Jesper Bratt remains very underrated

The 25-year-old winger ranked much lower than he should have in JFreshHockey's recent fan vote.

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Jesper Bratt has established himself as a top-tier player over the past few years. He’s recorded at least 73 points in three consecutive seasons, earned himself a big contract, and put together quite the highlight reel along the way.

Despite all of that, he didn’t receive as much credit as he deserved. He still isn’t to this day.

That became especially clear when JFresh released his fan voted list of the top-80 forwards in the NHL and Bratt slotted in at 54.

That’s a rather bizarre ranking for Bratt. This isn’t a case where a guy is slotted two or three spots too low and you have to nitpick to move him up.

I think Bratt should be much higher on this list – I’m talking top-30 – and there is plenty of evidence to back that up.

Production

Bratt’s first big season came back in 2021-22, where he saw his career highs in goals (16) and points (32) skyrocket en route to a 26-goal, 73-point campaign.

He hasn’t looked back since, following that up with another 73 points in 2022-23 and 83 in 82 this past season.

Add it all up and we’re talking about 229 points over the span of three seasons. Those are not Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon numbers, of course, but they’re probably better than you think.

Bratt’s 229 points are good for 28th most in that span. That’s more than Clayton Keller, Brady Tkachuk, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Filip Forsberg, Tage Thompson, Tim Stutzle, Dylan Larkin, Brad Marchand, Roope Hintz, Mark Scheifele, Chris Kreider, Carter Verhaeghe, and an abundance (clearly) of the players slotted ahead of him.

If you isolate the 5v5 numbers – be it total production or efficiency – Bratt looks even better.

Bratt sits 14th in 5v5 points over the past three seasons, finishing just ahead of Kirill Kaprizov and Brayden Point. Pretty good players!

Now let’s talk efficiency. Bratt put up 2.62 points per 60 minutes of 5v5 play, tying him with Artemi Panarin for 10th.

Superstars like Sidney Crosby, Leon Draisaitl, Aleksander Barkov, Elias Pettersson, and Mikko Rantanen haven’t been able to match those rates over a three-year span.

So, Bratt is a top-30 forward in total production and top-15 at 5v5 in both volume and efficiency.

Producing goals is a big part of hockey – you can’t outscore the opponent without scoring – and not many forwards have fared better than Bratt.

Impacts

Bratt is not an empty calorie point producer; there is real substance in his game. The New Jersey Devils have consistently been a much, much, much, better team with Bratt on the ice than without.

Be it shots, high-danger chances, expected goals, or actual goals, Bratt has helped the Devils control a noitceanly larger share across the board.

Of 434 forwards to log at least 1,000 (5v5) minutes over the past three seasons, Bratt ranked 11th in Rel CF%, 33rd in Rel HDCF%, 15th in Rel xGF%, and 34th in Rel GF%.

A +39 goal differential is also pretty damn good when considering the Devils sat 31st in 5v5 save percentage over the allotted period of time. Who knows what it’d look like with competent goaltending?

While we’re focused on impacts, we might as well bring up Goals Above Replacement. Bratt has posted a GAR of +46.1 over the past three seasons. That is the 25th highest output among all forwards.

Bratt fares extremely well no matter what metrics you look at – certainly better than the 54th best forward in the NHL should.

Versatility

If you want someone to go out there and throw bone crushing hits, Bratt is not your guy. He does everything else you could possibly hope for in a player.

Bratt is very dynamic with the puck. He can beat opponents 1-on-1, he can make people miss in space, he can jitterbug his way through even the stingiest of defensive structures, and he has no problem doing the heavy lifting through the neutral zone.

He doesn’t rely on others to drive a line and create; he’s plenty capable of facilitating at an elite level.

He also has a sneaky-good shot that can beat goaltenders from range and the hands to make goaltenders look silly from in tight.

He’s scored just under 30 goals per 82 games over the past three years while ranking top-30 in assists.

He drives play, he props up everybody he shares the ice with, he doesn’t take penalties, and he consistently garners elite results.

Bratt’s also a more complete player than given credit for. This past season he was given regular reps on the penalty kill and his relative outputs were eerily similar to Sebastian Aho’s. Aho is an elite penalty killer on the league’s best team while undermanned so that’s no small feat.

There isn’t a game state where Bratt isn’t just good, but great.

Closing thoughts

Bratt is an elite point producer, an elite play driver, he excels in all situations, and he’s noticeable every time you watch him play.

He’s not a cerebral two-way center who doesn’t necessarily stand out but just makes little plays all over the ice that add up to strong results. His speed, agility and puck skill is impossible to miss.

Given his impressive numbers, and flashy play style, you’d think Bratt would get more attention and recognition from NHL observers.

Perhaps that’ll change if he flirts with 90 points on a Devils squad that should be one of the league’s best this season. For now, he remains quite underrated.

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numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com and Evolving-Hockey.com