Prospect Info: Sharks Prospect Info/Discussion Thread XIII

[Mattb124]

What does it all mean?

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[marleau2112]

On the eve of my move to the Peterborough area, this news is most welcome.

 

[The Nemesis]

What does it all mean?

From a Shark perspective, basically nothing. Merkley simply continues to develop, just on a new team. Maybe the best case is that the Peterborough coaching staff can get through to him where the Guelph ones couldn't, but chances are everything continues on the same path it's always been on.

From the OHL perspective, Guelph must believe they're not a strong playoff contender and sold Merkley off to reload. The Petes and Storm are basically neck and neck in terms of points (though in opposite conferences) and Guelph is actually more tightly packed with the teams above them (Guelph is only 2 points back of 3rd place while Peterborough is 6 points back of both 2nd and 3rd).

From reading the Guelph thread on HF's OHL board, Storm fans are happy with this trade as they seem to believe that the Storm are poorly built and not capable of contending. They also seem happy to unload Merkley for a pretty solid haul in a guy who was the 8th pick in the OHL draft and a whole whack of picks (depending on those conditional terms)

On the Petes side of things, they seem happy to be getting a player of Merkley's caliber for this season and next and believe it helps them be more of a playoff competitor, while being wary of Merkley's known issues with attitude and coachability.

And just to add to the fireworks?

Dropping hte puck in about an hour and a half?

Peterborough @ Guelph

 

[Lebanezer]

From a Shark perspective, basically nothing. Merkley simply continues to develop, just on a new team. Maybe the best case is that the Peterborough coaching staff can get through to him where the Guelph ones couldn't, but chances are everything continues on the same path it's always been on.

From the OHL perspective, Guelph must believe they're not a strong playoff contender and sold Merkley off to reload. The Petes and Storm are basically neck and neck in terms of points (though in opposite conferences) and Guelph is actually more tightly packed with the teams above them (Guelph is only 2 points back of 3rd place while Peterborough is 6 points back of both 2nd and 3rd).

From reading the Guelph thread on HF's OHL board, Storm fans are happy with this trade as they seem to believe that the Storm are poorly built and not capable of contending. They also seem happy to unload Merkley for a pretty solid haul in a guy who was the 8th pick in the OHL draft and a whole whack of picks (depending on those conditional terms)

On the Petes side of things, they seem happy to be getting a player of Merkley's caliber for this season and next and believe it helps them be more of a playoff competitor, while being wary of Merkley's known issues with attitude and coachability.

And just to add to the fireworks?

Dropping hte puck in about an hour and a half?

Peterborough @ Guelph

I hope this did not play into the reason for moving him. Looks like merkley isn’t playing tonight.

 

[PacificOceanPotion]

So are the attitude issues still persisting or is this just people not letting him move on from the past mistakes and bad reputation? His production as a hockey player looks promising.

 

[The Nemesis]

I hope this did not play into the reason for moving him. Looks like merkley isn’t playing tonight.

It's not surprising he wouldn't play tonight. They'd want at least one practice with him to integrate him into the lineup before a game (same goes for Gogolov or whoever it was that Guelph picked up). Plus there would be logistical issues for things like ensuring that they have a new jersey ready for him to go and proper team-appropriate gear and miscellany ( a small issue, but while an equipment manager can probably sew up a new jersey in half an hour, they'd likely want to make sure that they've got everything in place for him before he takes the ice especially given the limited timeline before the game started)

As for the attitude thing, it's always possible. I haven't necessarily seen anything about him having trouble with the Guelph staff this season, but he's been known for the fact that his effort level wavers and questions about his commitment to improving his defensive ability. These are things we knew when he was drafted, so it's not like them popping up now would be much of a surprise. It's possible that the team decided he was no longer worth the headache if they were going to pack it in for the season and reload. Or it's equally possible that none of that matters and this was just a hockey trade. The advantage that CHL teams have is that they have a short team lifecycle. When you only get 2-4 years with any of the players on your roster, teams turn over quickly, so a club can decide to burn it down now, pick up a horde of draft picks and 16/17 year olds, draft a bunch of touted midget/bantam guys, and within 2 seasons return to prominence. So there's less incentive for teams who feel they're going nowhere to hang onto players any longer than they have to. Also we aren't even considering that perhaps Merkley wanted out. Because in spite of the amateur status conferred on CHL guys and the fact that the vast majority of players have zero realistic NHL/high level pro aspirations, it's not out of the realm of possibility for even players on the lower end of the totem pole to ask for a trade.

Just to draw a personal parallel on both those accounts, my local WHL team (Vancouver Giants) have seen both happen recently. 2 years ago they were a tire fire. So they sold off a bunch of high end assets at the end of that first season (except for the two highest end assets, Oilers prospect Tyler Benson and Rangers farmhand Ty Ronning) and reloaded through the bantam draft. Now this season they're consistently ranked as a top 10 team in the whole CHL. Meanwhile earlier this year a player with no pro future sat out and asked for a trade because the Giants hired a new coach this season and he didn't mesh with the coach's style and defensive demands. And he got said trade about a month ago. And like I said, this is not a guy with NHL prospect clout. This is a tiny guy with high 2nd/low 1st line skill who has mostly underperformed his whole career. And he was playing on his hometown team to boot.

