Paul Cotter

An initial glance at Cotter's numbers last year would indicate a player on the rise, as he set new career highs with 18 assists, 25 points and four power-play points. However, a deeper look at the versatile forward's end of the 2023-24 campaign paints a different picture. The 24-year-old Michigan native ended the regular season mired in a 17-game goal drought during which he generated a mere 15 shots on net. Additionally, Cotter found himself as the odd man out of the lineup in the playoffs, serving as a healthy scratch for all seven of the Golden Knights' postseason clashes with Dallas. An offseason trade saw him shipped off to New Jersey, where he is likely to fill a limited bottom-six role, providing hits and depth scoring but little else.