I go back and forth on Merkley. I could rationalize using our second, 2nd round pick on him, but I can name a bunch of guys I like more towards the bottom of the first round/top of the second. The skill is really crazy and really tempting, but the lack of progress and desire to play the defensive game really scares me. I can forgive people who give a solid effort but just aren't successful defensively. I can also find hope in players who make improvements in areas of great weakness over the course of the year, even if they continue to struggle. The lack of improvement in his defensive game, however, is absolutely shocking. He goes into the year with everyone and their mom shouting about how it sucks and we see next to no improvement in it over the course of the year. For f***s sake, have a little pride. I thought he looked as bad at the end of the year as he did at the beginning. While we take the whole character angle a bit too far as an organization, I do not want the Wings drafting players who do not have any desire to get better. I see very little that shows me that Merkley wants to get better at hockey.
Now if you do take him, you need to do something radically, radically different with his development. Maybe sending him to develop in lower professional leagues in Europe would do him some good. He clearly needs to grow up and being around older guys may help in that regard. I haven't a clue whether the transfer agreements actually allow it or not.
