percentile in 20+ MPH speed bursts, and the 94th percentile in 18+ MPH speed bursts, per EDGE data. Over the last season, though, he’s dropped all the way to zero 22 MPH speed bursts, the 67th percentile in 20+ MPH speed bursts, and the 82nd percentile in 18+ MPH speed bursts. In the NHL, where speed wins games, this is not a good trend. The best teams in the playoffs of today’s era are those that can outskate their opponents. And Dawson Mercer might be trying to make smarter reads, but he needs to leave being smart and slow to older veterans on the team. This should be his physical prime, and he needs to show it on the ice.
Evan Rodrigues
Goal: Take a Top Penalty Killing Role
The 2025-26 season was an interesting one for Evan Rodrigues. With Aleksander Barkov’s injury, this was the most that Rodrigues ever played center in his career, though he was mostly a wing from 2019 to 2025. His physicality also dropped to pre-Florida levels, only being credited for 63 hits, down from 128 the prior season and more in line with his 50/82 pre-Florida average. But also for the first time since 2018-19, when he was in Buffalo, Evan Rodrigues was asked to be a penalty killer. He was very good at it. In 88 minutes, Florida scored one shorthanded goal while only allowing eight power play goals against. Per HockeyViz, his on-ice impact manifested in terms of a near-total shutdown of center-point shots and also a strong decrease in top-of-the-circle one-timers on both sides of the ice.
My issues with using Nico Hischier as a penalty killer are well documented. If Evan Rodrigues and Cody Glass can take some of those minutes away, I think the Devils would be taking steps towards optimal deployment of their roster. And since Rodrigues is not a guy who is going to light up a scoresheet, per se, this is a great way of him adding value in the lineup. We know that he can play a great two-way game at even strength, generate a lot of rebounds for his teammates, and be generally difficult to play against. But being a top penalty killer, putting some of that Barkov-replacement skill to a wider test, would be a great way of integrating him to the team.
Connor Brown
Goal: Do It Again
In 2022, Connor Brown tore his ACL, and it has been a long road back to where he is right now. In Ottawa, Brown had posted a career high of 43 points in 2019-20, shortened a bit by the Covid shutdown in March. In his first year returning from the ACL injury in 2023-24, Brown only had 12 points. The next year, he got all the way back to 30, sometimes playing with Connor McDavid in Edmonton. But after the Devils signed Brown to a four-year contract worth an average of $3 million per year, I do not think many expected Brown to match his career high in points at 32 years old. But he did, and I think he can do it again.
Will he play with Jack Hughes? With recent additions, I am not sure. I’d even be doubtful that trio returns to start the season. But, I don’t think Connor Brown needs Hughes and Bratt to score. Brown is still one of the best skaters on the team, he is smart about where he needs to go to generate offense, and he has a decent shot. Tom Fitzgerald had a lot of problems as GM, but this contract does not seem like one of them. With Brown being able to play from the first to fourth lines while contributing on both special teams, he is an ultimate glue guy.
Anthony Mantha
Goal: Lead the Team in Goals
Adding Anthony Mantha a couple weeks after free agency began has been the best surprise of the Mehta era so far. For a team that has been in desperate need of a boost in finishing talent, Mantha fits the bill perfectly. Over the last three seasons, Mantha has shot 21.4%, which is a seemingly impossible number across multiple seasons. Of course, this may lead some to worry that Mantha will decline in 2026-27, but it would be foolish for a team like the Devils not to take a chance on that kind of talent. Posting a career high 33 goals in 2025-26, Mantha can add instant danger to any offensive situation, and I hope to see him used in that manner by Sheldon Keefe this year.
Of course, if one of Hischier or Hughes breaks 40 goals, it would be tough for Mantha to lead the team in that department. But this is a team that also has great playmakers like Jesper Bratt alongside great offensive volume generators like Dougie Hamilton, Timo Meier, and Evan Rodrigues. If Mantha can deflect some of those shots, pot some of those rebounds, and score some shots of his own, he could very well challenge the team’s top two centers for the best goal scoring numbers on the team.
Stefan Noesen
Goal: Beat the Depth Centers Out for the Last Roster Spot
Like Nick Bjugstad, Stefan Noesen was held to only seven points in the most recent season. Unlike Nick Bjugstad, though, Noesen played far fewer games (38) and dealt with multiple injuries, including a rehab from a mid-offseason groin surgery in 2025 and another knee surgery in January. Also unlike Nick Bjugstad, Stefan Noesen is a true netfront presence, especially on the power play. With eight months of recovery time in his pocket, I have hope that Noesen is closer to the 40-point player he showed himself to be in 2024-25 (after scoring 36 and 37 points the prior two years for Carolina) than the injured shell of himself he was this last season.
Of course, he’s going to need to play for his position in training camp. With Bjugstad, Boqvist, and Lombardi, I cannot say his spot is necessarily guaranteed. He does have the most recent strong scoring NHL season out of those three, though, and he is the most physical player out of those three. But with the Devils expected to run with three goalies on the NHL roster, the competition for the one extra forward spot should be spirited in training camp, and it’s on Noesen to show that he’s healthy and ready to play like he did from 2022 to 2025.
I do not think position should have too big an impact on the decision for the roster extra, either. If Noesen makes the team over an extra center, the Devils will still have players like Dawson Mercer and Evan Rodrigues who can slide over to center in the case of an absence.
Lenni Hameenaho
Goal: Maximize His Scoring
One of the biggest issues I had with Sheldon Keefe down the stretch last season was how defensively he used Lenni Hameenaho, a player known for his scoring as a prospect. To me, this idea of forcing players into roles they may be unsuited for to round their games out is rather antiquated, and player development should focus more on getting the most out of strengths than hiding weaknesses at his age. With only 41.84% of his zone starts coming in the offensive zone, Lenni Hameenaho was the 91st-most defensively used forward out of 441 forwards with 300 or more minutes played at five-on-five. Among Devils, only Luke Glendening was used more defensively, while Timo Meier (122nd) was the most defensively used Devils forward among full-year Devils at 45.6% of his zone starts coming in the offensive zone.
For better or for worse, though, I think Sunny’s moves mean that Lenni Hameenaho will start this season in the AHL. But I will include him because of the significant games he played for the team last season. Regardless of where he plays, Lenni needs to make sure that he is working on his goal scoring craft. With only two goals in 33 NHL games, he is going to need to hit the net more effectively and generate more chances for himself to succeed in the league. In the AHL, he should be working with some great veterans like Riley Tufte, and I am hopeful that he can have a standout year among AHLers before being called up either mid-season or next year when the roster likely changes up a little bit.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of the goals I have for each player here? Do you agree with them? Do you think any of them should have the bars set higher or lower? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
Of course, also be sure to vote in our Top 25 Under 25, which closes on the 25th.
