Jesper Bratt is one of the New Jersey Devils’ best players. That much is still obvious, no matter who you ask. Yes, there is a contingent of Devils fans who think Bratt would be addition by subtraction, but those opinions are not worth listening to.
We’re not trying to disparage opinions, but there needs to be a foundation of fact involved in these discussions, and the Devils would be flat out worse if they just took Bratt off this roster. He has great offensive instincts and plays on both sides of the ice. Does he have his issues? Yes, including getting in his own head about shooting. However, he has more great plays than he has bad ones.
There is one issue: he gave up way too many goals this past season.
Jesper Bratt allowing 59 goals against at 5-on-5 (accoding to Natural Stat Trick) is a concern. Even-strength play is where the majority of hockey games are decided. If he’s not able to suppress chances, he will take away essentially opportunities from his linemate Jack Hughes. When a player is on the ice for that many goals against in these conditions, it points to underlying issues that go beyond simple bad luck.
Bratt led all Devils forwards in this stat. Well, led is a relative term we suppose. He was last on the team, giving up the most goals of any forward. Only Simon Nemec, Brenden Dillon, and Jonas Siegenthaler was on the ice for more goals against at 5v5.
On top of everything, his line is not converting on their chances at 5v5. He’s been on the ice for 252 high-danger chances, but his team only scored 18 high-danger goals. He’s been way too reliant on the power play to get points. As a team, the Devils are shooting 7.53 percent with Bratt on the ice.
Bratt himself actually shot 12%, his best output since 2022-23. If his team shot 12% while he was on the ice, they’d have at least 10 more goals on the season.
Jesper Bratt was on the ice for way too many goals against for the New Jersey Devils
Something wasn’t clicking for most of the season, but once the chemistry built between Hughes, Bratt, and Connor Brown, we were back on the excitement train. From the Olympic Break on, Bratt was on the ice for 20 goals and just 17 against in 25 games. The beginning of the season was a disaster at even strength, but this team learned something during the break.
Can they repeat it over an 82-game season? We’ll see which way Mehta leans. Many believe there’s at least a chance that Bratt could be used to upgrade the top six, specifically with a possible Brady Tkachuk trade. We’ll see if that comes to fruition, but it feels like bad hockey development to trade a guy off his worst season in a while.