Dawson Mercer (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Could the New Jersey Devils and restricted free agent forward Dawson Mercer finally find common ground and reach an agreement on a new contract soon?
In an exclusive interview with RG on Monday, New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald had this to say about locking up the 6-foot, 180-pound, 22-year-old center who scored 20 goals and had 18 assists in 82 games last season:
“We are working towards an agreement after exchanging proposals.”
Mercer is coming out of a three-year entry-level contract, $2.68 million ($894,67 AAV). As one NHL source opined to RG.org recently, Fitzgerald may be trying to take a similar contract route to Mercer’s teammate and Devils forward Jesper Bratt.
“Do they look at Bratt and the track he took as comparable?” the source asked. “I don’t know, we’ll see.”
Bratt signed a two-year, $5.5 million ($2.75M AAV) contract out of his three-year, $2.5 million ($749,000 AAV) entry-level contract. He signed a one-year, $5.45 million contract before finally signing his current eight-year, $63 million ($7.8M AAV) contract in 2023.
Last week, the St. Louis Blues woke up the NHL world by agreeing to offer sheets with Edmonton Oilers forward Dylan Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg. As of noon ET on Monday, the Oilers were yet to match Broberg’s two-year offer at $4,580,917 per season and Holloway's offer of $2,290,457 per year on a two-year term. They had until Tuesday to do so.
Like Broberg and Holloway, Mercer is eligible to accept an offer sheet, but given both sides' willingness to find common ground, that doesn’t seem likely to happen with Mercer.
Fitzgerald and the New Jersey Devils have arguably had one of the best offseasons in the NHL.
They finally landed their man between the pipes in Jacob Markstrom back in June. Then they went on a free-agent spending spree that saw them land the likes of forwards Tomas Tatar and Stefan Noesen and highly-coveted defenseman Brett Pesce.
In addition, the Devils acquired forward Paul Cotter and a 2025 third-round pick from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for forward Alexander Holtz and goalie Akira Schmid, as well as defenseman Jonathan Kovacevic from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a 2026 fourth-round pick.
The Devils also hired a new head coach in former Toronto Maple Leafs bench boss Sheldon Keefe.
With 24 years of experience (SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, ESPN Boston, NESN, NHL.com, etc.) covering the Bruins, the NHL, NCAA and junior hockey, and more, Jimmy Murphy’s hockey black book is filled with Hall of Famers, current players, coaches, management, scouts and a wide array of hockey media personalities that have lived in and around this great game. For 22 of his 24 years as a hockey and sports reporter, Murphy covered the Bruins on a daily basis, including their victorious 2011 Stanley Cup run and their runs to the 2013 and 2019 Finals. Murphy is currently a co-host, along with Pierre McGuire, on The Eye Test Podcast.
