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New Jersey Devils Stock Up/Stock Down: Finding Their Footing Edition

The regular season rolls on for the New Jersey Devils, as the team finds their footing. Over the past week, the results have started to come, but performances are still mired with inconsistencies. An overtime win against the New York Islanders and a dominating performance against the Montreal Canadiens seemed to turn the tide after a rocky start. Still, a poor effort against the Washington Capitals saw them drop a game. Superstar efforts have propelled them to a few wins, but a handful of performances will need to improve for this team to reach their potential.

New Jersey Devils Stock Up/Stock Down

Stock Up

Jack Hughes

Jack Hughes is the New Jersey Devils’ Blue-chip stock. Over the past week, he has established himself as the (way too early) MVP. He’s registered 11 points in the past three games to the tune of two goals and nine assists. Back-to-back four-point performances led to two wins, which was then followed up by a three-assist night against the Capitals. No player has had a bigger impact on not just their team, but the entirety of the NHL. Jack Hughes is undoubtedly the face of the Devils, but he’s beginning an ascent to become the face of the league. He plays fast and with swagger, and has more than enough production to back it up. Can Jack make it three weeks in a row on the stock-up section? Most likely yes, but he’s set a high bar.

Stock Down

Akira Schmid

The Devils young goalie opened the season with an okay performance in a shootout loss to Arizona the other week. Schmid followed that up with games against the Islanders and Capitals, both producing subpar efforts. Despite being able to earn a win against the Islanders, he let in four goals and had a .875 SV%. You could argue he should have saved all four Islanders goals, being beaten five-hole from the high slot and the goal line just to name two. In his most recent game against the Capitals, he made it 20 minutes before being yanked. Three goals on eight shots was enough to see him replaced in the second period. We’ve seen what Akira is capable of, so there is no need to push the panic button yet, but the team is going to need much better play from him if they want a chance to win.

Stock Up

Tyler Toffoli

The Devils brought in Tyler Toffoli to score goals, and after a slowish start to the season, he’s exploded with offence. Entering this past week’s stretch of games he had two assists. After this past week’s block of games, he’s added six goals and an assist. After scoring his first goal as a Devil against the Islanders, he blitzed his former team in Montreal with a hat trick. The hope for Toffoli was that he could be one of Jack Hughes’s running mates, and he’s done so with impressive results. Despite Lindy Ruff putting the line combinations in a blender last week, Toffoli and Hughes remained unchanged, and together have recorded 18 points. The duo has performed better than anyone could’ve expected early on.

Stock Down

Dawson Mercer

Unfortunately, Mercer has to be put on the stock-down list. Mercer is a hard-working, do-it-all player, but part of the “do-it-all” includes producing offence. Something he has yet to do. On the heels of a 27-goal and 56-point season, Mercer has yet to find the score sheet this season. It could partially be due to being asked to play a third-line role, but his linemates Erik Haula and Alexander Holtz have been able to find the net. In addition, his defensive game hasn’t been at the level it could be. What Mercer has working for him is his effort. Despite a lack of production, he is always in and around the net. Suspicions are that Mercer won’t spend too many weeks on the stock-down side of things.

Main Photo: John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

Nick Natale

Nick Natale

Nick is a former hockey player now turned sports journalist. A Journalism graduate from Ramapo College of New Jersey, Nick is an avid New Jersey Devils fan who's made it his life goal to make a career out of talking sports. Find him on Twitter @NickNatale10

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