New Jersey Devils
Floundering Devils Need More From Dawson Mercer
The New Jersey Devils have hit another skid and they’ll need Dawson Mercer to step up to help them get out of it.
Life without Jack Hughes has been tough. It was to be expected, but now that the results are showing themselves, it’s difficult to watch at times.
The healthy three-fourths of the Devils’ ‘Core Four’, consisting of Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Timo Meier, have gone above and beyond to keep the team in the third Metropolitan division spot. The rest of the team, not so much.
Hischier has continued to face the toughest matchups night after night, and the addition of Cody Glass has been a welcomed surprise, but one key cog down the center of the ice that needs to start pulling their weight more is Dawson Mercer.
READ: Cody Glass’ Surprising Instant Impact Ignites Devils Spark
In Mercer’s defense, he hasn’t been a natural center since his junior days with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens of the QMJHL. He’s filled in in short spurts but hasn’t been relied upon in this capacity in quite some time.
Unfortunately, opposing teams won’t have much, if any, sympathy for Mercer and have instead hunted him and his line down.
Mercer is just straddling the 50% line for on-ice goals percentage but is below that threshold in Corsi and Fenwick percentages. His 48% Corsi and 47% Fenwick are third bottom amongst all forwards, just ahead of Nathan Bastian and the now on-fire Erika Haula.
It doesn’t take looking deep into the analytics to see that the team needs more from him. Since Jack’s injury, Mercer has amounted just three points in 10 games, which included a six-game pointless streak that was broken with an assist against the Vancouver Canucks.
Mercer has been playing a career-high 17:47 of ice time this season but has yet to show any extra results. His previous two goals came in the blowout home loss to the Winnipeg Jets and an empty netter against the Flyers. In fact, before his goal against the Jets, Mercer had gone on a 10-game goalless streak that featured just two assists. In addition, Mercer’s 42.9% face-off percentage continues to hurt the team, as he’s now relied upon way more in defensive zone situations. His inability to win possession has been the driving force behind his line getting pinned in their own zone for large stretches at a time.
The Devils have been starved of secondary scoring for most of this year, and Mercer has been just one of many that leave more to be desired. Blame can be put on management for not fully committing to improving in this area, but Mercer was someone management was counting on to provide that scoring, given the three-year, $12 million contract he signed last offseason.
READ MORE: Devils Head Coach Responds to Viral Johnathan Kovacevic Criticism
The frustrating part is that Mercer has shown in the past his ability to be a reliable secondary scorer. He posses the willingness to get to the blue paint and score dirty goals, as evident by his 27-goal campaign in 2022-23. However, in an increased role with increased ice time, Mercer is on pace for just 17 goals, a total that would equal his career-low from his rookie season.
It’s fair to say that nobody is expecting Bratt-esque playmaking or Timo Meier’s ‘March Madness’ level scoring, but the time is now for him to take the reigns of the heightened responsibility of centering a line and drive more offense.
With just a handful of games left and a playoff spot suddenly in question, the Devils will need more from Mercer on all ends of the ice if they want to lock down a spot and make any sort of noise in the spring.
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