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2014-2015 Manchester Monarchs - 2015 Calder Cup Champions!

Johnny Utah said:
Mersch is a LW.

Kings have Gaborik, Pearson, King and Clifford as the top 4 LW'ers. King was a healthy scratch once this year and Clifford probably 1-2 times. Those are pretty much all everyday players.
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Gaborik can play both wings. Clifford, while a natural left wing, can be shifted over to the right, given his role. Or, Mersch can be tried on the right side.

With Stoll being gone, Lewis could be moved to the center. Williams is also likely gone, meaning there are two right wing slots open.
 
that game took some years off my life. especially that 2nd period. just complete insanity. really don't think you can blame the goaltending for either side. poor defense and some fluky goals.
Oh and Mersch is a beast. kid was unreal tonight.
 
Mersch plays both sides, IIRC. I think the whole left wing thing comes from when they drafted him (2011) the future of the left side was crapola.

I'm sure he prefers left over right just because it's not his off wing, but he could play either.
 
Just finished watching the game. What a wild game! And Michael freaking Mersch! No words...first it was Weal, now it's Mersch!


You known who this team reminds me of... The Blackhawks.
 
Any rumors about Monarch players that might end up in Europe next year? (Sweden)
Thinking about players that don't really have what it takes to make it in the NHL and wanna try something else. What about O'Neill, Backman, Weal?
 
Was I the first to say he's like Dwight King? I'm sorry, I was way off! We'll sort of! Mersch can score! He's like King as far as leaning on people all night long! In fact, if he didn't have someone to lean on in front of the net, he'd probably fall over! The kid is a talent though! The Kings need to get him some games next year!

03-27-2015 | 07:53 PM
efhank


Originally Posted by damacles1156
It was going to take Mersch longer to really get his game going. The guy is not overlay skilled.

Mersch has to work really hard for his production, and his frame is very solid. It
was going to take him longer to develop as a winger in the AHL.

He looks real good last few games. Solid along the boards, using his good size.

Efhank
I agree. He's like a Dwight King! But I think Mersxh has a slightly better scoring touch with hands, but King is just a little more of a load to deal with. But to me, they are similar.
[!!]
 
In fact, if he didn't have someone to lean on in front of the net, he'd probably fall over!
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mersch did fall over...loads of times last night. :laugh:


players that don't really have what it takes to make it in the NHL and wanna try something else. What about O'Neill, Backman, Weal?
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according to who? lotta folks have been saying, for example, that weal def. has what it takes to make nhl. backman and oni were both awesome in last night's game.

true o'neil's a bit older for making nhl, coz he's almost 27, and backman's even older at 29.

but weal just turned 23, so he's got the youth and game to at least be given a shot in the nhl.
 
For me, ideally, Mersch would be good enough to make the team next year at LW, allowing Gaborik to move back to RW to help offset the loss of Williams on that side.

Puts the LW depth at a mix of Pearson/King/Mersch/Clifford and RW at Gaborik/Toffoli/Brown/Whatever.

Poo on King all you want, but the second 70s line proved it can perform at the NHL level so the question becomes this: do you put Pearson back with them or do you give him a shot at #1LW with Kopitar/Gaborik?

Unless Weal is going to move to RW as an NHL'er, I don't see any depth on RW unless you move Gaborik back to his natural position as I'd prefer to not stick Brown up there. You keep Brown on the 3rd line with Shore.

Team needs more from the Bottom 6; however, RW1 was a travesty last season and I'd like to see it rectified by Gaborik moving in to that slot with Mersch pushing to take Kings spot as LW2. Perfect world has Mersch being better offensively than King, allowing King to settle in at LW3.

Interesting off-season for sure. Don't want to revert back to penciling in prospects like it is 2003 again, but Mersch has jumped off the screen in the games I've watched. Has an NHL body and is smart enough to realize standing in front of the net doesn't require near as much balls as it used to. Great ability to find the puck before the defense in scramble situations in front of the net...could really help the power play as I found the net-front presence to be lacking this past season.
 
