What I'd like to see from each Devils forward in 2023-24: Part 1

From Nathan Bastian to Jack Hughes, I shared my thoughts on seven different players.

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Training camps (mercifully) open in just a few weeks and competitive games will quickly follow.

With that in mind, I wanted to go player-by-player – as I do every year – and share what I’d like to see from them in the 2023-24 season.

I’ll be taking a closer look at half of the New Jersey Devils’ forward core in the first part of this mini-series.

Nathan Bastian: Fill the void

I think Bastian is a terrific 4th liner. He is physical, he is strong defensively, he chips in goals at a healthy clip, and he is capable of playing on either special teams unit.

The power play sure looks set but I’d love to see Bastian carve out a bigger role on the penalty kill.

He fared remarkably well on the PK last season. Mikey McLeod (+2.1) was the only forward on the roster who posted a higher PK GAR than Bastian (2.0). What’s crazy is Bastian managed such a feat while ranking 6th among Devils forwards in PK time on ice.

Yegor Sharangovich (3rd) is gone, which means a lot of usage just opened up – 150 minutes, to be precise.

Given what we saw from Bastian in the regular season, and his ability to build on it while being utilized more in the playoffs, I think he’s the perfect guy to hand a healthy chunk of minutes.

If he can handle it, and there’s plenty of reason to believe he can, it’ll go a long way towards the Devils maintaining one of the league’s best shorthanded units.

Jesper Bratt: Facilitate

For years it’s felt like Bratt has underused his shot. He can really zip it for a player of his stature and his finishing rate has always been high. He has remained (at times) painfully selective.

Bratt actually recorded fewer shots on goal per 60 last season than the year prior – and last summer I was preaching for Bratt to use his shot more.

I no longer care. I am more than OK with Bratt being a clear pass-first guy who may not use his shot as much as he could. That may actually be optimal at this point.

A year ago we were talking about a clinical finisher who should probably shoot more on a team that lacked them. It’s a whole different ball game now.

Since the time of writing last year, Jack Hughes established himself one of the best finishers in the league and the Devils acquired a pair of high-end wingers (Timo Meier, Tyler Toffoli) who combined for 74 goals last year.

Bratt is a dynamic facilitator who will always be with one of Hughes/Meier/Toffoli, if not multiple, so deferring to them to take the high-end chances is more than justifiable.

Keep doing your thing, Jesper!

Nolan Foote: Establish yourself