Columbus would never EVER do this.
Merzlikins is an struggling NHL goalie who can rebound. Not even overpaid if he rebounds.
Campbell is an AHL goalie making almost the same cap and term.
No team is doing a swap like that without being given something else that's very good in the trade.
That seems a bit hypocritical.
What possible reason is there as for why Merzlikins can rebound yet Campbell can't?
It's simply disingenuous to say that Campbell is an AHL-goalie when he hasn't been playing down there up until this season for years.
Campbell sucked last year, though he should have been given more of a chance in the playoffs when Skinner failed, as Campbell looked good when coming in in relief, This year, the Oilers had a horrible start, with McDavid and Ekholm both struggling with injuries. Campbell got demoted, even though he was the sligthly less atrocious of the two goalies at that point. And he never got a chance to show whether he was back to form afterwards, while Skinner got to play in front of a team that actually performed well and thus looked quite decent in net again. Campbell simply didn't get a fair shot this year to show whether he was any better than last year.
Merzlikins, meanwhile, was even worse than Campbell last year, and this year was somewhat okay. There is zero reason for Columbus to switch a goalie who has been struggling for one who has been struggling and who they have even less of an idea how he would perform in the NHL right now, but that's the extend of it. Your claims beyond that are not backed up by any facts whatsoever. Campbell had a very good year as a 1B in 18/19, a decent one as a backup in 19/20, a very good one as a backup in 20/21, a mixed season with a very strong beginning and bad end in 21/22, and a bad year in 22/23. None of that makes him an "AHL-goalie", just because the Oilers dumped him when they struggled. In fact, the last three seasons before this one, the two had very similar roles each year, and every season Campbell fared a bit better than Merzlikins.
I certainly wouldn't take Campbell's current contract off the Oilers' hands, because the risks just outweight the possible reward, but your claims are still way over the top.