Flexibility with Forwards Gives Devils an Advantage | FEATURE

If there's one thing the New Jersey Devils learned last season, it's that injuries will happen and someone will have to step up. As a result, the team has switched around wings and centers throughout the preseason games to see who could be moved if needed.
"I think it's important to our team, that (Dawson Mercer) can (switch between positions), that (Yegor) Sharangovich can do it, that we feel (Nate) Bastian is a guy that's played center that can do it, can step in and win face-offs,' head coach Lindy Ruff said. "I think you're always going to be missing personnel at different times and I think it's valuable that you have wingers that can play center, and it's easy to take a center out of the middle and put him on either side."

Mercer split time between wing and center last season, depending on the lineup of available players. For the forward entering his sophomore season, the switching back and forth is something he's used to. Mercer has played two preseason games, one at each positin. He worked wing Tuesday against the New York Islanders and center Thursday against the New York Rangers.
"I like both to be honest. I played wing my whole childhood up to bantam, I went to center for one year, back to wing for three, back to center for two, back to wing, 50-50 last year," Mercer said. "Right now I'm practicing on the wing and I'm really happy with that. That's kind of what I've been working towards this summer, and had my mind focused on that I'll more than likely be a winger this year, and I just thought I'd be doing that. But that flexibility in my game is obviously a bonus, so put me wherever you want and I'll do my job and give it my all."
The flexibility has already panned out with both Nico Hischier and Tyce Thompson suffering injuries during the first week of preseason games. Hischier played only one period against Montreal on Monday, while Thompson was injured in Thursday's game against the Rangers.
"Because we lost Hischier in a game, and again we lost Thompson, we've seen some different line combinations," Ruff said following Friday's morning skate. "We've wanted to try Mercer in the middle, we've wanted to try Sharangovich in the middle, so you're looking at some different makeups."
In addition to having forwards who can switch around between center and wing, Ruff is also leaning on several players to pick up more minutes when the team loses a player during the game. Most recently, the Devils bench boss turned to veteran center Erik Haula in New Jersey's win over the Rangers on Thursday. Haula played 24:15 minutes in the win and scored an empty net goal to seal the victory.
"He sees the opportunity, he understands we're shorthanded, other guys same things," Ruff said following Thursday's game. "There's a lot of line rotations, centermen were playing with different guys, for the most part I thought the guys that had the extra ice time did a good job with it."
The Devils are hoping their captain, Hischier, will be back before the season opener but if that isn't an option, or there's other centermen down this season, the Devils will be prepared for the next man up.