The San Jose Sharks have made former top prospect Ryan Merkley available, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, after the young defenseman recently requested a trade.
Merkley, 22, is in the final season of his entry-level contract, is still waiver-exempt, and will be a restricted free agent without arbitration rights this summer.
Selected 21st overall in 2018, the OHL star had a brilliant offensive profile but several question marks surrounding his defensive ability and commitment. There were some who believed that Merkley wasn’t willing to “play the right way” in his own end, a problem that has followed him to the professional level.
Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group points out that Merkley was benched for a part of the San Jose Barracuda game on December 27. The AHL club is where he has spent this entire season, scoring 14 points in 30 games so far.
That follows a 2021-22 campaign that saw Merkley make his NHL debut and play 39 games for the Sharks, averaging a little more than 15 minutes a night. He scored six points, and that’s where his career total sits as he now looks for a fresh start somewhere else.
Make no mistake, Merkley still has some elite playmaking ability from the offensive blueline. The right-shot forward can find passing seams that few others even consider. Unfortunately, many of those lanes are also risky at the professional level, and his play away from the puck still leaves a lot to be desired.
Any acquiring team would need a plan for how to best develop Merkley into an NHL asset, because currently, he is just a fringe player with serious holes in his game. Seravalli does not suggest a price tag for the disgruntled defenseman, but one would have to figure that his value is at an all-time low.
It’s cute when 2nd pairing minor-league draft busts demand trades. Anyone want to place bets the Sharks get more than a 6th rounder for him?
And yeah, the guy can’t play defense. It’s not so much that he’s chronically in minus. It’s that counting juniors and the minors, he’s led his team in minus FOUR TIMES. Heck, his first year in junior, he led his team in minus AND in scoring, which is derned impressive.
Took him this long to ask for a trade? His off ice game is slower than his on ice game.
He’s 5’11” and makes hospital passes on a regular basis.
The Marlies want him!
His pic on Elite Prospects just screams “Oh, Crap! That turnover just went into our net…again. That’s another dash 5 for me tonight.”
After seeing my parent club lose to the Flyers I would also request a trade.
SJ Sharks fans – but Merkley is still a top prospect.
Sharks fans love their prospects and refuse to admit defeat with them(bust). Eklund hasn’t even looked great. He’s been ok but again, not great. He’s definitely not producing like a top 10 pick should. And Ozzy Wiesblatt is even struggling in the AHL.
Bordeleau looks like a steal in the 2nd round though. And more and more smaller players are transitioning well to the NHL.
But there is still always that chance they don’t. Like Nic Robertson recently. He light it up everywhere along the line but doesn’t seem to be transitioning to the NHL game.
Looks like SJ rebuild is gonna take longer than originally thought!!