With the New Jersey Devils not making many moves this offseason, it looks like Dawson Mercer will be the third-line center this upcoming season. New Jersey has an abundance of wingers, leaving Mercer to play in the middle, a role he has played plenty of times before.
Mercer is just 23 years old but has yet to take the leap that Devils fans have been waiting for quite some time. With a full offseason of preparing to be a center all season, this may be the season where he rises and possibly leads the way for the bottom six.
Dawson Mercer had a very underwhelming season last year but was once again able to play all 82 games, something he has done every year since entering the league. He only had 36 points this past season, which isn't what you want to see from a player who once had high hopes of being a lock in the Devils' top 6 of the future. New Jersey seems to have the bottom six wingers set with Arseniy Gritsyuk, Connor Brown, Evgenii Dadonov, and Paul Cotter.
Dawson Mercer seems set to become the Devils' third-line center
Mercer has familiarity with the center position, mainly due to injuries, but he can always improve. He played most of his games on the wings last season, only playing 11.7% of his games at center. His two-way play is a bright spot for him, as it has been something he's been known for, even as a winger. Not only that, but he is also a great penalty killer. He led all forwards in penalty killing ice time with 161:37, showing that the trust is there from head coach Sheldon Keefe.
As for his play in the dot, it leaves a lot to be desired. Out of the 237 face-offs that Mercer took, his face-off win percentage was 40.5% as he only won 96 of them. Compared to the other centers on the team, those numbers put Mercer in the middle of the pack. However, with faceoff leader Erik Haula now playing in Nashville, Mercer must get that number closer to 50%.
If Mercer can take the leap that we've all been waiting for, this Devils team could potentially make it past the second round of the playoffs. All of these elite teams have great bottom-six players that hustle and make the plays that don't show up in the box score. Mercer could be that for New Jersey. His future role on this team is likely the third center position, which is his best chance to figure things out.