What was billed as Zach Parise’s first game against his former team has become secondary for the Devils. As I’m sure Hasan will post later, tonight Jon Merrill makes his NHL debut for the Devs when they take on the Wild. The 2010 second round pick out of Michigan is in his first full pro season. After tallying a goal and seven assists in 12 games last year for Albany, he’s followed up with two goals and five assists in 11 in the AHL.

For the 21-year old who spent parts of three years with the University Of Michigan before turning pro, it’s a chance to fulfill a lifelong dream. Merrill gets the opportunity following an emergency recall with veteran defenseman Anton Volchenkov out due to an upper body injury. He’ll be wearing number 34 and be paired alongside Marek Zidlicky.

The Devils remain minus Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias. They’re also still without captain Bryce Salvador, who’s on the injured reserve with a stress fracture. Eric Gelinas has remained with the club registering a goal and assist in four games. Already for New Jersey, the future is now with two of their D prospects up on a revamped blueline. At least for now, Devil fans will get to see what all the hype’s about with Merrill, who went down after a strong camp.

They’ll take on a good team. The Wild are 7-4-3 with 17 points in the West. Remarkably, that’s not even good enough to rank in the top eight with the Kings eighth just ahead. Most of their success has come at home where they have a great crowd. So far, they’re 5-1-2 at Excel Energy Center. They don’t give up much thanks to a stingy D led by Ryan Suter and goalie tandem Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding with the latter getting the start against Cory Schneider. As for Parise, he’s tied with Jason Pominville for the team lead with 10 points (6-4-10). It’ll be interesting to see how he performs against his former team.

But the story at least for Hasan and other Devils Army is the debut of Merrill. Will he impress early like Gelinas? Let’s find out.