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Georgii Merkulov

Bruins Recall Nine Players From AHL

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The Boston Bruins have added to their black aces as they have recalled nine players from the AHL’s Providence Bruins (as per AHL Transactions). Providence was eliminated by the Hartford Wolf Pack last Friday for the second year in a row allowing the Bruins to recall the nine players today to take part in the remainder of the Bruins playoff run. Boston will face elimination once again tomorrow night in Game 6 of their best-of-seven series against the Florida Panthers.

Joining the Bruins’ black aces will be forwards Joey Abate, Trevor Kuntar, Marc McLaughlin, Georgii Merkulov, Anthony Richard, and Oskar Steen. Defensively, Michael Callahan and Ian Mitchell will join the team, while goaltender Michael DiPietro also received a callup.

Abate just completed his second season in the NHL and has yet to see NHL action in his brief professional career, while Kuntar was a rookie this season in the AHL after being drafted in the third round back in 2020.

McLaughlin has had brief appearances in the NHL in each of the past three seasons posting four goals in 14 games, including a goal in his only NHL appearance this season. The 24-year-old grew up near Boston and was the captain of Boston College in his final two NCAA seasons.

Merkulov led Providence in scoring this season with 30 goals and 35 assists in 67 AHL games. The undrafted free agent signing has been a solid offensive contributor in the AHL since arriving in 2021-22. The 23-year-old saw his first NHL action this season going scoreless in four games.

Richard has been a mainstay in the AHL for eight seasons but has bounced around in recent years. The former fourth-round pick in 2015 has had a few cups of coffee in the NHL throughout his professional career, posting four goals and four assists in 24 NHL games. The 27-year-old had a goal and two assists in nine NHL games this season with Boston.

Steen spent much of the year with Boston dressing in 34 games but tallying just a single goal. He fared much better in the AHL scoring 12 goals and adding four assists in 25 AHL games. The native of Karlstad, Sweden has been in the Bruins organization for five seasons and remains a tweener bouncing back and forth between the AHL and the NHL in each of the last four years.

On the backend 24-year-old Callahan just completed his third professional season, playing in a career-high 70 AHL games. The former fifth-round pick has yet to make his NHL debut and doesn’t offer much offensively, posting just four goals and 13 assists this season.

Mitchell came over to the Bruins from the Chicago Blackhawks last summer in the trade that sent Nick Foligno and Taylor Hall the other way. He looked like he may have found a home on the Bruins blueline early in the season but hasn’t dressed in an NHL game since December 23rd and was demoted to the AHL. With Providence, the 25-year-old posted solid offensive numbers with six goals and 18 assists in 42 games.

DiPietro’s young career feels as though it’s come full circle as the netminder had a few NHL starts early in his career with the Vancouver Canucks after an impressive OHL career, but his play fell off and he was relegated to the ECHL last season. This year, Dipietro bounced back and posted impressive AHL numbers with an 18-9-2 record to go along with a .918 save percentage and a 2.51 goals-against average.

The nine men will join several of their other Providence teammates along for the ride with Boston as they look to extend their playoff run tomorrow. The black aces are unlikely to see action in the playoffs, but they will have an opportunity to practice with the Bruins and soak in the atmosphere of the NHL playoffs.

Bruins Recall Jesper Boqvist, Assign Georgii Merkulov To AHL

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With there being a bit of uncertainty with Boston’s lineup for tonight, the Bruins have opted to make a recall up front, announcing that winger Jesper Boqvist has been recalled from Providence.  To bring Mason Lohrei back up after being papered down yesterday, Georgii Merkulov was assigned to Providence as well.

The 25-year-old had 21 points in 70 games with New Jersey last season but was non-tendered back in June, making him an unrestricted free agent.  Boqvist eventually settled for a one-year, one-way contract worth the minimum salary of $775K a couple of weeks later with the hopes that he could lock down a full-time spot on Boston’s fourth line.

