When Dawson Mercer arrived at the Prudential Center Saturday morning, his first appearance of training camp, he bumped into teammate Jack Hughes.

Unfortunately, Hughes was about to get on the ice for his practice session. So, there wasn’t much time for chit chat.

“I gave him a hug when I saw him. And I was like, ‘I have to go put my boots on,’” Hughes said of getting on his skates and equipment. “Really excited for him and definitely glad he’s here.”

Mercer, who missed the opening three days of camp, is back with the team after signing a three-year, $4 million average annual value contract with the club on Friday night.

“To finally get here in person, see all the guys and staff, finally get my feet back on the ice, it felt great,” he said Saturday after his first on-ice practice of camp. “It’s a quick turnaround with the week before we head over the Europe (to start the regular season). I’m excited to make it back.”

While he didn’t have a contract, the 22-year-old continued putting in the work. He skated with Drummondville of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League – the club that features his brother, Riley – to stay in shape. But once the terms of a deal were met, he started his trek to the Garden State.

“Some things are out of your control. I just wanted to make sure I was preparing and making sure I was ready,” Mercer said. “As soon as it was official I got in the car and hit the road. Came straight down here for today.”

It was imperative for both Mercer and the Devils that he not miss too much time. After all, there’s a new head coach in New Jersey with Sheldon Keefe, a new system, a new structure and a new message.

While he may not have been with the team – he missed three days and two practice days – Mercer was in the loop. Somewhat. Thanks in part to his teammates.

“I’ve been contacting the guys and checking in,” he said. “I wanted to make sure I was familiar as much as I can know beforehand.”

Upon his signing, the Devils also sent Mercer clips of the meetings they’ve held during the opening days so he could watch them.

“We’ve sent him all the meetings that we’ve had at this point so he could watch them on his own time,” Keefe said. “At least get a little bit familiar so we aren’t bringing him in and squeezing three days of work into one meeting.”

Mercer joined his teammates on the ice Saturday. And Keefe liked what he had to see.

“On the ice you could tell right away that he’s a very good player, an NHL player,” Keefe said. “Those guys usually stand out pretty quickly. Despite it being his first day with our group it looks like he hasn’t missed a beat. So, that’s good to see.

“We have work to get him up to speed because there are a lot of new things that have been happening here.”

Mercer, who has played in 246 straight games since making his NHL debut three years ago, scored 20 goals and 33 points last season for New Jersey. He had a career-best 27 goals, 29 assists and 56 points in 2022-23.

Mercer was selected 18^th overall by the Devils in the 2020 NHL Draft. And he’s glad he will continue to wear the Black and Red into the future.

“I knew exactly where I wanted to be. I love it here in Jersey. That was my mindset throughout the full summer,” he said. “This is exactly where everyone wanted to end up, the team and where I wanted to be. To finally get It done and be here in Jersey, it’s a spot that’s special to me. I got drafted here, picked by the organization. I’m really happy to get those three years to be here and focus on growing here with the team.”