What is wrong with Timo Meier?

[Church Hill]

In February, the Devils traded for Meier:

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Since then, he has been distinctly underwhelming in New Jersey. This season he is pointless in 3 games and was benched the entire 3rd period last night:

https://x.com/Real_Max_Miller/status/1714108952139780382?s=20

Whats wrong with Timo? I was prepared to attribute last year's ineffectiveness to injuries, but why does he still look so bad?

I am not solely concerned about my fantasy team.

Click to read more...

 

[umma gumma]

Missing Karlsson.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

He's just not that good. Despite his physical gifts, a low IQ and selfish player.

 

[Gecklund]

If I had to guess it’s more him not being the focus of the play. In SJ, he was the forward for the past few years. Yes he had Hertl but it was Timo dictating play. I think he’s struggling with the transition of having guys like Hughes, Bratt, and Hischier dictating play. Every time I’ve watched he just feels peripheral. I think he will figure it out eventually or he will end up building a super 3rd line like Kessel did for PIT.

 

[shaner8989]

He’s not that good maybe? He’s never had more than 76 points in a season. No more easy Pp points without Karlsson. He’s very overrated imo.

Contract could be an absolute cap killer soon.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

We all like to talk about how PL Dubois is all about the lifestyle, and I do suspect Meier is more into the lifestyle than winning the Cup. I mean he loves the trsvelling and the tourism, loves watches and here he is wearing Gucci which is a common brand for him. His best friend when he was in San Jose was Evander Kane and you know that pairing means a lot of Vegas nights. It wasn't a surprised that he started to finally get it to click once Kane left San Jose and he could focus.

 

[the valiant effort]

It felt like some NJ fans and the org became too enamoured with the Swiss connection. I thought the Devils should have waited around a season or two for a much bigger fish, but even a deep team with a well managed cap can’t always afford to wait too long to add a big piece. So many things can go south in a blink.

 

[Three On Zero]

Good hockey player, but he was never going to be what New Jersey fans tried to hype him up to be

 

[Jerzey Devil]

That whole line needs to wake up. Meier, Holtz, Mercer, and Palat have been rotating in and out of Hischier’s line. They all seem to need a few games to get acclimated to the new season. Including Nico. Toffoli hasn’t done much either. If not for Jack and Jesper they probably would be 0-3 at this point.

 

[GreatSaveEssensa]

We all like to talk about how PL Dubois is all about the lifestyle, and I do suspect Meier is more into the lifestyle than winning the Cup. I mean he loves the trsvelling and the tourism, loves watches and here he is wearing Gucci which is a common brand for him. His best friend when he was in San Jose was Evander Kane and you know that pairing means a lot of Vegas nights. It wasn't a surprised that he started to finally get it to click once Kane left San Jose and he could focus.

So because a young millionaire likes to wear expensive name brand clothes and accessories on top of travelling he must not be that into winning The Cup is what you conclude?

 

[Buck Naked]

We all like to talk about how PL Dubois is all about the lifestyle, and I do suspect Meier is more into the lifestyle than winning the Cup. I mean he loves the trsvelling and the tourism, loves watches and here he is wearing Gucci which is a common brand for him. His best friend when he was in San Jose was Evander Kane and you know that pairing means a lot of Vegas nights. It wasn't a surprised that he started to finally get it to click once Kane left San Jose and he could focus.

Seriously awful take.

 

[BonMorrison]

We all like to talk about how PL Dubois is all about the lifestyle, and I do suspect Meier is more into the lifestyle than winning the Cup. I mean he loves the trsvelling and the tourism, loves watches and here he is wearing Gucci which is a common brand for him. His best friend when he was in San Jose was Evander Kane and you know that pairing means a lot of Vegas nights. It wasn't a surprised that he started to finally get it to click once Kane left San Jose and he could focus.

As a satirical post, this is A+

 

[TGWL]

He’s not that good maybe? He’s never had more than 76 points in a season. No more easy Pp points without Karlsson. He’s very overrated imo.

Contract could be an absolute cap killer soon.

How about easy powerplay points with Hughes? I mean, I think NJ would take close to 76 points. He scored 9 goals in 21 games last season for them, that's a fantastic pace that NJ takes all day long.

Obviously they need him to be a deadly top 6 weapon rather than a luxury top 9 with that cap hit, but I think there's a difference saying his overrated and not that good. He is a good player.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

He’s not that good maybe? He’s never had more than 76 points in a season. No more easy Pp points without Karlsson. He’s very overrated imo.

Contract could be an absolute cap killer soon.

