Aaron Portzline of The Athletic joined the Blue Line Blast Podcast with Jim Biringer and Matthew Blittner to discuss the trade chatter surrounding Kent Johnson and Elvis Merzlikins and which of these two players could be on the move.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
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Jim Biringer: “A couple of names that you know, kind of been out there in the rumour mill over the last couple of years have been Kent Johnson and obviously Elvis Merzlikins. Do you see these two players potentially on the move as trade chips to help this roster improve now, so they can win?”
Aaron Portzline: “So I think it’s two different situations. I think they’re scared to death to trade Kent Johnson, because they know what’s inside that player. They’ve seen it. Didn’t see it last year at all. Saw it the year before. So far in his carrer, he’s been an on-again, off-again player. Every other year he shows up, can’t have that right, so he’s got to get beyond that.
He is the most skilled player on the team, not even close. Yes, (Zach) Werenski is on the team. Kent Johnson is the most skilled player on the team. He is also a light player, and something happened last year where he seemed to lose whatever physical progress he’d made the year before. So light on pucks. Got rag-dolled constantly. He’s never gonna be a big guy, never gonna be a power forward, but that sort of off-ice commitment and his level of competitiveness has to pick up.
Elvis Merzlikins is a totally different situation. He is not going to have his contract bought out, and confirmed that yesterday (Monday). If you have to ask, right, not a good sign. I think there’s a trade market there, maybe, but there wasn’t one before. And I say maybe because of all the cap space now, I think teams may be a little bit more aggressive.
Where do things stand with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Zach Werenski?
I’m not sure it’s a bad trade for somebody to make either, because I know Elvis has struggled for four years, but he may need to change his scenery as much as I think the Blue Jackets do for him. I think it’s imperative that they change that position. I’m not sure they’re going to.
They have a starter in Jet Greaves, but Elvis has really struggled. Whenever you see the two goalies on the same team more than 30 points apart on save percentage, I say that’s not the team. There’s a disparity there with the goalies. I think they see Jet Greaves as a 50-to-55-start goalie. I think they’d be much better if they had a 25-, 27-, or 30-game goalie with a save percentage around .900, and Elvis has not been close to that for four years now.
So I feel like that’s an area where they can really improve. We’re talking about all these, who’s gonna be back and who isn’t. If you’re gonna change the culture of a team, certainly you can do that by holding them to a higher standard. I don’t think there’s a quicker way to do it than by really upsetting what the room is like, changing the dynamic in the room.
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So, if the captain leaves, I think that’s part of that. I think the goalie could be a part of that as well—changing up that end of the dressing room, giving them a different look coming into the season, I think, is really important.”
NHLRumors.com Note: The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to hear their name thrown around the rumor mill. Kirill Marchenko, Zach Werenski, Kent Johnson, and now Elvis Merzlikins. There has been talk about Merzlikins for the past couple of years. With Greaves being the starter now, he needs a change of scenery, and the team needs to go in a different direction.
Columbus, as Aaron Portzline points out, doesn’t want to give up on Kent Johnson, given the talent and skill that is there. They don’t want to risk him getting traded to another team and becoming the player they expected him to be.
Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell has to do what is right for his team and the players, but it is a busy offseason in Columbus with so many moving parts.
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