Bratt was getting scratched because the coach was a grade A idiot, not because he was playing poorly
Bratt got healthy scratched 7 times at the end of the 2017-18 regular season. It was actually understandable, he hit the rookie wall hard and stopped producing.
The Devils have only had four 19 year old rookies play more than Bratt’s 74: Hischier (82), Muller (80), Niedermayer (80) and Verbeek (79).
Bratt was never healthy scratched in 2018-19, he missed all 31 games due to injuries.
In 2019-20 was healthy scratched four times in 2019-20: 10/25, 11/23-11/26* and 2/18**.
These scratches were dumb but both coaches did it. (And they both played John Hayden, so the idiot part can also be spread around.)
Ruff let Mercer play through his rough patches, I don’t see the scratches as a particularly meaningful difference.
*Scratched with Zacha in two home games for Seney & Hayden (good times)
**The infamous Dad/Mentors game that John Hayden had to play. This was when Jack replaced Bratt on Nico’s wing, which also sucked.