#3 Nick Merkley
Team: Kelowna Rockets
Position: RW/C
Shoots: R
Height: 5’10.5
Weight: 191
GP: 72
Goals: 20
Assists: 70
Points: 90
Pts/Gm: 1.25
PIM: 79
Player Analysis: Nick Merkley is a hard-driving playmaker for the Kelowna Rockets…possesses a strong lower-body with sharp edges that allow him to really drive and power his way around the ice…has the agility to go east-west when the situation calls for it thanks to immensely advanced inside edges…that edgework allows him to shimmy and shake when he needs to, opening up a defenders hips and giving Merkley that half step needed to get around his man off the rush…straight line speed is good but not great, having room to improve as he gets stronger thanks to his understanding of edgework…has a remarkable set of hands with the ability to handle the puck and make plays at absolute top speed…has an understanding of offensive spacing and timing in regards to his passing…has a definite playmaking lean to his game and has the ability to execute tough passes while making them look easy…despite his driving offensive style and tempo, he doesn’t rush decisions with the puck and is fine to keep the biscuit to wait for a lane to open…is also great at making subtle moves with his head or stick to open up a small passing lane…protects the puck well considering his lack of size and length…
does have a tendency to be a bit too fancy with the puck at times, resulting in unnecessary turnovers or missed medium-percentage chances…owns an above-average shot with a good release but can be accused of passing up shots from time to time…possesses strong offensive hockey sense and knows how to find space around the opposing net…his hard-driving and darting style sometimes leads to him taking big hits, even though he can take them as he’s built like a brick ****house with a thick frame and low centre of gravity…his firm frame and strong skating base make him extremely tough to knock off the puck when he has it, making him a dangerous player off the cycle…despite his lack of height he likes to play to contact including throwing the odd bone-rattling check of his own…I don’t think you will ever confuse him with being a defensive specialist currently…defensive play would be an area that can use some work on his end but it’s not a super big weakness relative to other prospects in this draft thanks to his well above-average hockey sense…is willing to come back and defend his house when necessary and his up-tempo style translates fairly well off the puck…spent nearly the entire season alongside Rourke Chartier and Tyrell Goulbourne on Kelowna’s top line (48 of their final 62 regular season games) while also playing the powerplay…offensive production sputtered a bit while Chartier was away at World Junior Camp, which was a bit of a concern…
despite being listed as a centre he spent the vast majority of the year playing right-wing…the 2013-14 WHL Rookie Of The Year…his brother Jay is a forward for the Swift Current Broncos… was an alternate captain and had 4 assists in 5 games at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka tournament…had a 1.47 PPG rate up until December 31st with that number falling to 1.00 PPG from that point until the end of the regular season…he led all first-year draft-eligible WHL forwards in primary assists with 45, and total points with 90…was 2nd to only Mathew Barzal in points-per-game among first-year draft-eligible WHL forwards…he either scored or assisted on 29.8% of all Kelowna Rocket regular season goals, the 4th highest mark of any first-year draft-eligible WHL forward…collected half of his assists on the powerplay…was his 0.64 even-strength PPG rate was T-6th among first-year draft-eligible WHL forwards…his 20 goals were good enough to be T-8th among all first-year draft-eligible WHL forwards…was the 9th overall pick in the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft by the Kelowna Rockets…overall I see Merkley as a legit top 15-20 talent despite his lack of an ideal frame and despite the fact that his offensive production was aided by the powerplay and great teammates…while I admit my 4th-ranked player Harkins has a more well-rounded game and would be a “safer” pick in the traditional sense, Merkley’s pure upside wins out on this list…he’s one of the better pure offensive player’s in the draft, has the grit and oomph to go with it while also possessing very few overall weaknesses…ultimately I think he probably projects more as a winger but the fact that he’s done both at the WHL level leaves his future NHL team with some options there…
his look on the ice reminds me a lot of a guy like Bryan Little (although Little has more of a shoot-first mentality) and I wouldn’t be shocked if the two ended up having similar offensive totals once their careers are over…I think Merkley projects as a top 6 scorer who won’t be guilty of taking many shifts off and will come off the board sometime within the top 20 or 25 picks come June’s draft…
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