How the Devils Can Optimize Hischier & Bratt vs. Jordan Staal

The New Jersey Devils may need to get clever to avoid getting completely locked down by Jordan Staal's line.

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Even though a couple of games remain in the regular season, the New Jersey Devils already know they're playing the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 1 of the playoffs. In reality, they've been locked into that matchup for weeks, if not months.

With that, let's start looking ahead to that series. The Hurricanes are the better team. There's no question, but they're not unbeatable. There are ways to get by them, and one of those ways will be the Devils getting their top scorers away from the Jordan Staal line.

Let's look at how head coach Sheldon Keefe can do that and why splitting up Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt might be the best option.

Staal and Co. Lock It Down

The Hurricanes are a deep team up front. Their shutdown line, which consists of Jordan Martinook, Jordan Staal and Seth Jarvis, has some scoring pop. But for the sake of this exercise, we'll focus on the defensive part.

Staal was a Selke finalist last season, and while I don't think he'll finish in the top three again, he will get top-three votes. Head coach Rod Brind'Amour gives Staal's unit the most challenging matchups, with Staal playing slightly over 41 percent of his minutes against elite competition this season.

Martinook, Staal and Jarvis all have excellent defensive impacts, with each forward ranking in the top ten of defensive net rating among forwards. They also have an expected goals share (xG%) above 64 percent as a unit, so they grind teams to death in puck possession.

The Hurricanes have also used William Carrier, Staal and Logan Stankoven as a unit. But regardless, you can bet Brind'Amour will get Staal out against Hischier's line as often as possible in Games 1 and 2 since they have home-ice advantage.

If the Devils had Jack Hughes, you could see the path for them creating some matchup problems for the Hurricanes. Would you hard-match Staal against Hughes or Hischier's line if you're Brind'Amour? But the assignment is pretty easy since Hughes won't hit the ice again until the 2025-26 season begins.

We've watched the Devils enough to know that scoring depth has been a problem this season. A big one. If you stack Hischier and Bratt on one line when they'll be going against Staal, who else scores for the Devils? You can't count on Dawson Mercer or Erik Haula to pull their weight, even if they're on a line with Timo Meier.