The New Jersey Devils’ playoff odds currently sit at 17.5% (per MoneyPuck). Given the unlikelihood, there’s still a lot of reason to keep a close eye on their remaining contests, with potential to unveil some important storylines.
One of those underrated storylines has been the Devils’ inability to garner consistent scoring from the bottom half of their lineup. Insert Brian Halonen, a 25-year-old late bloomer who played all four years in college and joined the organization as an undrafted free agent signing in March 2022. Now, he looks primed to potentially take over a valuable role.
Quick Background
Halonen is a product of Delano High School in Minnesota. After tearing it up there with a remarkable 81 points in 25 games, he never really found his footing elsewhere whilst rising up the ranks.
He played parts of two seasons in the United States Hockey League (USHL), putting up a mediocre 37 points in 67 games and going undrafted. In 2017, he established a deck refinishing company, with hockey potentially not working out for him long-term. He committed to Michigan Tech (NCAA) where he was a solid piece to their hockey team, but not really someone who emerged as being able to potentially make a difference at the professional level. He interned at two different mechanical engineering companies…that is, until his fourth and final season (2021-22) when he exploded for 44 points in 37 games.
Now, it’s not out of the ordinary for seniors like Halonen to have a great final season after learning the ropes of college hockey for a while. But finishing ninth in scoring – ahead of some top prospects (albeit younger) like Matty Beniers and Matthew Coronato, was enough for Devils’ general manager Tom Fitzgerald to feel that signing Halonen was worth the risk…especially since he profiled as a heavier winger with a definite tough side to his play, something the Devils’ big club has lacked.
Professional Career
He made his professional debut for the Utica Comets in the American Hockey League (AHL) on April 1, 2022, just days after his college season ended. He scored in his second game and finished the season with two goals and one assist in 12 games.
For the following two seasons, Halonen has mostly remained with the Comets, aside from one game in the ECHL and one where he was called up for his NHL debut, on Feb. 25 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Similar to his college production, his AHL production has steadily improved as time goes on.
In the 2022-23 season, he notched 30 points in 57 games while simultaneously being trusted more by coach Kevin Dineen in handling larger responsibilities. However, this season, he got hurt in the first period of the Devils’ preseason contest against the Philadelphia Flyers. He dropped the gloves with Nick Seeler and never returned. While the injury was officially coined as “undisclosed”, it was serious enough to keep him out of action for over three months – as he returned to the Comets on Dec. 30, 2023.
Related: 5 Devils the NHL Should Consider for Its Upcoming Amazon Series
With everything that has transpired for the Devils this season, Halonen was easily forgotten about on the organizational depth chart. But when he returned, he made sure to reverse that quickly. His 16 goals in 30 games have brought him all the way up to third-best on the Comets, despite playing less than half the games of those ahead of him. That’s an impressive 44-goal pace over a full season.
Assuming he was healthy for the full season and scored at roughly the same pace, he’d be leading the team by nine or ten goals. What should be music to the ears of Devils fans, though, is that most of his goals aren’t due to speed or finesse. Instead, they’re primarily scored by all 6-foot, 207-pounds of him bulldozing his way into the crease and cashing in on rebounds. And he has a rocket of a one-timer as well.
Long-Term Fit
Nathan Bastian has missed 17 games due to a lower-body injury sustained on Feb. 24. It would be in the Devils’ best interest to see how Halonen can adapt to an NHL fourth line while they await Bastian’s return.
As mentioned, Halonen made his NHL debut on Feb. 25 before being immediately sent down. He played 9:47 and had one takeaway with no giveaways. He was then recalled on March 26 but was a healthy scratch for their contest in Toronto.
Similar to Bastian, Halonen is considered to be on the slower end speed-wise. Neither is a guy who will be playing tons of minutes a night, but Bastian has recently faltered in areas that Halonen could potentially be better in. There’s only one way to find out for sure: playing him.
At Bastian’s best, he was an excellent net-front presence on the powerplay and could throw his body around at even strength. Well, the powerplay element has fizzled, as Bastian has not recorded a point on the man advantage since the 2021-22 season. It’s been over 100 games.
In just his 30 games, Halonen has 11 points on the powerplay, with eight of them being goals. Despite missing over half of the season to this point, he has double the powerplay goals than anybody else on the Comets. While data on hits are limited in the AHL, the eye test has shown that Halonen is not afraid to throw his body around as well.
Bastian’s best goal-scoring season in the AHL was 18 goals in 58 games (0.31 goals-per-game – GPG). Halonen is scoring at a 0.53 GPG clip right now – a ~71% increase. In a cap-stricken environment, the Devils realizing what they have in Halonen now could pay off big time. Cheaply filling a valuable role and improving it in the process isn’t easy to do.
Having a consistently productive fourth liner could also pave the way for the overall lineup to cement itself, as the Devils have used a whopping 96 (!!) forward line combinations for 10-plus minutes this season.
There’s no reason Halonen hasn’t deserved this chance. Hopefully, the very fact that he was recalled shows that the organization is intrigued enough to give him a shot. Let’s see.