Bratt Reflects on Road to Game 500 | FEATURE

Jesper Bratt has come a long way.

A long way from that kid who showed up at the Devils' 2017 training camp, a sixth-round pick the year prior, just taking it all in.

"I remember a lot of things," he shared, reminiscing about his first training camp. "There was one time when I think I was sitting in the stands, and I was watching one of the scrimmage games on Day 1 or Day 2 at camp. I remember the one line I was watching, I think it was (Kyle) Palmieri, Taylor Hall, and I think it was Marcus Johansson on one line. I was sitting in the stands, and I was thinking, 'How could I ever play against guys like this?'

"So, that was just like, one of those cool moments that you realized that, wow, I'm really here right now, competing for a spot versus these guys and how good they were, and how hard they worked, and all that stuff," he continued. "It's been a lot of a learning process ever since that training camp, and it's been a really, really fun ride."

When he was drafted in 2016 in the sixth round, 162nd overall, there was no telling where his future would take him. But the only thing Bratt knew for certain was that he was going to do everything in his power to make sure he gave himself the greatest chance of success to play in the greatest hockey league in the world.

He came guns blazing into that first training camp, forcing the Devils managements' hand to keep him with the NHL club instead of sending him to Junior hockey.

He has never looked back.

"I just thought I had nothing to lose," Bratt said, asked whether being a sixth-round pick motivated him in his first training camp. "I think I always knew how good I was, and what I could become one day by working really, really hard. And I think that was kind of a driving force for me to prove out other people. And I used guys from previous drafts and my draft to kind of show that I can work harder than these guys. I can be better than these guys. And that was kind of a drive for myself to feel like I had nothing to lose.

"And I took every day, every single puck and every single shift like it was my last, and I gave my all to that training camp," he added."And came out of it successful."

Successful indeed, not just in that one training camp, but ever since, he's continued to evolve and on Dec. 6, 2024 he hit a new milestone, playing in his 500th career game. Time flies.

He has skyrocketed his way to stardom in the NHL, shooting his way up the leaderboard in points for 2016 draft picks. He sits behind just four players (Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Alex DeBrincat and Clayton Keller) in points (396), and all four players ahead of him were drafted either in the first or second round of the draft. In fact, no player in the top 10 in points from 2016 was drafted below the second round.

But there sits Bratt. And it’s certainly not by chance.

"Together with people around me, we really set up a standard that (being drafted) is far away from done," he said. "You're far away from playing your first game, just because you get drafted (doesn't mean you'll play). And I think I'm obviously happy that that's a driving force that I have, that I taught myself, that my parents taught me, great people around me were on me to just continue getting better and better every day, and not ever be fully satisfied, that there's always a new level to reach."

As has gone Bratt's evolution, so has that of the franchise. He, along with Nico Hischier, are the longest-serving Devils currently on the roster. The two are the only ones remaining from Bratt's and Hischier's first training camp in 2017.

Both came from opposite ends of the draft order, but both evolved into cornerstone pieces of the building blocks for the new generation of Devils hockey.

Five-hundred games in, many more to go. Bratt, he says, feels they're just getting started.

He's been through the ups, like making the playoffs in his first year, and some leaner years as well. He takes everything in, knowing there is a lesson to be learned somewhere. But the one constant, from Day 1, has been his close friend Hischier. They sit in the same stalls they broke into the league in, in the locker room, two down from one another, and are the only two who can fully relate to how far the franchise has come from their early days.

“For me, having Nico here and been through this together, we’ve been through everything together," he said. "From ups and downs, it’s really special to me to have him, and just knowing that we’ve both been a part of this journey for so long. Now turning this around into a successful team that plays good hockey, it’s a lot of fun and I know that, and he thinks the same way, that our best years are ahead of us."