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I would Cool the expectations of Mersch. He looks great, and is a perfomring well his first AHL season.

But, Dwight King, Trevor Lewis, were also 20G scorers in the AHL. AHL production while good, does not translate into NHL production.

We got an eye full of that with Nick Shore, who I think is more skilled than Mersch.

So far Weal and Mersch look great, and are having awesome playoff runs.

But I doubt either is of top six player caliber in the NHL. Tyler Toffoli is immensely skilled, and just had his first season of warranting being a top six performer(regularly).
 
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Also these AHL teams have no answer for Mersch in front of the net. NHL teams won't have that problem. I think Mersch will be another Tweener like Dwight King. Which is a very good thing for the Kings.

These late round diamond in the rough finds by Lombardi/Futa are paying huge dividends in the cap era. Especially since the Kings have some bad contracts on the books.
 
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Of course, but I think Mersch's specific skill-set has a better opportunity of carrying over to the NHL than Shore being a PPG guy in the NHL, if you follow what I'm saying.

I definitely want Gaborik at RW so I know there is some wishful thinking on my part that Mersch could be a viable 3LW--at the least--allowing Pearson to slot in to LW1 and King to remain at LW2.

It's not ideal but with the cap situation, Kings are going to need at least two graduates (Shore is no full-time yet) from Manchester in the forward corps next season. Weal would have the inside track, probably, but Mersch has to be in the discussion.
 
BigKing said:
Of course, but I think Mersch's specific skill-set has a better opportunity of carrying over to the NHL than Shore being a PPG guy in the NHL, if you follow what I'm saying.

I definitely want Gaborik at RW so I know there is some wishful thinking on my part that Mersch could be a viable 3LW--at the least--allowing Pearson to slot in to LW1 and King to remain at LW2.

It's not ideal but with the cap situation, Kings are going to need at least two graduates (Shore is no full-time yet) from Manchester in the forward corps next season. Weal would have the inside track, probably, but Mersch has to be in the discussion.
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Take a look at Matthew Mistele, people are going to love this kid.

Mistele is one of those boom or bust guys, incredible hands. The guy's draft stock plummeted, but Futa being the savvy guy he is ignored that.

Matthew Mistele, had a super bounce back year, and looks great. True top six potential in this kid.

He also has an NHL body/speed.

Edit: Also it's impressive to see these younger kids understand that; goals are scored in front of the net. You have to take a pounding nightly if you want to score goals in the current AHL/NHL.
 
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Ontario is going to be so much fun to watch next season.

Mersch/Brodzinski/Mistele/Kempe/Zykov/Auger, The team is going to be loaded with big bodied/skilled wingers.
 
damacles1156 said:
Also these AHL teams have no answer for Mersch in front of the net. NHL teams won't have that problem. I think Mersch will be another Tweener like Dwight King. Which is a very good thing for the Kings.

These late round diamond in the rough finds by Lombardi/Futa are paying huge dividends in the cap era. Especially since the Kings have some bad contracts on the books.
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This is true to some extent. Mersch will have to work even harder in front of NHL goaltenders to score, but I'm looking forward to seeing the kid get his chance. He has the size and a nice scoring touch in close.
 
Johnny Utah said:
Can you safely say Paul Bissonette has been a solid add for the organization. He is now living with Kempe. Kings think that much of him to room him with their top prospect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjh9frm80ko
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He's been great for team. The Monarchs broadcaster were talking about that during last night's game. The team is more pumped up, more into things, when he's in the line up. I think Biz is to the Moanrchs as what Greene is to the Kings. He might not be the most skilled guy. But he gives it everything he has, and that gets his team going!


Another moment I loved from last night was when the Monarchs went up 6-3. The Monarchs color commentator (who's between the benches) said that Brian O'Neill stood up on the bench and starting yelling for everyone to stay focused and keeping pressing. Love that!
 
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