Which players, good and bad, stood out in this disappointing Devils team?

After a decent start to the season, the New Jersey Devils fell back to earth as well. Halfway through 2021-22, they are last in the Metropolitan Division and are one of the worst teams in the league.

They’re taking a six-game losing streak into the All-Star break and have won just one game in their last 10.

The team is far from perfect, but it’s a wonder head coach Lindy Ruff hasn’t been fired yet. It’s becoming clearer day by day that his presence in the squad isn’t helping anyone and most players could benefit from a coaching change.

The midpoint is always a good time to watch players and discuss their performance. The Devils are a team that has had several successful players so far and others who have struggled and looked disappointing.

The fact that New Jersey is having a bad season and has no chance of making the playoffs indicates that more players have been bad than good.

That being said, it’s time to hand out some mid-season awards for the 2021-22 Devils.

MVP: AD Jesper Bratt

The Devils have a clearly defined MVP and that’s Bratt. Bratt has been, by far, the absolute best player on the team and is enjoying all season.

The young winger has had a strong 2020-21 season and looked extremely promising in the shortened campaign, so much so that expectations for him have risen. Bratt exceeded those expectations exponentially.

Nobody expected him to be the Devils’ best player this season, but here he is. In 42 games so far, Bratt has 14 goals and 41 points. His 27 assists as well as his total points so far are already career highs.

Bratt was great from the start and the coaching staff recognized that. It’s no coincidence that Bratt is the only common factor between what have been each of the Devils’ top lines this season.

He played with Andreas Johnsson and Dawson Mercer when it was the best line, then moved to the Jack Hughes and Yegor Sharangovich line when it became the best.

Few would have expected someone not named Hughes to be the team’s MVP midway through the season (maybe newcomer Dougie Hamilton, but that’s about everything), but Bratt stepped up and was New Jersey’s undisputed best player.

The future is incredibly bright for the youngster and the Devils are incredibly lucky to have such a late talent like this.

LVP (Least Valuable Player): G MacKenzie Blackwood

As we mentioned earlier, several Devils just haven’t been able to do that so far this season. The worst of them, however, was definitely the starting goaltender.

According to MoneyPuck, only three goalkeepers in the league have a worse goal recorded above expectation than Blackwood (-10.3).

Blackwood has been nothing short of a complete mess this season, mostly at even strength, and the Devils have to be worried. He is currently on IR, to make matters worse, but his starting job is in serious jeopardy once he returns.

The Devils were expected to have one of the best goaltending tandems in the league this season after acquiring Jonathan Bernier, but now Bernier is out for the year and Blackwood is a disaster.

The situation got so bad that the Devils had to call prospect Akira Schmid and get a goaltender from outside the organization, Jon Gillies.

Gillies has already been much better than Blackwood and could definitely take the starting job when Blackwood returns.

The regression we’ve seen from Blackwood is extremely alarming, but the hope for him to turn the tide remains, given how talented he looked not so long ago.

But for now, Blackwood is unfortunately the Devils’ worst player.

Most Impressive: RW Jesper Bratt

For the reasons we mentioned above, Bratt has been the team’s most impressive player. No one expected this from round six and it just keeps getting better.

Bratt has gone from a promising youngster in the organization to his best player this season and that’s about as impressive as it gets.

Two honorable mentions for most impressive are C Dawson Mercer and LHD Jonas Siegenthaler. Rookie Mercer has definitely cooled since his incredibly hot start to the season in which he was a key member of the team’s top line, but his mere presence on the team is impressive.

It came as a shock when Mercer kicked the team out of training camp, but he was able to show the league why he did so well during his development and what made the Devils love him. so much.

Calling him was the right thing to do and he plays like he belongs in the NHL.

When Siegenthaler came from the Washington Capitals last season, no one expected him to become one of the most important players on the team. He was just that and was also one of the best defensive backs in the league!

It was quite the pick-up for New Jersey and it would be wise to lock down Siegenthaler for the long haul. He was great.

Most disappointing: G MacKenzie Blackwood

Again, for the reasons mentioned above, Blackwood was definitely the Devils’ most disappointing player. His fall from one of the most promising young goalies in the league to one of the worst goaltenders seemingly overnight was shocking.

The Devils thought they had their goaltender of the future, but everything has changed. What happened?

LHD Ty Smith is an honorable mention here. Smith had a promising and impressive rookie season in which he was one of the best rookies in the league, but he followed that up with a disastrous second campaign.

Smith’s defensive play, in particular, has been alarming, and he’s a major reason the Devils’ defense has been significantly underperforming.

The hope is that Smith will eventually bounce back and is just in a slump second year. Otherwise, the Devils will find themselves in a situation similar to that of Blackwood.

Best New Guy: LHD Ryan Graves

Dougie Hamilton, Dawson Mercer, Tomáš Tatar and Jimmy Vesey are among the Devils’ most notable newcomers this season. They all had their ups and downs, but each had an impact in their own way.

Best of all the team’s new additions, however, has been Graves. Graves’ game has been declining with the team lately, but he’s done a great job of helping stabilize what was an atrocious blue line not too long ago.

Hamilton was obviously better than his partner offensively (he’s one of the best attacking defenders in the game), but Graves was much better in his own area and even his offense was impressive.

Graves has scored three goals and had 17 points in 40 games this season. He is three shy of matching his career-high 17 assists and nine shy of matching his career-high 26 points. He should be able to accomplish both feats.

Graves hasn’t been perfect – no one has been – but what he does in defense for the Devils is noticeable. It was and remains a great trade for New Jersey, who will benefit greatly from this defensive talent going forward.