EDMONTON, Alberta — Nothing Dakota Mermis has earned in a nine-year professional hockey career has come easy, so the Minnesota Wild defenseman isn’t about to give up on the NHL now.

Especially now.

An undrafted player with more than 400 American Hockey League games under his belt, Mermis was back on the Wild blue line on Friday at Rogers Arena for the first time in nearly a month, replacing veteran Alex Goligoski against the Edmonton Oilers.

It was his 14th game with Minnesota this season, already the most he has played with one NHL team.

“All I ever wanted to do, since I was a little kid, I wanted to play in the NHL,” Mermis said this week. “So, when you get to do it, it makes it that much more special — especially given the long amounts of time I’ve spent in the American Hockey League.”

That’s 430 games, to be exact — seven seasons in which Mermis has played at least 53 games, earning a combined 138 AHL points.

“Make no mistake, that league’s a grind,” he said. “It can be a complete grind at times. But you do it so that you can play in the NHL, and hopefully earn it.”

In 13 games prior to Friday, Mermis had two goals and five points in 13 games. He already has played more NHL games in one season than he ever had, and more in one stretch — nine from Oct. 17-Nov. 4. Before signing a two-way contract with Minnesota on Oct. 9, 2020, Mermis had played 10 games with the Coyotes and 10 with the New Jersey Devils.

He is playing on his third contract with Minnesota, a one-year deal paying him $775,000 in the NHL, an attractive number for a team with major salary cap issues.

Another first: He essentially started the season with the big league club for the first time, recalled immediately for the season opener, and was part of the group of Wild players to go on a two-day retreat to Twin Harbors before camp broke.

“I’ve had spurts here and there, but for me to really grow my game, in consecutive games, was huge for me,” Mermis said.

He was recalled for the current four-game road trip when veteran Zach Bogosian suffered an upper-body injury during practice last week. Still, he’s up against it a little. The Wild already have seven defensemen on one-way deals, and their salary cap situation is so tight, they can’t routinely keep an eighth.

Mermis turns 30 on Jan. 5. When a reporter tried to gracefully ask about his future, he cut to the chase.

“How long do you grind it out?” he said.

Mermis and his wife, Sarah, have two young children. The family is living in Iowa but has come to visit — with the family’s two dogs — and stay in Mermis’ hotel when the Wild are at home.

Professional hockey players make good money, too. In his past two seasons, spent mostly in Des Moines, his contract paid him, combined, well over $600,000.

“That certainly helps you to be able to keep doing it,” he said. “But you hope that your grind in the minors for so long gives you the opportunity like I had at the beginning of the year, where you can still earn NHL time — and significant NHL time.

“It’s one of those things where just your belief in yourself, you look at your family, you look at your kids and it kind of reminds you why you’re doing it, to provide a better life for your family. And because the little kid in you dreamed of playing the NHL. I don’t lose track of that, either.”

Johansson getting ‘better and better’

Marcus Johansson, so good after being acquired at the trade deadline last season, was one of the Wild players struggling during the Wild’s rough start this season. He entered Friday’s game with one goal and nine points in 24 games.

He had an assist in the Wild’s 5-2 victory at Calgary, his first point in 11 games. The veteran wing hasn’t scored a goal since an overtime loss to Columbus on Oct. 21. In a 2-0 loss at Vancouver on Thursday, his line with center Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy was strong in the first period and combined for 10 shots on goal in the game, but Johansson only had one.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” he said. “But when there’s chances, it’s going to come. It’s worse when you’re not creating your chances, you’re not having looks. When you’re winning, I couldn’t care less, but it stings when you lose. You want to help the team win.”

Coach John Hynes has stuck with the veteran, who had six goals and 18 points in 20 regular-season games with the Wild last season, then signed a two-year, $4 million contract extension that includes a no-trade clause.

“I’ve seen him get better and better,” Hynes said before the Vancouver game. “I thought his best game was in Calgary. He influenced the game with his skating. He played a skating game. I thought that line in general was good.”

Briefly

Veteran Marc-Andre Fleury started Friday for the third time since Nov. 19. … Bogosian missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.

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