The New Jersey Devils have spent the offseason clearing up a lot of their biggest questions, but Dawson Mercer still sits right in the middle of one of the more interesting ones. With general manager Sunny Mehta reshaping the front office, goaltending, and bottom six, and with veteran forward Anthony Mantha now signed to a two-year contract, the roster is starting to take shape. The next step may be figuring out exactly where Mercer fits.
There’s a strong argument that the answer is the third line, and that it should be permanent.
Mercer has already shown he can handle just about anything the Devils ask of him. At 24, he can move between wing and center without much trouble, and his value has always come from how steady he is. Since his NHL debut in 2021, he has played all 82 games for five straight seasons, a level of availability that matters even more when injuries pile up around him.
He also keeps producing. Last season, Mercer scored 20 goals for the third time in his career and continued to bring a reliable two-way game.
He logged meaningful time on both the power play and penalty kill, and he set a career high with three shorthanded goals. That kind of profile fits naturally on a third line that needs dependable scoring and structure.
The idea here is not to force Mercer into a bigger offensive role than he needs. It’s to put him in a spot where he can do damage without carrying the burden of driving play against top competition every night.
In recent seasons, the Devils have needed more stability and depth scoring in the middle six, and Mercer looks built to provide exactly that. When he has bounced between wing and center, his offense has sometimes dipped.
A fixed role could help him settle in.
PuckPedia’s current roster projections have newcomer Evan Rodrigues centering the third line, which would leave Mercer on the right side, his preferred position. That pairing makes sense on paper.
Rodrigues brings the playmaking and puckhandling, while Mercer is at his best when someone feeds him chances around the net. One creates, the other finishes.
That setup could also open the door for more offense than Mercer got last season. He spent most of his ice time with Nico Hischier and Timo Meier, a line that was often asked to take on the toughest assignments against opposing top units.
The Meier-Hischier-Mercer trio posted 67.06 shot attempts every 60 minutes, but it averaged only 1.76 goals. Mercer still reached 20 goals in that environment, which says plenty about what he might do with a lighter defensive load.
The numbers point the same way. NHL Edge had Mercer in the 82nd percentile for shots on goal last season, but he finished below league average in shooting percentage and offensive zone time.
In other words, he was getting pucks to the net, but not always in the kind of situations that maximize scoring. A third-line role could change that.
It would also keep one of the Devils’ most dependable players in a spot where he can help the team without being overextended. Only five players scored 20 goals for New Jersey in 2025-26, and Mercer was among them. Having that kind of production on the third line would give the Devils a much deeper attack.
The bigger picture matters too. Mercer is entering the final year of his bridge deal, and this season could go a long way toward deciding what comes next. Mehta has already shown he’s willing to move on from players who aren’t pulling their weight, so 2026-27 feels like a major proving ground for Mercer.
The question hanging over him is the same one that’s followed him for a while now: can he get back to the form he showed in 2022-23, when he put up 27 goals and 56 points? He hasn’t matched that breakout yet, and that keeps his future in New Jersey very much in play.
There was already trade speculation before last season’s deadline, and it hasn’t gone away. Mercer carries a $4 million cap hit and no trade protection, which keeps him in the conversation as a possible piece in a bigger deal. If he does move, it would likely be part of a package for a major addition, whether that’s another top-six forward or an elite goaltender.
For now, though, the cleanest path may be the simplest one: give Mercer a permanent home on the third line and let him do what he does best. If he finds consistency there, he could become exactly the kind of secondary scorer the Devils have been missing. And if he turns in another 20-goal season in 2026-27, the conversation next summer gets a lot more serious.
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