Meier & Mercer Showing What Devils' Top 6 Can Be

Timo Meier & Dawson Mercer's strong starts show the potential the New Jersey Devils' Top 6 has this season.

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I don’t want to get carried away because it’s only been four games, but the New Jersey Devils’ top six looks like it could be a problem for their opponents.

The Devils’ top six carried their offense for most of last season, but that was mostly on the backs of Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier. There wasn’t much support around them, but it looks like that could be different this season, thanks to Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer.

Meier Madness Starting Early

Meier has been somewhat of an enigma since joining the Devils ahead of the 2023 trade deadline. The underlying numbers have always been excellent, and he has consistently done many things well, but the production hasn’t always followed suit.

Before this season, Meier had averaged 57 points per 82 games with the Devils. That’s solid production, but it’s not exactly worth $8.8 million per year.

It may be early, but at least through four games, Meier has looked like the player the Devils envisioned when they acquired him. He has three goals, and he’s scored in a variety of ways.

Meier’s first of the season came on a mad scramble in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy in the Devils’ 5-3 win vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning. Against the Columbus Blue Jackets, he launched a wrist shot from near the half-wall that gave Jet Greaves some trouble.

In Thursday’s impressive 3-1 win against the Florida Panthers, Meier had a beautiful redirect off a Šimon Nemec point shot that proved to be the game-winning goal.

As you may have guessed, Meier’s five-on-five metrics have been excellent across the first four games. He has an expected goals share (xG%) of 55.77 percent and has been on the ice for just five high-danger chances against.

In typical Meier fashion, he’s been one of the Devils’ best high-danger chance creators through four games, averaging 5.71 per 60 minutes. Even if that number regresses, Meier has the track record when it comes to generating high-danger chances, so expect that to continue.