Yahoo Sports Dawson Mercer Moves To Center Ahead Of Game Against Avalanche
On Sunday night, the New Jersey Devils will host the Colorado Avalanche at Prudential Center for their first meeting of the 2024-25 season.
The club held a morning skate at 10:30 a.m., during which the coaching staff debuted a change to their lineup.
Dawson Mercer, 23, will center the team's third line with Erik Haula and Tomas Tatar on his wings.
“We will see Mercer there a little bit today,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We are going to change that up a little bit. But you’ll still see Haula in the middle at different times, faceoffs, and things like that. Just wanted to change it up a little bit."
"We have been wanting to get Mercer some looks in the middle of the ice," Keefe continued "I know he’s done that here previously, not in my time and not in recent years consistently, but we want to see what that looks like and see if getting him in the middle of the ice can help that group and help them get through the neutral zone and stuff like that.”
This season, Mercer has taken 16 face-offs (43.8%).
"Maybe a small change can shake it up a bit," the Bay Roberts native said. "So we are looking to have a different approach to it, and, hopefully, for the benefit, a positive."
Mercer has spent time playing with Haula, so has he picked up any tricks from the veteran who has taken 327 draws through 29 games?
"We have been practicing that for a while now, over the years," Mercer said. I know I haven't taken much lately, but there are definitely pointers and reasons that we have all learned from previous players and players who have been with us, so it has been good."
The Devils are projected to use the following lineup against the Avalanche:
Ondrej Palat - Jack Hughes - Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier - Nico Hischier - Stefan Noesen
Erik Haula - Dawson Mercer - Tomas Tatar
Paul Cotter - Justin Dowling - Nathan Légaré
Brenden Dillon - Dougie Hamilton
Jonas Siegenthaler - Johnathan Kovacevic
Luke Hughes - Brett Pesce
Keefe confirmed Jake Allen will start in the net, with Jacob Markstrom serving as the backup.
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