{"id":450287,"date":"2024-09-06T13:45:10","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T17:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=450287"},"modified":"2024-09-06T13:50:49","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T17:50:49","slug":"contract-nhl-rumours-new-jersey-devils-rfa-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/09\/06\/contract-nhl-rumours-new-jersey-devils-rfa-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Contract Rumours for New Jersey Devils RFA Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/08\/15\/taking-a-look-at-the-new-jersey-devils-rivalries\/\" target=\"_self\">New Jersey Devils<\/a> fanbase is starting to grow worried with the fact their young, restricted free agent forward remains unsigned. Welcome back to another edition of NHL rumours, and this one as NHL training camps begin to start up in around two-weeks time, with many players around the league showing up already. However, the Newfoundlander, and pride of Bay Roberts, Newfoundland and Labrador, Dawson Mercer, is still without contract for the upcoming season. He&#8217;s a two-time, 20-goal scorer in the NHL already at the age of 22.<\/p>\n<h3>NHL Rumours from the New Jersey Devils and their RFA Forward<\/h3>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.thefourthperiod.com\/sep-2024\/devils-mercer-contract-talks-taking-time\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Fourth Period man himself, David Pagnotta provide us with today&#8217;s rumours<\/a>. They are trying to be as transparent as possible, without getting into the <em>nitty gritty<\/em>. The news isn&#8217;t great, but also no reason to panic. It seems a deal will get done in a timely fashion when it needs to get done.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"FLXtYw4kyV\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/08\/08\/nhl-rumours-latest-update-on-devils-rfa\/\" target=\"_self\">NHL Rumours: Latest Update on Devils RFA<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;NHL Rumours: Latest Update on Devils RFA&#8221; &#8212; Last Word On Hockey\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/08\/08\/nhl-rumours-latest-update-on-devils-rfa\/embed\/#?secret=RCj9hswJyw#?secret=FLXtYw4kyV\" data-secret=\"FLXtYw4kyV\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The talented young Devil, Dawson Mercer, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is expecting<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> a big payday on this contract. However, the Devils would not see the value in the asking price <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">at this time<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Therefore, a bridge deal seems to be the workable model. As of now, the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">rumour<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> suggests that the two sides are still far apart. Both <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">just<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> ultimately want to see a deal done. On one side, Mercer does <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">want<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> to continue to play to show he&#8217;s a 30-goal scorer at the NHL level, with having a big 2024-25 season. Moreover, the Devils management needs the depth the forward provides to the Devils forward group. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">His speed and talent cannot be understated and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">help<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> to balance out the Devils&#8217; line combinations.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Devils Should Re-Sign Dawson Mercer<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">One aspect of contracts that is difficult <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">to properly leverage in negotiations<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> can be bonuses. However, many middle-career players cannot avail of them as other contracts can. In contrast, Mercer&#8217;s contract, like many, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">really<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> boils down to cap space availability in any event. With an active roster size of 22 of 23 positions filled and $4.976 M left in cap space, there seems like an easy middle ground to find. That&#8217;s why landing on a bridge deal makes the most sense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What&#8217;s He Really Worth?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/07\/18\/new-jersey-devils-organization-should-re-sign-dawson-mercer\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Dawson Mercer<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8216;s career numbers are impressive and he would be <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">inline<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> for a nice salary based on them. That is likely the stance his side is taking in contract negotiations. Furthermore, he has shown to be a playoff performer, at a young age. That is <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">definitely<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> an argument that can be brought to management in a negotiation process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Mercer has had 17, 27, and 20 goals, in order, of each season he has played for the Devils since 2021-22. He&#8217;s been responsible as a <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">centre<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, played in a top-six role, and been on a playoff team. Throughout his career thus far, he has averaged 16:46 a night. It <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">really<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> is the speed and talent, combined with the two-way game that makes Mercer a complete player for your team. A true contributor to your team&#8217;s success. Just when will a deal get done? It is tough to know with any great deal of certainty, but regardless, he <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is deserving of<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> a big paycheque.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New Jersey Devils fanbase is starting to grow worried with the fact their young, restricted free agent forward remains unsigned. Welcome back to another edition of NHL rumours, and this one as NHL training camps begin to start up in around two-weeks time, with many players around the league showing up already. However, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4222,"featured_media":435868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4547,4548,4321],"tags":[4417,6094],"class_list":["post-450287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devils","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-rumours","tag-dawson-mercer","tag-new-jersey-devils-rumours"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}