Easy PP points because of Karlsson? What do you think EK was passing Meier open net tap-ins on the PP? And that's a weird thing to say anyway when NJ has great players to play with.

In his career season 2 years ago he led the Sharks in even strength points by 11.

But yeah.. clearly things haven't been clicking with his teammates yet. I don't think it has to be any more complicated than that.

 

[tucker3434]

He’s gone ppg once-ish. I’m just not sure that he’s going to be the driver anywhere. Great complementary player though. I’m sure he’ll give them .7ppg this season when all is said and done.

 

[AfroThunder396]

NJ doesn't need him to be a point per game player, they have enough of those. What they needed was to get bigger, more physical, and more difficult to play against.

If he scores 30 goals and plays like a bastard in the playoffs - that's all they need from him. He didn't get many points in the playoffs last year, but he was definitely a disruptor on the ice and made some major contributions in the Rangers series that didn't show up on the box score.

That being said - he has been playing with his head up his ass the first three games. I don't mind the lack of production, he started slow last season not scoring a goal until Game 10 but still finished with 40. He scores in bunches, that's fine. It's the stupid, lazy, unnecessary penalties that are hurting the team. Ruff was correct to bench him in the 3rd last night, and once he did the team responded by coming back from 4-0 down to nearly tie the game in the final seconds.

He's far from the only one. That whole line has been lazy and low energy. Hischier and Mercer are also having a really terrible start to the year.

It will get figured out, NJ has too much talent for this not to work.

 

[TimeZone]

He's mid.

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

probably misses his old glasses

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

NJ doesn't need him to be a point per game player, they have enough of those. What they needed was to get bigger, more physical, and more difficult to play against.

If he scores 30 goals and plays like a bastard in the playoffs - that's all they need from him. He didn't get many points in the playoffs last year, but he was definitely a disruptor on the ice and made some major contributions in the Rangers series that didn't show up on the box score.

That being said - he has been playing with his head up his ass the first three games. I don't mind the lack of production, he started slow last season not scoring a goal until Game 10 but still finished with 40. He scores in bunches, that's fine. It's the stupid, lazy, unnecessary penalties that are hurting the team. Ruff was correct to bench him in the 3rd last night, and once he did the team responded by coming back from 4-0 down to nearly tie the game in the final seconds.

He's far from the only one. That whole line has been lazy and low energy. Hischier and Mercer are also having a really terrible start to the year.

It will get figured out, NJ has too much talent for this not to work.

How were his penalties last year and in the playoffs for the Devs? Is he playing PK now for you guys? He always used to take penalties with the Sharks and playing PK made him think about taking penalties more carefully

 

[HFpapi]

We all like to talk about how PL Dubois is all about the lifestyle, and I do suspect Meier is more into the lifestyle than winning the Cup. I mean he loves the trsvelling and the tourism, loves watches and here he is wearing Gucci which is a common brand for him. His best friend when he was in San Jose was Evander Kane and you know that pairing means a lot of Vegas nights. It wasn't a surprised that he started to finally get it to click once Kane left San Jose and he could focus.

Can we start a running "HF Boards approved" list of brand names you can win with?

- New Balance
- Timex

Did Crosby win his cups while with Reebok?

 

[BonMorrison]

probably misses his old glasses

i don't know which one of us started this but it really is the best answer to everything here nowadays

 

[Phion Keneuf]

Just let him ride shotgun with Hughes and top PP. Let him be a top tier complimentary player.

2nd/3rd line and 2nd PP isn’t gonna help get him going.

 

[Peasy]

Opportunities and position in a line up can influence a players numbers a lot. Hes no longer the guy. NJ has a handful of guys ahead of him. Hes likely struggling to adjust to his new role. Will be interesting to see how it plays out. Its a big contract.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Guy can score 30 goals with good two way play.


Lindy don't Jeff Skinner this player.

 

[Forge]

I Don't know that there's anything wrong, though Timo's tenure with the Devils thus far has been weirdly....choppy?

I mean, he scored at a 35 goal pace in the regular season last year with the devils (21 games), which is definitely fine, though his point pace (only 55), was down (especially considering what he is making).

His playoff numbers were then way down, of course, though he was very active and noticeable in the rangers series even though he never got a point.

This year we are 3 games into the season, and it definitely hasn't looked great...though to be perfectly fair, outside of the Hughes line I've thought the entire forward group has looked like they are sleepwalking (Holtz had a really nice game last night imo). Last year I think it took him until like game 9 or something to score a goal? He definitely seems like a streaky sort of guy. I'll withhold judgment that there is actually anything wrong with him right now but he's absolutely not playing his best hockey.