The New Jersey Devils have had a Timo Meier problem for a while now. Sadly, it is only seeming to get worse.
I don't think anyone is going to fault Meier's effort on any given night, as he is one of the Devils who always seems to be engaged each shift. The worry stems from the lack of results said effort is producing. His post-trade stats for New Jersey were good but not great. I also feel his first full season should be viewed positively; he missed 13 games but still put up 28 goals and 52 points which over a full 82 projects to about 33 goals and 62 points.
It's the slow decline of the past two seasons that's seemingly worsening this season that should have fans concerned.
While Timo actually put up one more point in 2024-25 than he did in 2023-24, it took him 11 more games to do so. And while his 24 goals were okay last season, he only put up 44 points across 77 games. That's not good enough for (currently) being the highest paid Devils forward, and it's a far cry from what the team and its fans thought they'd be getting when he was acquired. For those hoping 2026-27 would be a turnaround campaign for Meier, early results are not promising. It could be a sign he's starting to decline.
A player who has just turned 30 as Meier has isn't old by NHL standards, however most forwards have typically exited their prime by that point as well. Meier was also known for being a bit more physical so far in his career; he's not a goon or enforcer by any means but physicality wears an athlete down faster too. Meier is still in the Devils top six forwards and should be expected to produce like one unless/until his deployment changes. Right now he has one point in six games and it was an assist in the team's loss to Utah.
Timo is currently tied for 11th out of 20 Devils skaters in scoring. In case you weren't concerned yet, that has him tied with offensive machines such as Stefan Noesen and Amadeus Lombardi and trailing noted goal scorer Jesper Boqvist. The only Devils forward with fewer points is Cody Glass who is averaging over five minutes less ice time per game than Meier! Again, with the amount he counts against the cap and his usage by Coach Sheldon Keefe, Timo absolutely needs to be better and showing up on the score sheet more often. Sure, you can argue six games is a small sample size, but your best players always need to be your best players. Being on pace for 14 points all season and not having a goal through the first six should be sounding a lot of alarms in the front office.
Will Meier pick it up at some point this season? I'm sure he will. He's a streaky goal scorer and will string some together sooner or later. He also seems to always heat up in March for one reason or another as well. The Devils will get more than 14 points from him this season, but the question becomes how many more? I would take 28+ goal Timo Meier showing up, even if he's not picking up a lot of helpers. If he records a season with fewer points than last season? Even with the salary cap projected to continue to rise that scenario could lead to an interesting offseason discussion regardless of how the Devils do overall.
The Devils have been average to below average to start this season off. One easy way to pick it up? Timo Meier starts playing like Top Six Timo Meier again.
What are your thoughts on Timo Meier seemingly starting to decline; is his mileage in the league catching up to him? Do you think it's more a case of him not fitting in the team's current system? Can Meier turn things around and starting scoring regularly again? What do the Devils do if he doesn't pick it up? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!
