The New Jersey Devils are making it their mission to understand what depth scoring is. Last season, the Devils couldn’t get it right in the bottom six with players like Nathan Bastian, Paul Cotter, Justin Dowling, Cody Glass, Curtis Lazar, and Daniel Sprong.
At first, it looked like they had found something early in the season, but as the season wore on, that dwindled. It was clear that all the offence was coming from Nico Hischier, Stefan Noesen, Jack Hughes (before the injury), Jesper Bratt, and Timo Meier, especially in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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Even before the injuries to Jack Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, and Jonas Siegenthaler, it appeared the plan heading into the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline was to add depth scoring and not address the issue of a top-six scoring winger. While some of the deadline acquisitions or waiver claims showed promise, it was clear that those players just didn’t fit into head coach Sheldon Keefe‘s system.
It isn’t just about how many 10 or 20-goal scorers they have; it is about the timeliness of the goals. An offense Devils President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald thought was there in the summer of 2024 was not there. As Fitzgerald mentioned last year at the year-end press conference, scoring goals in the NHL is a hard thing to do. But he also asked the question, what is depth scoring?
“I bang my head against the wall every day wondering, really, what is depth scoring?” Fitzgerald said back in May. “I’ve asked my team, I asked my analytics group, like, tell me what it is. What is it that the great teams in this league have in depth scoring? Is it? Is it (12) 20 goal scores? No, we know that’s not real. Is it (12) 10 plus goal scores? Possibly. That’s our goal. But again, it’s being able to put the puck in the net at the appropriate time consistently that we didn’t see this year.”
And if you look at the teams and the numbers Fitzgerald references, go back to the Nashville Predators in the 2021-22 season, where 10 players scored 10 or more goals. Of those 10 players, the Predators had three 20-goal scorers and two 40-goal scorers. Now look at the Seattle Kraken of 2202-23, where 13 players scored 10 or more goals. Of those 13, Seattle had five 20-goal scorers, one 40-goal scorer, and the rest hovered right around that 15-goal mark.
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It is hard to duplicate those numbers every year. But that is what the Devils are trying to do when it comes to their depth scoring. But it isn’t that simple. Now let’s move to the 2025 Stanley Cup Final. The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers had depth scoring because their players fit into the system and could be relied upon to generate offence when their teams needed it most.
These players didn’t have measurable attributes that a computer could calculate.
Edmonton Oilers have 19 different goal scorers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Florida Panthers 18 different goals scorers and are waiting in the Stanley Cup Final.
Depth scoring matters. But you can’t measure it. There is no metric. #letsgooilers #timetohunt #njdevils
— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) May 30, 2025
Edmonton ended with 20 of its 23 players who participated in the playoffs, all with a record of at least one goal. Meanwhile, the Florida Panthers, who are the standard on how to play in the NHL, ended with 22 of their 23 players who played in the playoffs recording at least one goal. That is depth scoring. Coaches who have confidence that no matter who they put in the lineup, they will come up with a big goal.
How do you measure depth scoring?
You don’t. You find guys that fit into your system and understand their role & play your system to perfection.
Those guys understand they are just offensively responsible as the top guys.
No metric will give you that answer #timetohunt… https://t.co/JIMVu88msb
— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) May 23, 2025
At one point in the playoffs, the Panthers’ third line of Brad Marchand, Eetu Luostarinen, and Anton Lundell combined for 25 points as the top two lines were held in check. That is depth scoring. Not some statistic on a computer or a piece of paper. And that is where the Devils continue to be caught up in. This world of analytics and numbers, but in reality, they should be looking for the best players that fit the system they are running.
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Tom Fitzgerald believes he has found depth scoring by signing Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov to the New Jersey Devils this offseason. However, they are still focusing on measurable factors, such as goal totals and shots generated. And Fitzgerald in July wasn’t sure if he had found the answer to depth then either.
“I think the one thing that we were looking for is five-on-five play, and you look at the goals totals of Brown and Dadonov, the majority of their goals are five on five,” Fitzgerald said. “Not sure if we found the answer to the question. Is it shooting percentage in the playoffs? Is it getting on a hot streak? Is it the amount of chances you get eventually goals will fall in. We just felt like we definitely added to what we felt we needed to add to in that depth.”
Connor Brown played in Edmonton alongside Connor McDavid at times. So far, with Ondrej Palat and Luke Glendening in preseason, the Devils might have found something. However, Glendening is on PTO, and the team may not have the cap space to retain him, similarly to Kevin Labanc last season.
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Meanwhile, Dadonov looks good on the top line next to Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt right now and fits in nicely on power play number two. But how long can he consistently be there? There were times last season with the Dallas Stars when he was on the fourth line or didn’t dress for then-head coach Pete DeBoer, despite being the Stars’ best offensive threat.
It is nice to discuss depth scoring and examine all the measurable statistics for players. But it comes down to execution for the New Jersey Devils. They need timely, consistent goal scoring. The offence can’t stay stagnant at times. It will be interesting to see if the New Jersey Devils got depth scoring right this season.
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