New Jersey Devils player profile: Connor Brown

The 31-year-old winger is coming off a solid two-way season with the Edmonton Oilers.

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The New Jersey Devils made plenty of changes up front this summer but they were mostly around the fringes.

Their biggest acquisition was Connor Brown, who signed a four-year deal worth $3 million per season on the opening day of free agency.

Let’s dive into the season that was and the outlook for Brown’s debut campaign with the Devils.

2024-25 review

Brown’s 2022-23 campaign was almost entirely lost due to injury and he struggled to re-establish himself in 2023-24, chipping in just 12 points while going most of the season before scoring a goal.

He found his form this past season, chipping in 13 goals and 30 points in the regular season before producing nine points over 20 games during Edmonton’s run to another Stanley Cup Final.

The bulk of Brown’s production came during 5v5 play, where he looked solid by counting numbers and efficiency.

Brown’s 26 points at 5v5 bested all but Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and Zach Hyman among Oilers players.

Taking a league-wide view, that tally matched the likes of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Brock Boeser, Patrick Kane, and Logan Stankoven.

I don’t think any of those players were at their best offensively but that’s still good company to be keeping for a depth winger.

In terms of efficiency, Brown’s 1.60 points per 60 was a low-end 2nd line rate. William Karlsson, Brad Marchand, and Kevin Fiala were some of his closest comparables.

His biggest impact was felt on the penalty kill, where he was legitimately one of the top PK options in the league.

Of the 101 forwards to log 100+ minutes in shorthanded situations, Brown ranked 1st in relative shot suppression, 3rd in relative chance suppression, and 7th in relative expected goals suppression.

His numbers were excellent across the board and noticeably better than what the Oilers managed when he was on the bench catching a breather.

Factoring in each game state, Brown’s total contributions were worth 0.91 WAR per 82 games.

That was an almost identical output to other middle-6 forwards like Trevor Moore, Alex Kerfoot, and Jack McBain.

2025-26 outlook