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NHL News: Devils Sign Dawson Mercer to Three-Year Contract
NHL News: The New Jersey Devils and Dawson Mercer have agreed to a three-year deal worth $12 million in total for a $4 million cap hit. His contract consists solely of base salary, with $3 million in 2025, $4.75 million in 2026, and $4.25 million in 2027, so he is due a $4.25 million qualifying offer upon the contract’s expiration.
Mercer is coming off a down year, which made things easier to shift negotiations to a bridge deal than a long-term deal. His 13 assists and 33 points with a -26 rating last season were all career-lows. He is, however, a skilled shooter, where he finished on 14.3% of his 449 shots on goal in his first three NHL seasons. He is also very durable, as he has yet to miss a game in his NHL career.
He’s a natural center, but he’s mostly played on the wing at the NHL level, in part because of Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes as the top two centers, but also because of Mercer’s struggles at the dot. On his career, he has a faceoff win percentage of 39%, but he has improved last season, winning 44.9% of his faceoffs through the campaign. He also showed flashes of his offensive ceiling when he put up 56 points during New Jersey’s resurgent 2023 season. His point production and his possession numbers are essentially rising and falling with the team’s record, and with the Devils eyeing playoffs next spring, look for the trend to continue.
What can help is significant time on both the power play and the penalty kill, and for a more consistent role in the top six at even strength. He was bouncing around the lineup a lot last year, as he didn’t record more than 100 minutes of ice time with a single set of linemates, per MoneyPuck. Though things could suggest he could open the 2025 campaign on a line with Jack Hughes and Timo Meier.
NHL News: Utah, Dylan Guenther Agree to Eight-Year Extension
NHL News: While the Utah Hockey Club typically doesn’t chare financial details, Dylan Guenther and the club have agreed to an eight-year extension, per a team announcement. Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports shared that the cap hit is approximately $7.143 million, making his total value close to $57.143 million. In the richest deal in franchise history since relocating from Arizona, Guenther, who will have a 10-team no-trade list in the final three years of the deal, will trail only Clayton Keller’s $7.15 million cap hit among the highest cap hits on the team.
Guenther was projected to be a future cornerstone for the organization when he was drafted 9th overall. It hasn’t changed a lot since they moved from Phoenix to Salt Lake City, but it’s a huge chunk for someone who has yet to play a full NHL regular season. When he spent the post-draft season entirely with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, he cracked the opening night roster in 2023, where he put up solid numbers for a 19-year-old on a rebuilding team, with six goals and 15 points in 33 games.
But with him averaging third-line minutes at best, the former Arizona Coyotes returned him to the juniors with the longer-term game in mind. When he was left off the opening night roster last season, Guenther quickly outgrew the farm system, with 28 points in 29 games with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners before getting recalled in January, where he went on to score 18 goals and 35 points in 45 games while playing on a top six role. He also posted above average possession metrics, and was also on pace for a 64-point season in a full 82-game year, which would have been second behind Keller’s 76.
His talent cannot be questioned, and he will definitely be on the opening night roster, but a max-term commitment to make him one of the highest-paid players on the team is risky for someone who has yet to play a full season in the NHL. It could, however, end up being a bargain if he is a perennial 70-point scorer, especially with the cap rising. But it also puts a lot of pressure on him to live up to that cap hit.
NHL News: Logan O’Connor Inks Six-Year Extension with Avalanche
NHL News: The Colorado Avalanche kept one of their key secondary scorers by signing Logan O’Connor to a six-year, $15 million extension. With him on the final year of his three-year, $9.45 million contract expiring, he was set to become an unrestricted free agent, but with the Avs going to work, he stays under contract through the 2031 season, where he will earn $2.5 million each year of the new contract.
O’Connor, before playing in the NHL, was an undrafted free agent out of the University of Denver, where he scored 16 goals and 43 points in 108 games from 2015 to 2018, while helping them to a national championship in the 2017 season. He later signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Colorado Avalanche after his junior year in 2018, then made his NHL debut the following year after he stood out with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, but couldn’t find consistent footing in the NHL. In his first two years with the Avs, he registered only two goals in 21 games before injuries limited him to just three goals and five points in the 2021 regular season.
He fully came into his role out in the 2022 season, with eight goals and 24 points in 81 games, averaging just under 14 minutes of ice time per game, becoming one of Colorado’s top physical players and an effective penalty killer, helping them win the Stanley Cup in 2022. He followed up the Stanley Cup-winning year with nine goals and 26 points in a full 82-game season.
Last season, however, was his true breakthrough year, where he scored 13 goals and 25 points, with three goals on the penalty kill, all in 57 games on the year, as a hip injury prematurely ended his 2024 season. His shooting percentage more than doubled, as he converted on 15.3% of his shots. When he went down, Colorado’s third line was noticeably not the same. He’ll be a major bottom six piece for the Avs once again as they look to get their footing back. After their Stanley Cup-winning year, they haven’t advanced past the second round, mostly because of their lack of forward depth. The $2.5 million cap hit should be plausible for a cap-strapped team.
NHL News: Jets Notch Cole Perfetti on Two-Year Deal
NHL News: The Winnipeg Jets notched Cole Perfetti to a two-year bridge contract at $6.5 million total, carrying a $3.25 million cap hit. The 22-year-old will receive $3 million in his first year and $3.5 million in his second, and will once again be a restricted free agent at the end of the contract, where he will require a $3.5 million qualifying offer to retain his rights.
The question heading into the summer was whether Jets and Perfetti would go for a long-term deal or if they were more comfortable going for a short-term bridge deal. They chose the latter route, which made sense, given the Jets wanted to see more from him, and he likely feels he has more in him.
He was good for the team last season, with 19 goals and 19 assists for 38 points in 71 games on the year, but he struggled in the second half of the season after a good start. The offensive numbers were career-highs for him in his three-year NHL career, but he could be on the cusp of reaching his potential. Should he get consistent top-six minutes, he could get a big boost offensively.
And consistency is key, given that he was a healthy scratch 11 times last season and played a total of 10:56 in the playoffs. He’s a high-end playmaker with good hockey skills, but the big issue with him throughout his career is his skating. He’s not the fastest player when out there on the ice, which can hinder his ability to generate spacing for open areas, which is especially the case when he has the puck.
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