Dakota Mermis

Dakota Mermis
Born	(1994-01-05) January 5, 1994 Illinois, United States
Occupation	Professional ice hockey defenseman
Years active	2010–present
Known for	Playing for Toronto Marlies (AHL) and Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL)

Dakota Mermis (born January 5, 1994) is a professional American ice hockey defenseman currently playing for the Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League (AHL). He holds a contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Playing career

Despite not being selected in the NHL Draft, Mermis competed in the United States Hockey League with the Lincoln Stars before joining the USA Hockey National Team Development Program during the 2010–11 season. He then spent his final USHL campaign with the Green Bay Gamblers.

Mermis began his collegiate hockey career at the University of Denver in 2012–13 but departed after 19 games to pursue major junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), playing for both the London Knights and Oshawa Generals. Following his Memorial Cup victory with Oshawa in 2014–15, he inked a three-year entry-level agreement with the Arizona Coyotes on July 2, 2015.

During the 2017–18 season, after starting with Arizona’s AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners, Mermis was called up to make his NHL debut on November 2, 2017. Across four seasons with the Coyotes organization, he took part in ten NHL contests.

As a free agent, Mermis signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $700,000 with the New Jersey Devils on July 1, 2019. Assigned initially to their AHL team, the Binghamton Devils, he led all defensemen by recording 19 points over 53 games. He netted his first NHL goal on March 6, 2020, concluding that season with four points in ten NHL appearances before operations were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On October 9, 2020, Mermis agreed to a one-year, two-way deal with the Minnesota Wild. While playing for their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, he earned the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award for outstanding community service during the 2021–22 season.

After spending four seasons within Minnesota’s system, Mermis secured a one-year contract valued at $775,000 with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 2, 2024. Beginning the season sidelined by injury, he participated in three conditioning matches with the Toronto Marlies. Once healthy again, he was placed on waivers and claimed by the Utah Hockey Club on December 12, 2024. Following a single game with Utah, Mermis was waived once more and subsequently reclaimed by Toronto on January 3, 2025.

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2009–10	St. Louis Amateur Blues	T1EHL		48	11	26	37	76		—	—	—	—	—
2009–10	Lincoln Stars	USHL		2	0	1	1	0		—	—	—	—	—
2010–11	U.S. National Development Team	USHL		36	4	4	8	53		2	0	0	0	0
2011–12	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL		60	5	22	27	98		12	0	1	1	20
2012–13	University of Denver	WCHA		19	1	3	4	14		—	—	—	—	—
London Knights |OHL |27 |2 |9 |11 |34 |21 |1 |3 |4 |21 |-	London Knights |OHL |66 |5 |20 |25 |76 |9 |1 |3 |4 |12 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"	London Knights |OHL |36 |1 |10 |11 |36 | — | — | — | — | — |-		Oshawa Generals |OHL |30 |5 |14 |19 |50 |21 |1 |14 |15 |14 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"	Springfield Falcons |AHL |63 |3 |10 |13 |58 | — | — | — | — |
Rapid City Rush |ECHL |5 |1 |2 |3 |6 |
Tucson Roadrunners |AHL 67 2 10 12 75 — — — — — |-	Tucson Roadrunners AHL 59 2 17 19 45 9 3 2 5 11 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"	-		- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"	-  2019–20 Binghamton Devils AHL 53 3 16 19 23 — — — — — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"  2019–20 New Jersey Devils NHL 10 1 3 4 4 — — — — |- 2020–21 Minnesota Wild NHL 3 0 0 0 - |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" 2021–22 Iowa Wild AHL                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ||59||3||21||24||86|| — || — || — || — || — |- 2021–22 Minnesota Wild NHL ||2||0||0||0||-||-||-||-||-||- |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" 2022–23 Iowa Wild AHL ||63||5||21||26||73||2||0||1||1||1 |- 2022–23 Minnesota Wild NHL ||2||0||0||-|-|-|-|-|-|- |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" 2023–24 Minnesota Wild NHL ||47||3||5||8||33|||—|||—|||—|||—|||— |- 2023–24 Iowa Wild AHL ||5||0||2||2||12||| — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" 2024–25 Toronto Marlies AHL ||32 ||0 ||7 ||7 ||22 || — |- 2024–25 Utah Hockey Club NHL ||1 ||0 ||00 ||02 || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" 2024–25 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL ||3 ||00 ||01 ||01 ||00 || —
NHL totals !78 !4 !9 !13 !39 !—				—	—	—	—

International

Year	Team	Tournament	Outcome		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2011	United States	U17	Template:Silver2		5	0	1	1	4
Junior career totals					5	0	1	1	4

Awards and honors

Award	Year
USHL
USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game participant	2012
Clark Cup winner	2012
OHL
J. Ross Robertson Cup winner	2013, 2015
Memorial Cup winner	2015
AHL
Yanick Dupre Memorial Award recipient	2022