So...

The tl;dr is that I wouldn't bother reading much into anything beyond the fact that Merkley has a new team to play for. Never mind the why, just strap in and see how he does the rest of the season and beyond

 

[CaptainShark]

Gregor with a goal in a 6-4 win
Chekhovich had an assist in a 4-3 win
Edmond took a 4-3 SO-Loss making 25 saves
Chmelevski did not play. Is that because of his selection for the World Junior Camp?

 

[Dicdonya]

I am excited to see how things go for Merkley in a new environment, also read a quote from the Pete's GM, that their coach has a system that he desperately wanted a guy like Merkley to plug into.

Maybe a new coach, with no burned bridges, and a system designed to accentuate Merkley's talents might just help him really take off and grow into a better player. He had none of the attitude issues in his short time with the Sharks, maybe he just did not like his old coach, and was acting out like teenagers are apt to do.

 

[Mayo8898]

Kotkov with 2 goals
McGrew with a hat trick and an assist
Émond with his first loss of the season, though it was in shootouts

 

[rangerssharks414]

I am excited to see how things go for Merkley in a new environment, also read a quote from the Pete's GM, that their coach has a system that he desperately wanted a guy like Merkley to plug into.

Maybe a new coach, with no burned bridges, and a system designed to accentuate Merkley's talents might just help him really take off and grow into a better player. He had none of the attitude issues in his short time with the Sharks, maybe he just did not like his old coach, and was acting out like teenagers are apt to do.

I totally agree with the second part.

For those who follow junior hockey, how often do players of Merkley's caliber get traded?

 

[Petes]

Hello everyone, Petes fan here who was shocked at yesterday’s trade... at first glance this seems like an overwhelming win for us as a team. I’m just curious though, what’re the odds of Merkley returning next season as a 19 year old?

 

[Juxtaposer]

Hello everyone, Petes fan here who was shocked at yesterday’s trade... at first glance this seems like an overwhelming win for us as a team. I’m just curious though, what’re the odds of Merkley returning next season as a 19 year old?

I’d say pretty likely, but it all depends on what happens with Karlsson.

 

[Barrie22]

I’d say pretty likely, but it all depends on what happens with Karlsson.

And or merkely taking huge steps forward in his game.

 

[Barrie22]

I totally agree with the second part.

For those who follow junior hockey, how often do players of Merkley's caliber get traded?

More so in the ohl. Just for comparison. Jason spezza was traded 2 times in his ohl career and he went 2nd overall.

 

[Lebanezer]

I’d say pretty likely, but it all depends on what happens with Karlsson.

Whether Karlsson re-signs or not I expect Merkley to be given 9 games. Vlasic and Braun’s continued decline makes Braun in particular more expendable.

 

[Mattb124]

From a Shark perspective, basically nothing. Merkley simply continues to develop, just on a new team. Maybe the best case is that the Peterborough coaching staff can get through to him where the Guelph ones couldn't, but chances are everything continues on the same path it's always been on.

From the OHL perspective, Guelph must believe they're not a strong playoff contender and sold Merkley off to reload. The Petes and Storm are basically neck and neck in terms of points (though in opposite conferences) and Guelph is actually more tightly packed with the teams above them (Guelph is only 2 points back of 3rd place while Peterborough is 6 points back of both 2nd and 3rd).

From reading the Guelph thread on HF's OHL board, Storm fans are happy with this trade as they seem to believe that the Storm are poorly built and not capable of contending. They also seem happy to unload Merkley for a pretty solid haul in a guy who was the 8th pick in the OHL draft and a whole whack of picks (depending on those conditional terms)

On the Petes side of things, they seem happy to be getting a player of Merkley's caliber for this season and next and believe it helps them be more of a playoff competitor, while being wary of Merkley's known issues with attitude and coachability.

And just to add to the fireworks?

Dropping hte puck in about an hour and a half?

Peterborough @ Guelph

Thanks

I have visions of Merkley walking his gear down the hall to the (former) opposing team's locker room.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

So are the attitude issues still persisting or is this just people not letting him move on from the past mistakes and bad reputation? His production as a hockey player looks promising.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Whether Karlsson re-signs or not I expect Merkley to be given 9 games. Vlasic and Braun’s continued decline makes Braun in particular more expendable.

He's not close to being ready for the AHL, much less the NHL.

 

[LadyStanley]

Merkley cannot play in AHL as 19 year old. So it's NHL or back to OHL next season.

 

[Lebanezer]

He's not close to being ready for the AHL, much less the NHL.

Not sure you can say that with absolute certainty. I still think he plays some games next year at the beginning of the season.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Merkley cannot play in AHL as 19 year old. So it's NHL or back to OHL next season.

Yes, I know.

And it will be the OHL.

 

[slocal]

Why quote some random twitter account as proof? Pretty weak.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Why quote some random twitter account as proof? Pretty weak.

fair enough.

 

[slocal]

He is an OHL hockey writer, he has a blue check. It's not some egg.

Josh Brown, yes, but not the dude who claims there was "a huge sigh of relief".