December 18, 2023 | 5:34pm ET
TheFourthPeriod.com
COULD THE BLUE JACKETS MOVE MERZLIKINS?
Elvis Merzlikins, goaltender
To say the Columbus Blue Jackets are not having the season they anticipated having to date this year would be an understatement.
After drafting Adam Fantilli third-overall in June and adding Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson to their blueline in the off-season via trades, the noise around Columbus suggested the team would fight for a wildcard spot.
Sitting 15th in the Eastern Conference with a 10-17-5 record, the Blue Jackets are actually last in the East based on points percentage and fourth last in the entire NHL entering Monday’s action.
Teams have begun poking around to see whom Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen would be willing to move – outside of defencemen Adam Boqvist, Andrew Peeke and Jake Bean, all of whom have been available since the start of the season – and it is possible goaltender Elvis Merzlikins could eventually be dealt to another club.
During Monday’s edition of “32 Thoughts: The Podcast,” Elliotte Friedman suggested the Blue Jackets might be willing to trade Merzlikins.
“I wonder if the opportunity was right, if the Blue Jackets (would deal) Merzlikins,” Friedman pondered. “I had a couple of people on Sunday say that they can see the possibility of that, that maybe both the Blue Jackets and Merzlikins feel that it’s time for him to try somewhere else, but again, in the middle of the season that’s not an easy number for a lot of teams to absorb. So, there’s a few things that might have to happen here.”
Merzlikins, 29, recently returned to the lineup from injury. He is in the second year of a five-year, $27 million contract and owns a 10-team no-trade list as part of his deal.
While some teams are interested exploring a change between the pipes, with the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils among them, it would take some salary cap juggling to make Merzlikins and his $5.4 million AAV fit for some teams.
In 20 games with the Blue Jackets so far this season, Merzlikins has posted a 7-8-4 record with a 3.19 goals-against-average and a .909 save percentage.