The New Jersey Devils and restricted free agent Dawson Mercer have agreed to a three-year contract extension with an average annual value of $4 million, a team source confirmed to The Athletic on Friday. TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report the deal.
Mercer, picked No. 18 in the 2020 NHL Draft, has been one of the most reliable players in his draft class. He has 131 points in 246 career games and has not missed a game since his debut at the start of the 2021-22 season. He ranks third in his draft class in games, fourth in goals (64) and fifth in points.
The 22-year-old had a difficult 2023-24 season, scoring a career-low 33 points. His numbers were down from 2022-23, when he had a 27-goal, 56-point campaign.
Mercer likely would have commanded a higher average annual value on a long-term deal. The Devils did not have the cap space to make that happen after spending in free agency, so a bridge contract was always the most likely outcome for Mercer. He’ll get a chance to earn a bigger deal in three years, and the Devils have him on a manageable cap hit until then.
New Jersey now has 22 players on its roster and around $1.7 million in cap space, according to CapWages.
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