Dawson Mercer enters the 2026-27 season with a different kind of pressure on his shoulders.
The New Jersey Devils are trying to make sure last season doesn’t repeat itself after a strong start ended with a missed postseason, and Mercer is right in the middle of that push. He’s not being asked to carry the spotlight anymore. Instead, his job is to stabilize the bottom six and keep giving the Devils reliable minutes when the lineup turns over.
That’s a shift from 2025-26, when Mercer was one of the club’s steadier producers. He played all 82 games, finished with 42 points on 20 goals and 22 assists, and set a new career high in average ice time at 18:14 per game.
He picked up his first point of the season with an assist in the Devils’ second game on Oct. 11, then followed that with a two-goal game on Oct. 13 that included a game-winning goal. Mercer ended up sixth on the team in points and was a major part of the Devils’ production all year.
A lot of that came with him skating on the top line alongside Nico Hischier and Timo Meier. That role helped boost both his ice time and his development, and it kept him in the flow offensively. He was steady from start to finish, and the Devils got real value from it.
Now the setup looks different. Luke Evangelista is expected to get a shot in the top six, which should push Mercer down the lineup.
But that doesn’t make his role any smaller. If anything, the Devils need him to make the lower part of the forward group matter.
He’s a strong skater and a dependable point producer, and he can help make sure the bottom six is not just surviving shifts but contributing to them. He’ll also be asked to eat minutes and help keep the top two lines fresh.
There’s also the contract angle hanging over everything. Mercer is in the final season of his current deal before becoming a restricted free agent next summer.
That gives him some security with the Devils, but it also means this season matters a lot for his next contract. It feels like the biggest year of his career so far, and the Devils will be watching closely.
Mercer has already hit a few notable milestones. He reached the 400-game mark last season and now sits at 410 NHL games.
If he stays healthy, he could get to 494 games in 2025-26 under the new 84-game schedule, leaving him just short of 500. He also broke Travis Zajac’s ironman streak at the end of last season and has not missed a game in his career.
That streak is still alive, and he’ll be trying to push it even further.
On top of that, Mercer crossed two major personal thresholds late last season by scoring his 100th NHL goal and recording his 100th NHL assist. His career totals now stand at 103 goals, 106 assists, and 209 points.
As for what comes next, the projection here is simple: Mercer gets back over 50 points. He already did it once, putting up 56 in 2023-24, and last season’s 42-point finish was the closest he’s come since then. With a bigger contract year ahead of him and a clear need to prove himself again, he has a path to another career-best season.
In Other News...
Devils Are Betting On Overlooked Talent To Deliver This Season
Sunny Mehtas offseason approach in New Jersey has a familiar feel for anyone who watched his work with the Panthers. The Devils are leaning into a talent-identification model that values players other teams may have overlooked, betting that the right environment can turn promising pieces into much more. Thats how names like Amadeus Lombardi, Declan Chisholm and Luke Evangelista have entered the conversation, with each beginning to show signs that they can become more than depth options at the pro level.
The more interesting part for the Devils is how that same logic applies to the roster already in place. Timo Meier, Dawson Mercer, Arseny Gritsyuk and Luke Hughes all have the kind of upside that could reshape the teams ceiling if the next step arrives this season, while offseason addition Anthony Mantha is expected to build on the scoring touch he showed recently. For New Jersey, the gamble is clear: if enough of these players move from potential to production, the payoff could be a much deeper, more dangerous lineup than the one that finished last spring. [Read more 🡒]
Anton Silayev May Be Ready Before The Devils Have Room
Anton Silayevs path to New Jersey is shaping up to be a patient one, even if the 20-year-old defenseman has already given the Devils plenty to like since going 10th overall in the draft. For now, the expectation is that hell spend the coming season developing with the Utica Comets, where he can get reps and adjust to the pro game without the pressure of forcing his way into an NHL lineup.
The challenge, of course, is that the Devils already have three established left-side defensemen in place, which leaves little obvious room for Silayev to jump straight in. Injuries could always change the equation, and the organization will keep an eye on how quickly he adapts, but the more likely route is a season of growth in the AHL before he starts pushing for a permanent spot in New Jersey. [Read more 🡒]
Luke Evangelista Could Be Sitting On A Devils Breakout Opportunity
Luke Evangelistas arrival gives the Devils something they have been searching for, a winger whose skill set could fit neatly beside Jack Hughes if the two are given the chance to build chemistry. The conversation around his role starts with line combinations, because in New Jersey the appeal is obvious: a creative winger paired with a high-end center can unlock offense in a way that was harder to imagine in Nashville.
Evangelistas previous stop came with the Predators, where the environment was different and the center options did not match what Hughes offers. Now the focus shifts to how the Devils use the trade that brought him in, and whether they lean into a configuration that puts him in position to grow quickly. If the fit works the way it looks on paper, New Jersey may have found a breakout opportunity hiding in plain sight. [Read more 🡒]