Tomas Tatar
Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

One of New Jersey’s newest members, Tatar has his best week as a Devil.

Leen Amin

The New Jersey Devils are in their worst slump of the 2021-22 season. They’re on a three-game losing streak and have won just two of their last 10 games.

Even though they’ve seen better days, there are always bright spots in every ugly situation. Who was New Jersey’s best player this week?

Player of the Week: RW Tomáš Tatar

vs. SJS: 1 G
at MIN: 1 G
at WPG: 1 A
Average Game Score: 1.23
Average defensive impact: -0.36

Tatar has been one of the more underrated goalscorers in the NHL for several years now. The Devils needed a high-scoring winger and that’s why they signed the veteran.

Tatar has done many things well, but has also been disappointing, especially in terms of putting points up and defense.

However, whatever struggles he had he put aside in Week 8, his best as a Devil. Tatar was New Jersey’s best player in each of the team’s first two games this week.

He recorded two goals and an assist in three games in Week 8.

Tatar wasn’t great in his own zone, but made up for it by shining offensively.

If the Devils hope to get out of this unfortunate stretch, they’re going to need Tatar to play this well. After all, he was expected to be one of the team’s best and most important players this season.

That wasn’t the case for most of the beginning of the season and the Devils were able to get by, but now that they’ve slowed down and come back down to earth, they need Tatar to step up.

They simply won’t be able to do much without him being a top player on this young team that’s still rebuilding and learning. This was a great week for Tatar and will hopefully give him confidence moving forward and allow him to score more consistently.

Honorable Mention #1: LHD Ryan Graves

at MIN: 1 G
at WPG: 1 G, 1 A
Average Game Score: 0.85
Average defensive impact: -1.1

Once again, Graves is an honorable mention for POTW. He’s been the team’s all-around best blueliner this season and has really started to show it over the past few weeks.

Graves really showed off his offensive ability this week and that’s what makes him so special. He struggled defensively, like practically all of his teammates, but focused on his offense and was able to be quite impactful by doing so.

Graves is a special player and has been key in helping the Devils’ defense improve since last season.

Honorable Mention #2: RW Jesper Bratt

vs. SJS: 1 G
at WPG: 1 A
Average Game Score: 0.34
Average defensive impact: -0.65

Another week, another honorable mention for the Devils’ best player of the season, so far. To talk about how fantastic Bratt has been for the Devils would be redundant.

He had a down week defensively, but maintained his excellent play in the offensive zone.

Bratt has been fantastic for New Jersey and is emerging as a truly solid forward in this league.

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Leen Amin
Leen has written about the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and international soccer. She is currently the primary NHL writer for ESNY. Leen's work has been featured on Bleacher Report and she was formerly a contributor for FanSided's New York Mets blog, Rising Apple. She is a co-host of the Yankees-Mets Express podcast.

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