VERSATILE FORWARD FROM THE ROCK WILL WHATEVER CANADA NEEDS HIM TO BE
Dawson Mercer is a rock from The Rock.
You want this lad to play centre, check. You want him to play right or left wing, check. The video guy gets sick, he'll break down film. If the Zamboni stops running, he'll probably figure out a way to fix it.
He might be Team Canada's most versatile player, and while there are still decisions to make with the world junior roster, Mercer will be on the team, somewhere.
The New Jersey Devils 2020 first-round pick (18th overall) didn't play much last Christmas at the world juniors in the Czech Republic, but he will this year. He had 60 points in 42 games in 2019-20 in Drummondville and Chicoutimi, and has four goals in five games in the abbreviated 2020-21 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season.
“Where do I play? Just say I'm a forward. Let's not get specific,” said Mercer, 19, stuck in a hotel room in Red Deer in isolation with the other 45 players at selection camp but rolling with that inconvenience as he does with no set position.
“This is my eighth week of quarantining going back to when the pandemic hit (March). I'm used to it. Not bored at all.
“When I left my team in Quebec to go back to Newfoundland, I had to quarantine for two weeks, then the same when I returned to Quebec. Then, one of the staff (Chicoutimi) members tested positive for COVID, so the team had to isolate for another two weeks. Now this ... but I've got things to do. We've got team activities (online) and in my spare time I'm drawing, or watching movies, and I'm taking second-year university classes (Memorial University).” Mercer left his home in Bay Roberts, an hour outside St. John's, when he was in junior high. He had gone as far as he could playing where he was, chasing his hockey dream.
“I was only 14 years old when I left ... my parents gave me the option. It was my choice in life and I'm grateful,” said Mercer, whose dad works as a power line technician and his mom manages a gas and convenience store.
The right-shot forward could be the fourth-line centre on coach Andre Tourigny's team behind Kirby Dach, Dylan Cozens and
Quinton Byfield, or on the wing in a bottom-six role. At the NHL level, he might be a third-liner off his portability. Wherever it is, he has no worries about whether he'll be on the junior team off his past Hockey Canada work.
What he has is a game that should translate to the pros. When you ask him who his favourite NHL player is, there's no um or ah.
“Patrice Bergeron. He's my guy, the guy I want to watch. He plays on one of the best lines (Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak); he's on the power play and penalty kill and he's so good defensively. He does all the little things right. I want to bring that to my game,” he said.
BEEN THERE DONE THAT
With the New York Rangers deciding to keep their first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere rather than give the green light to last year's world junior MVP to play again for Canada, it's a blow for Tourigny's team.
“Obviously he's an unbelievable player. He would have been an added bonus, already playing for two years in this tournament,” said Mercer. “But, I'm not surprised the Rangers wouldn't let him go. They're not releasing (Finn Kaapo) Kakko either. They're looking at Lafreniere as a
star coming up and they're keeping him for his development.”
Lafreniere, who will be wearing No. 13, could wind up on the wing with centre Mika Zibanejad because he's more of a player and Zibanejad, who had five goals in a game last season, is a big-time shooter.
This 'n' that: Oilers prospect Philip Broberg, who'll be on the Swedish junior team, has been playing right D, his offside with Skelleftea, so could do the same here in their top four. Jonas Brodin in Minnesota has done that expertly for years and if Broberg can do that with the Oilers, that's a definite plus ... Team Germany, which will play Canada Boxing Day, took a major hit when Detroit's best prospect Moritz Seider decided to stay with Rogle in Sweden rather than anchor their junior blueline ... Germany will have Ottawa's third overall pick, centre Tim Stutzle, though. He's practising with Mannheim now after surgery on a broken hand just before the draft. Stutzle, Lukas Reichel (Chicago first-rounder) and John-jason Peterka, a second-round pick of Buffalo, will be a formidable junior line ... Former Oiler Jussi Markkanen's son Juho, born here in 2002, is one of the five Finnish goalies going to their selection camp. He's a longshot to make it though after being a fourth-round pick of Los Angeles in October ... Tony Granato's U of Wisconsin team is losing first-line centre Cole Caufield to USA and No. 2 C Dylan Holloway to Canada, although the Oiler first-rounder could be a left-winger on the Canadian squad ... Minnesota's first-rounder, dazzling centre Marco Rossi, is getting over COVID and has played one game for Zurich in the Swiss National League. He'll be the top gun for Austria.