D Ryan Merkley - Peterborough Petes, OHL (2018, 21st, SJS)

[Gospel of Prospal]

Would seem like a good second round gamble. There's no denying his talent.

 

[WHISTLERNATE]

If he makes it to the 37th pick, I hope that the Canucks jump at the chance to draft him. 2nd round picks are a bit of a wild card anyway, and he has all the tools to be a solid pick. He is one of the younger players in the draft, and will hopefully grows up and matures, and figures out a way to play D. HE may flame out because of his attitude, but I feel would be worth a chance. With that said, I think is off the board by #20.

 

[JBose7]

I want him to make it to the Pens in round 2. He needs to be around leadership and guys who will challenge him to play the right way. If he can't learn from Crosby he won't ever get it. He makes dumb plays like Kris Letang but if he was taught to simplify his game he has a tone of potential?

 

[BondraTime]

I want him to make it to the Pens in round 2. He needs to be around leadership and guys who will challenge him to play the right way. If he can't learn from Crosby he won't ever get it. He makes dumb plays like Kris Letang but if he was taught to simplify his game he has a tone of potential?

Kris Letang makes dumb plays Merkley would be jealous of

 

[sammystl5]

I want Merkley at 17. The Devils don't have a 2nd or 3rd round pick so I want a guy at 17 who can potentially give more value than players usually taken at that spot. Merkley is such a dynamic offensive talent. If he can even become slightly below average defensively he is a top 4 guy who can run the power play. His upside is that of PK Subban without the Subbans defense imo

 

[DownGoesMcDavid]

Can someone give some content on his bad attitude and maturity issues ??

Has he done anything specifically or is he just known to be arrogant or a butthole?

 

[TMLeafs17]

Wouldn’t take him with a 3rd round pick if he was available.

 

[Dominance]

Can someone give some content on his bad attitude and maturity issues ??

Has he done anything specifically or is he just known to be arrogant or a butthole?

I’d just advise you to run over the thread, dude. @93LEAFS has addressed it in detail a considerable number of times now.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

If he makes it to the 37th pick, I hope that the Canucks jump at the chance to draft him. 2nd round picks are a bit of a wild card anyway, and he has all the tools to be a solid pick. He is one of the younger players in the draft, and will hopefully grows up and matures, and figures out a way to play D. HE may flame out because of his attitude, but I feel would be worth a chance. With that said, I think is off the board by #20.

I would be irate if the Wings passed on him 3 times to make that happen right before that. I would love to take him at #30, #33 or #36, I have him #11 on my board.

I have heard from people I trust he slides outside of the first, but man I think someone will like his talent enough for that to not be the case.

 

[HisNoodliness]

Could the team that drafts him hire a "personal coach" or something to go to every practice, every game, talk to him for an hour at the end of every day and try to work out his issues? A team hired sports psychiatrist or something seems like it could be effective. He obviously has the coaches in juniors, his agent, his parents etc trying to do that already, but if you had a motivational speaker who's only job was to fix Ryan Merkley it could be really worth it. I wonder if any team has tried a strategy like that before.

 

[Hatter of the Beach]

Hope Kenny uses our Vegas pick on him if he’s available.

Dream Scenario
6th: Bouchard or Hughes
Trade AA and our two seconds for a pick in the early teens and Snag Veleno
30th Merkely

A boy can dream

 

[Martin Skoula]

Could the team that drafts him hire a "personal coach" or something to go to every practice, every game, talk to him for an hour at the end of every day and try to work out his issues? A team hired sports psychiatrist or something seems like it could be effective. He obviously has the coaches in juniors, his agent, his parents etc trying to do that already, but if you had a motivational speaker who's only job was to fix Ryan Merkley it could be really worth it. I wonder if any team has tried a strategy like that before.

Less "personal coach" and more "retired drill sergeant". Would likely require Merkley to sign a contract stating he can't sue over getting his ass kicked.

 

[The Vasili Jerry]

So drafting this kid is going to either make a GM look really smart or really stupid?

 

[Dominance]

So drafting this kid is going to either make a GM look really smart or really stupid?

Not necessarily. Drafting past about pick 15 is a bit of a crapshoot in general. You pretty much have guys with high floors but low ceiling, medium floors and medium ceilings, and low floors and high ceilings. Merkley definitely fits the latter, to the extreme. Nobody’s going to have their career tarnished or their job taken away because they pick him in the 20s.

