Lunatik
Registered User
- Oct 12, 2012
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5 picked White because it was easier to spell.Dessension in the ranks?
5 picked White because it was easier to spell.Dessension in the ranks?
There is something left to be desired having observed his individual skills, such as puckhandling, footspeed, and decision-making, for a prolonged period of time; there is definitely room for improvement in the small areas of his game.
I would be mildly disappointed if the Flames take Merkley IRL. Sure he's a local boy and (gasp!) a right shot, but when skating and decision making are listed as significant flaws (significant enough to be mentioned by several different scouts) I'd be hesitant to take him this high. From eliteprospects.com:
Someone joked about Rico Fata earlier - other than skating, those were the same knocks against him in his draft year.
“I think his ability to find teammates has to be tops in this class; one powerplay he found every single Kelowna Rockets player for a solid scoring opportunity. He makes passes no one else sees. Obviously his size is something people are always going to question, but every time I’ve seen him play he doesn’t back down from anything and actually uses his small stature to get real low; players can’t check him when he’s that small and strong on his stick. I really like this player and believe he’s a lock to make the NHL one day."
“Merkley is a playmaking forward with excellent hockey sense and good puck skills,” Herasymiuk said. “He is an above average skater with good agility and strength on his edges. He isn’t the most physical forward and his speed isn’t top notch but Merkley is good in his position, although he doesn’t make much of an impact in the defenseive zone.”
I don't doubt or knock his offensive ability, it's the other 70% of his game that concerns me. Also from future considerations:
I would be mildly disappointed if the Flames take Merkley IRL. Sure he's a local boy and (gasp!) a right shot, but when skating and decision making are listed as significant flaws (significant enough to be mentioned by several different scouts) I'd be hesitant to take him this high. From eliteprospects.com:
Someone joked about Rico Fata earlier - other than skating, those were the same knocks against him in his draft year.
No one knew Jankowski would be a great defensive player at the time. He was taken as a project with off the charts hockey IQ, soft hands, character, work ethic and sizeAnd to be honest, that doesn't sound like Calgary's style when it's about the first round pick. Usually the first pick has been someone, who's strong 2-way player, maybe even too often (Jankowski).
But from the available options, I'd pick him. Had to decide between him and Eriksson Ek.
"impact player at the NHL level" is a bit overblown, forwards that are mid-first round picks more often than not end up as middle six guys and rarely impact playersYou have to put these things in perspective. Even when you see all these knocks, all these critics, you still have these scouts ranking him up there as a mid-first round pick. So there's things there that make him a very solid bet to be an impact player at the NHL level, perhaps in spite of these things.
I mean, when we picked Gilmour from Boston College, we got to see lots of scouting reports which lauded several aspects of his game, and of course Janko always has great things to say about him... but at the end of the day you have to put that into perspective, because he's a seventh rounder. You know that there's bound to be huge flaws in his game that he would have to overcome.
"impact player at the NHL level" is a bit overblown, forwards that are mid-first round picks more often than not end up as middle six guys and rarely impact players
No one knew Jankowski would be a great defensive player at the time. He was taken as a project with off the charts hockey IQ, soft hands, character, work ethic and size
I know it's just a mock draft, but I really don't like the idea of drafting a forward at 15th this year.
Merkley a bad skater and bad at making decisions?5'10, bad skater and not a good decision maker? I'm really not feelin' it.
But sure, base your opinion on some website without actually watching him play more than once or twice. Cool.
Yeah, sorry guys I'm actually Nick Merkley...
Are you Nick Merkley?