That hasn’t gone completely as planned as instead of securing a full-time spot, he cleared waivers at the end of training camp and has spent most of the season in the minors.  Boqvist has done well down there, picking up 10 goals and 13 assists in 31 games with Providence while also making a pair of appearances with Boston.

As for Merkulov, he played in four games with Boston while on recall, being held off the scoresheet while averaging 10:35 per night.  The 23-year-old has been quite productive with Providence, however, notching 14 goals and 16 assists in 31 games and should go right back to being in a top role for them.

As Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic notes (Twitter link), winger James van Riemsdyk is day-to-day so it would appear Boqvist’s recall is to help cover against that.  Lohrei could also take his place in the lineup if they want to go with seven blueliners while Matthew Poitras is also available after returning from his stint at the World Juniors.

Bruins Recall Georgii Merkulov

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The Bruins recalled left wing Georgii Merkulov from AHL Providence on Friday, per the AHL’s transactions log (via the New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver). In a corresponding transaction, the Bruins assigned center Patrick Brown to Providence to stay at the maximum of 23 players on the active roster.

This is the first recall in Merkulov’s career. The 23-year-old is in his second full season in the Bruins organization after signing as a free agent in 2022.

Merkulov’s development path has been unique, to say the least. First eligible for selection in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, he posted 22 goals and 46 points in 64 games with the MHL’s Kapitan Stupino in the Russian junior ranks in his draft year but did not get selected by an NHL club and wasn’t on the radar of most scouts in the public sphere.

In 2019-20, Merkulov got off to an incredibly disappointing start with two points in ten MHL games and no points in six games with HK Tambov in the VHL, Russia’s second-tier pro league behind the KHL. With an NHL career in mind, Merkulov made the choice mid-season to come stateside to continue his development, signing a tender with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms to finish out his junior career.

That choice proved fruitful. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic interrupting his playing schedule, Merkulov was productive as a member of the Phantoms, posting 20 goals and 73 points in 74 games there across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.

The 5-foot-11 winger then opted to pursue a collegiate career, committing to Ohio State for the 2021-22 season. As a rare 21-year-old freshman, Merkulov exploded offensively, matching his USHL career goal total of 20 in just 36 games for the Buckeyes while adding 14 assists. That breakout finally put him on the map for NHL teams, and, after just one NCAA season, he inked a three-year, entry-level deal with the Bruins as a free agent in April of 2022.

Merkulov continued his momentum in his first pro season. Last year with Providence, he led the Bruins’ primary affiliate in goals (24) and points (55), earning a spot on the AHL’s All-Rookie Team in the process. Through 31 games this season, he’s again leading the team in both categories with 14 goals and 30 points.

Now in the second season of his entry-level deal, Merkulov’s offensive production in Providence has forced the Bruins’ hand to give him an NHL look. He will look to unseat Jakub Lauko or Oskar Steen for a fourth-line role and could make his NHL debut in one of Boston’s two remaining games before New Year’s Day.

Brown, 31, heads down to Providence for the sixth time this season. He’s failed to lock down the fourth-line center spot in Boston after signing a two-year, $1.6MM contract as a UFA last summer and has been relegated to extra forward status. The Bruins have ferried him between leagues often since he last cleared waivers on November 18 to limit his time on the NHL roster and extend his temporary waiver exemption.

In ten NHL games, Brown has recorded one assist and a -1 rating while averaging 8:29 per game. He’s played just twice in December, including an appearance in the Bruins’ 4-1 win over the Sabres on Wednesday, in which he posted a -1 rating and went three for six in the faceoff dot in 7:24 of ice time.

Merkulov carries a cap hit of $925K compared to Brown’s $800K, but with Derek Forbort and Milan Lucic on long-term injured reserve, the Bruins have enough money in their salary pool to accommodate the minimal difference. He will be a restricted free agent when his ELC expires in 2025.