Just look at, say, the 2010 draft, to pick a number out of a hat.

Beau Bennett - pretty much a bust, maybe an offensive player that can kick around in some team’s bottom 6 for a few more years
Riley Sheahan - fine bottom-6 centre
Jared Tinordi - out of NHL
Mark Pysyk - fine top-6 defenseman
Kevin Hayes - good top-6 centre
Quinton Howden - out of NHL
Evgeni Kuznetsov - elite centre
Mark Visentin - out of NHL
Charlie Coyle - good middle-6 forward
Emerson Etem - out of NHL
Brock Nelson - good top-6 forward

 

[Hatter of the Beach]

So drafting this kid is going to either make a GM look really smart or really stupid?

No GM should ever be considered stupid for picking a high risk/high reward pick past 20

 

[Elias Pettersson]

I don't like the cut of his jib

 

[The Vasili Jerry]

Not necessarily. Drafting past about pick 15 is a bit of a crapshoot in general. You pretty much have guys with high floors but low ceiling, medium floors and medium ceilings, and low floors and high ceilings. Merkley definitely fits the latter, to the extreme. Nobody’s going to have their career tarnished or their job taken away because they pick him in the 20s.

Just look at, say, the 2010 draft, to pick a number out of a hat.

Beau Bennett - pretty much a bust, maybe an offensive player that can kick around in some team’s bottom 6 for a few more years
Riley Sheahan - fine bottom-6 centre
Jared Tinordi - out of NHL
Mark Pysyk - fine top-6 defenseman
Kevin Hayes - good top-6 centre
Quinton Howden - out of NHL
Evgeni Kuznetsov - elite centre
Mark Visentin - out of NHL
Charlie Coyle - good middle-6 forward
Emerson Etem - out of NHL
Brock Nelson - good top-6 forward

No GM should ever be considered stupid for picking a high risk/high reward pick past 20

What if a GM selects him with their only pick in the first two rounds and from day one he pisses people off and never gets anywhere because of his attitude? That’s obviously a worst case scenario, but surely if that happened then there would be a lot of people asking why you’d take a guy like that when everyone knew he was a loose canon. Everybody always has crystal clear hindsight so I’m sure lots of people would rip the GM pretty hard. If a GM has three or four picks in the first two rounds then it’s not as big of a deal if they hit on someone else.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

So drafting this kid is going to either make a GM look really smart or really stupid?

Not really dumb.

I bet the rangers take him with a late 1st

 

[The Vasili Jerry]

Not really dumb.

I bet the rangers take him with a late 1st

Sorry. I guess I didn’t explain my statement well enough. I meant in time it’s going to be one or the other. Not on draft day.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Sorry. I guess I didn’t explain my statement well enough. I meant in time it’s going to be one or the other. Not on draft day.

I guess if a top 10 team drafts him. He's got tremendous talent. Tremendous question marks, too.

 

[Habsrule]

He plays in Guelph and I live in Kitchener. The two teams are a twenty minute drive apart. I have watched him play many times live and on TV. His attitude issues have been beaten to death in this thread so I will leave them alone.

I will guarantee that he is picked in the first round. Teams can not let a talent like him slip. He is too skilled to be passed over that many times.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Could the team that drafts him hire a "personal coach" or something to go to every practice, every game, talk to him for an hour at the end of every day and try to work out his issues? A team hired sports psychiatrist or something seems like it could be effective. He obviously has the coaches in juniors, his agent, his parents etc trying to do that already, but if you had a motivational speaker who's only job was to fix Ryan Merkley it could be really worth it. I wonder if any team has tried a strategy like that before.

Seems like a big investment for a knucklehead. Will probably get drafted in the first round due to his talent but seems like prime bust potential due to his attitude and ambivalence towards structured team play. Sure he can potentially mature but it's going to take an ice breaker to crack that noggin.

 

[filthyMitz]

Can someone give some content on his bad attitude and maturity issues ??

Has he done anything specifically or is he just known to be arrogant or a butthole?

I went to highschool with the guy and still hang out with him every now and then he’s honestly a really nice guy. That being said he does have a bit of a cocky attitude, when he is around good guys he’s never a problem. Great guy to party with too

 

[kroypuck]

Anyone one else think this guy should be playing forward?

 

[tmlfan98]

Anyone one else think this guy should be playing forward?

That's also what I was wondering, if his commitment to defense is a huge issue, why not just develop him as a winger?