Devils prospect Dawson Mercer had a great first game at the WJC.
The New Jersey Devils had some great young prospects playing in the World Junior Classic on Saturday. There were six Devils playing; Jaromir Pytlik, Patrick Moynihan, Alexander Holtz, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Arseni Gritsyuk, and Dawson Mercer. They are all fantastic players, but Mercer had the biggest day of them all. He had a great performance in his first game of the tournament. We do, however, need to take it in stride based on a few different variables.
Mercer and his Team Canada teammates had their way with Team Germany. It was a dominant performance for Team Canada as most people expected. They are the best team in the tournament by far and should have an easy time against the lesser teams. Germany was missing players due to the COVID pandemic, so they weren’t just missing talented players, but they didn’t have enough players to put out a full lineup.
Mercer was one of the more productive players of any players who played on Saturday. He had two goals and two assists for four points. He was a big part of Canada dominating the scoreboard over the Germans. The one thing to take into consideration is that Team Germany isn’t very good. It is the type of team that the kids on Team Canada enjoy playing against because they pretty much get to have their way all game long. German Hockey is certainly producing more and more great players but they are nowhere near the level of the five power countries.
The fact that they aren’t good isn’t necessarily a reason to discredit Merce’s performance, but it should be taken with a grain of salt. He would probably be the second-best player on Team Germany behind Tim Stutzle but he might legit be the 11th, 12th, or 13th forward on Team Canada.
He was a 1st-round pick by New Jersey in the 2020 NHL Draft for a reason but he still has a lot of development to go. He is a sweet player to have in the organization but there is a long way to go. We can be excited about a game like that and hope it continues as the competition starts to get more stiff. Seeing him play against Team Russia, Team Finland, Team Sweden, and Team USA should be a lot of fun.
These are the moments we go back and recognize when players make it to the New Jersey Devils lineup. Dawson Mercer’s game is the type of game that will mesh well with the rest of the players that New Jersey has in impact roles. Later today, we get to see Dawson Mercer again as Team Canada plays against Jaromir Pytlik and the Czechs.