The Devils had plenty to feel good about after Sunday night’s win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Timo Meier’s breakthrough may have been the loudest development of all.
New Jersey rolled through the night with Connor Hellebuyck picking up his first shutout as a Devil, Nico Hischier reaching his 500th point, and Jesper Bratt adding two points to get back to a point-per-game pace. The Devils also managed to survive with an 11-7 lineup against Sheldon Keefe’s former team. It was a strong all-around night.
Still, Meier was the name that jumped out. After a season-long scoring drought, he finally found the net - then did it again.
Meier scored twice Sunday after entering the game with just one goal on the season and five points overall. The numbers have been rough for a player the Devils expected to be a major scoring threat.
Even with the slow start, he remains sixth in the league in shots with 70. That total is higher than Leon Draisaitl, Cutter Gauthier, and Nathan MacKinnon.
When New Jersey traded for Meier and later locked him up on an eight-year deal, the hope was obvious: a power winger who could score 40 goals and bring the kind of edge this roster needed. The edge has shown up. The goal total hasn’t.
That’s why the bar for Meier has shifted. The Devils do not need him to be a 40-goal scorer anymore.
They need him to produce like Brady Tkachuk. He does not have to match Tkachuk’s edge, but the offensive production should be in that neighborhood.
A season in the 25-32 goal range with around 60 points would fit exactly what New Jersey needs if it wants to hang with the league’s best.
And that’s what makes Meier so important to the bigger picture. With Hellebuyck in place and the defense playing as well as it has in years, the Devils need their top six to keep humming. Jack Hughes has been unleashed since Arseny Gritsyuk was moved to that line, Nico Hischier and Luke Evangelista are giving the team what it expected, and the bottom six has been strong too, even if there’s still a case to put Jesper Boqvist back on the fourth line.
Meier’s two-goal night doesn’t erase the season he’s had. He still has only two goals. But it was the best version of him in a long time, and if he can settle in as a normal 30-goal scorer, the Devils will keep looking like a wagon.
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Bahl had appeared in 16 games for the Flames this season before the injury, and the setback is a harsh one for a player still trying to carve out his place in Calgary after leaving New Jersey. For Devils fans who watched him develop, it is another painful chapter in a career that had been building toward stability, only to be interrupted by one of the toughest injuries a skater can face. [Read more 🡒]