Dawson Mercer is expected to be in the lineup on Tuesday night when the New Jersey Devils take on the New York Rangers for the last installment of the Hudson River Rivalry. That’s not a surprise. Mercer has literally never not been in the Devils’ lineup since entering the league in 2021.
Since then, Mercer has played 401 consecutive games. That matches Travis Zajac’s record of most games played in a row. Zajac made his record stick starting in 2006 and playing every game until the end of the 2010-11 season. His streak was broken when he suffered a torn Achilles in the offseason, forcing to miss most of the season.
Of course, Zajac’s injury led to the rise of what became one of the team’s fan favorites: Adam Henrique. The rookie got to be the center in between Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise on the team’s route to the Stanley Cup Final that June.
This New Jersey Devils team is not going that far. The team is on pace to miss the playoffs once again. Mercer hasn’t been great, even with the Devils’ offense making a complete 180 since the Olympic break.
However, this franchise record is important. With so many injuries impacting the Devils over the past few years, having some level of reliability is essential.
Looking at Dawson Mercer’s streak, we had to ask how long it would take for him to overtake other streaks.
Mercer’s next goal is to play 500 games in a row. That’s what many consider the true “Iron Man” streak of the NFL. Only 30 players in the history of the sport have reached that milestone. At this pace, Mercer would break that milestone in October of 2027. Once he does that, he would join Nick Suzuki and Brett Burns as the active leaders, assuming they continue their streaks (which would be insane for Burns because of his age).
Based on current streaks, Alex DeBrincat should get into the 500s next season, and Charlie Coyle will get there around the same time as Mercer (October 2027).
To beat Burns’ current streak, which has him second on the all-time list, Mercer would have to do this for more than seven more seasons. Based on current projections and the extra two games being added to the season schedule, Mercer would break that streak by around Thanksgiving 2033.
For the big one? That’s Phil Kessel. He’s played 1,064 games in a row, and technically, the streak is still active. Mercer would need to play eight more seasons without missing a game. Based on our calculations, he would break the record around April 2028.
So, what about the Iron Man streak? How long would Dawson Mercer have to play to break Cal Ripken’s streak of consecutive games played in sports? Well, that’s going to take a lot.
Ripken played 2,632 games in a row for the Baltimore Orioles. Obviously, Mercer would have a disadvantage since baseball plays 162 games per year, but let’s do the math anyway. So it’s 2,632 - 402, which equals 2,230 more games to go for Mercer. Then divide that by 84, which is next’s season’s schedule length. And we have…
Mercer would need to play for 26 ½ more seasons without missing a game to beat Ripken. Does he have a Gordie Howe level of longevity in him? That seems pretty unlikely.