Overseas Notes: Blankenburg, Verbeek, Merkulov

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Nick Blankenburg’s World Championship is over. Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch reports that the Blue Jackets’ rookie defenseman has left Team USA due to injury. Blankenburg sustained a knee injury during the international tournament in Finland and decided to return home. However, Hedger adds that the injury is not supposed to be severe and that Blankenburg’s health by the start of next season is not in doubt. Even with the early exit from the Worlds, Blankenburg has had quite the unforgettable year. The 24-year-old defender had a career season as the senior captain of Michigan, recording 14 goals and 29 points in 38 games en route to a Frozen Four appearance. He then signed with Columbus as an undrafted free agent and proceeded to record three points in seven NHL games down the stretch. Blankenburg earned a spot with Team USA at the World Championship and played in four games with the team. He will look to continue his success streak by winning a regular role with the Blue Jackets next season.

  • Hayden Verbeek’s uncle may be the new GM of the Anaheim Ducks, but the young forward won’t wait around for NHL free agency in hopes of a family deal on a new contract. Verbeek has opted to leave North America altogether and sign a one-year deal with Slovakian club HK Spisska Nova Ves, the team announced. Verbeek is no stranger to Slovakia, having played in the Extraliga early in 2020-21 while awaiting the delayed AHL season. While Verbeek played exclusively in the AHL after returning last year, he did spend some time in the ECHL this season, which could have been the deciding factor in his move overseas. Four seasons into his pro career, including the first three on an NHL contract, Verbeek has played largely in the AHL but has been demoted to the ECHL in three seasons and has seen no NHL action. Looking for a more consistent role in a top league, Verbeek will try his hand again in Slovakia next season.
  • When Georgi Merkulov, a star prospect out of the MHL, left Russia in 2020 to embark on a development path in North America with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms and then the NCAA’s Ohio State Buckeyes, the odds that he would one day star in the KHL slipped. Then-rights holder HK Sochi decided to trade Merkulov to Amur Khabarovsk, doubting that he would ever suit up for the team. When Merkulov surprisingly turned pro after just one college season, signing with the Boston Bruins this spring, those odds fell even further. Amur has now decided to move on as well. KHL powerhouse CKSA Moscow, whose youth system Merkulov developed in, has decided to take a long-term gamble, acquiring the rights to their former prospect, per the KHL. In exchange, Amur received minor league defenseman Ilya Dervuk. Merkulov recorded 20 goals and 34 points in 38 games this season for Ohio State as one of the top freshmen in the NCAA and then added five points in eight AHL games with the Providence Bruins. Boston certainly hopes that this scoring prowess translates to the NHL and that these KHL trades are ultimately meaningless.

Georgi Merkulov Signs With Boston Bruins

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Saturday: The Bruins have indeed officially signed Merkulov, inking him to a three-year deal that begins next season.  The deal will carry an AAV of $925K.  Merkulov will join AHL Providence on an ATO for the rest of this season.

Friday: The Boston Bruins could be adding another interesting undrafted college free agent, as Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News tweets that he hears Georgi Merkulov will be signing with the team, though he then clarified that nothing has been finalized to this point.

Merkulov, 21, recently finished his freshman season at Ohio State, where he scored 20 goals and 34 points in 36 games. That impressive performance came after spending two years in the USHL, a relatively unique path for a Russian-born and trained player. For those that watched him play this season, it’s easy to see why Merkulov would draw NHL interest, as he was often the best player on the ice for the Buckeyes and easily led the team in both goals and points.

In fact, it was Mason Lohrei, Boston’s second-round pick from 2020, that came closest to him in scoring this season racking up 29 points of his own. The Bruins would likely have seen Merkulov up close on many occasions because of their interest in Lohrei, and should know exactly what he brings to the table.

Like any other college signing, there is very little risk for the team and it provides a sort of lottery ticket similar to a late-round pick. Given how much draft capital the Bruins gave up for Hampus Lindholm at the deadline, adding players like this will be necessary over the next few years. If Merkulov can make an impact–and so far, it’s hard to bet against him–draft picks suddenly become a lot less important as the team continues to chase down another Stanley Cup.

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