Your Questions Asked | THREE THINGS

Soon we will hear the noise of skate blades hitting the ice. Pucks bouncing off end boards. Pucks connecting with sticks for a mighty slap shot.
Hockey is coming.
The Devils had one of the busier off-seasons, acquiring, adding and signing players;
Tom Fitzgerald
carefully crafting his team for the
2021-22 NHL season
. Naturally, the addition of new pieces to the puzzle will prompt questions on just what this team will look like when they hit the ice for training camp; there are a lot of exciting unknowns.
In Three Things this week, I take some of your burning questions and try to answer them as best as possible!

1. Keeping the Pace?

It could be a lot to ask, but it's certainly doable. Last season, the team saw exceptional developments from their young players, notably a few of their rookies. Players like Yegor Sharangovich came flying out of the starters gate and did not seem to slow down for a second. He reached the (shortened) finish line with 16 goals and 14 assists, his goal total ranking second behind Pavel Zacha and Miles Wood's 17 a piece.
Janne Kuokkanen was five points short of Sharangovich's total, with 25 of his own (8G-17A) and playing to a level of consistency any coach would be pleased to see.
Michael McLeod certainly jumped off the page, not as a rookie, but as a player coming into his own and really hone in on the role he's been asked to take on with the team.
On defense, Ty Smith even surprised his own general manager.
"I'm the first to tell you, I'm not saying I'm a good or bad scout, but I did not expect Ty Smith to make our team this year," Fitzgerald admitted at the end of the 2020-21 season. "I've got to give him all the credit in the world. He forced us to keep him on the team, we didn't force to put him on, he forced us to keep him on the team and I don't think he had one bad game, to be honest with you."
Putting something together for one season is commendable, but stringing those performances together, not just game-by-game but from one season to another is where this group is going to truly start to make their mark.
In 2020-21 both
Sharangovich
and
Kuokkanen
Nos. 1 and 2 in 5-on-5 scoring.
But, when that second year in the league hits, one that will look far more 'normal' than what the season held last year, and one with 82 games scheduled, this will be a different beast to tackle. That's something where there will certainly be a watchful eye looking out. How can these standout performances translate into another year of experience?
Fitzgerald has often been quoted about "looking under the hood of the car" to see what he has. He did that this past season, giving the young players a chance. He's seen what they can do.
Now, once again it's up to them to prove that they are indeed the engine that will keep the car going.

2. Can Dawson Mercer Make the Jump?

A player I'll be keeping my eye on is Dawson Mercer.
Here's what Devils assistant general manager and Utica GM Dan MacKinnon had to say about Mercer just a few weeks ago when I asked him for a specific player he's really looking forward to seeing at training camp.
"(Dawson is) the guy we're so excited about, because you just know he's going to be able to step in and have a pretty well-rounded, mature pro-style game right away, but also the skill to produce points and not just be a checker."
This will be Mercer's first NHL training camp, despite being drafted two years ago. The pandemic prevented Mercer from any normalcy, but now he'll finally arrive in New Jersey for a training camp.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Mercer make a push at training camp for the NHL roster, but he'll really have to stand out as one of the best 12 forwards through camp to find himself on that opening night roster. My guess would be if he's in the NHL right off the bat, he could find himself at wing, instead of his natural center position as he gets used to the NHL game.
The alternative would be Mercer going to Utica. And that's okay too. Because there is absolutely nothing wrong with letting talent marinate in the minor leagues, carefully crafting their talents to make it a seamless transition once the NHL opportunity comes calling. The difference here (other than the obvious) would be the number of minutes and position played. In the AHL, he'll surely get top minutes, more special teams' ice-time than he likely would to kick off an NHL season.

At the end of the day, Mercer will dictate where he's going to play. If we've seen anything from this coaching staff in their first year, and from Devils management, they're willing to give young players opportunities to, as Fitzgerald puts it "look under the hood of the car", if they're earning it.
I'd expect Mercer to be no different.

3. Can Dougie Help Transform the Special Teams?

There is little doubt that special teams have plagued the Devils over the last few seasons. Last season the team ranked 28th of 30 with the man-advantage, converting at just 14.2 percent.
He's a calming influence on a power play, and that comes in different facets. Whether it's generating shots, or simply setting up in the zone these were things that felt hard to come by in the darker days of the power play last season.
Dougie
has been one of the best man-advantage defensemen in the league for years. With Carolina in 2020-21, 18 of his 42 points were on the power play, all but two were assists. In New Jersey, he'll have an array of teammates who make their way to the net, getting those 'dirty goals' off a Hamilton shot. His addition will give assistant coach Mark Recchi, whose responsibility is the power play, more to work with.
The addition of a player of Dougie's caliber also allows defensemen around him to fall into place. It's as if the addition of Hamilton helps other players not to have to necessarily punch above their own weight to fill what was missing. Everyone can settle into their own roles and hopefully excel in them.
Certainly, last season Ty Smith found himself carrying the quarterbacking role of the first wave of the power play, but having more than one option is only a plus. There is little doubt both players will play a significant role on the power play, and it never hurts for Smith to have a supporting cast in Hamilton.
It will still be a work in progress. The addition of one single player won't immediately shoot a team from 28th into the top five, but it surely does not hurt when it's a player like Dougie, who will without a doubt play a major role on the man advantage.