The New Jersey Devils spent the offseason reshaping their attack, and Dawson Mercer is one of the players left sorting through the fallout.
General manager Sunny Mehta added left winger Anthony Mantha, traded for right winger Luke Evangelista, and brought in center Evan Rodrigues, a wave of moves that has changed the look of the lineup from top to bottom. That shuffle has left Mercer in an awkward spot: important enough to matter, but no longer easy to place.
Right now, Mercer is projected to line up on the third line at right wing with Evan Rodrigues at center and Arseny Gritsyuk on the left side. It’s been a summer filled with trade talk around Mercer, but nothing has come of it, and for now he remains part of the group the Devils are counting on.
The numbers still give Mercer a strong case. In the 2025/26 season, he scored 20 goals and had 42 assists in 82 games.
His 5-on-5 Corsi rate was 52.6% last season, and the Devils also posted 51.8% of expected goals with Mercer on the ice during 5-on-5 play. Those underlying metrics suggest he was driving positive results even if the broader conversation around him has cooled.
What Mercer hasn’t done, at least statistically, is keep building on the breakout that came with his 56-point season in 2022. Over the next three seasons, his point totals settled at 33 in 2023, 36 in 2024, and 42 in 2025. The offense has been steady, but it hasn’t made the kind of jump that would force a bigger role.
That’s why this season matters. The Devils need Mercer to take another step if they want to push this roster further, and doing it from a bottom-six role would make the payoff even bigger. Mercer has also been as durable as they come, appearing in 410 straight games since his NHL debut on October 15, 2021.
He still offers plenty to this Devils lineup. The question now is whether the offseason additions have pushed him into the background or given him the kind of setup where he can settle in and become a reliable bottom-six piece.
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