The debate was over ages ago - Mercer was bad with Nico, and he was bad with Jack. Both guys were significantly worse with him, and it wasn't just explained by the fact that Bratt would usually be the guy who would play RW with them when Mercer wasn't.
The Devils cannot commit long-term to a player who has bad results with both of their top 2 centers. I feel confident Mercer can overcome this, he has great small area skills and enough speed and smarts to become a solid forward.
lol
Granted it was only 37 minutes but he couldn't even make shit work with Bratt last year. Literally everyone works with Bratt.
Yeah you cannot commit to Mercer at this point. Any long term deal we should be ok with would be a deal he should not sign. With Jack they've always been a pretty mediocre pair but at least with Nico we have seen that he can work there. As much as Jack-Mercer has not worked I would like to see a Bratt-Jack-Mercer line. I feel like it'd be nearly impossible for someone to not make things work with both Jack and Bratt on their line.