Prospect Info: 71st Overall Leevi Merilainen G, Fin, Karpat Jr

[aragorn]

Sending Merilainen to Belleville was the right move for this team at this time. Ullmark is the #1 for the future as long as he stays healthy. Forsberg is a UFA who Merilainen IMO has outplayed although Forsberg has been good & is playing for his NHL future with someone else. The Sens will keep Forsberg for their playoff run & should one of them get hurt they have Merilainen as an injury callup & IMO he will be the backup next season & Forsberg will move on.

The only asset I can see that they could move at the deadline would be Gregor who makes around $.800K to reduce the cost of anyone that they bring back which will cost more than Gregor & probably a 3rd. I hope they don't trade a 1st or 2nd this trade deadline & hold fast with their picks. IMO they need one tough player for the 4th line to replace Highmore & they may have that in MacEwan if he is healthy.

 

[h2]

Not defending this decision because I think Leevi should get the start, but Green has said a couple times that he leaves the starter decision to the goaltending coach.

I don't have much confidence in our goaltending coach then.

 

[OD99]

I don't have much confidence in our goaltending coach then.

Forsberg played great.

 

[h2]

Forsberg played great.

He's still inconsistent and not as good as Leevi.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

In his last 5 starts since January 19th Forsberg is 4-1 with a .940 save percentage. Sending Merilainen down is a no-brainer. Merilainen is waiver exempt, Forsberg is not. Keeping 3 goalies creates dysfunction for all 3 of them (there are only two nets in practice), and it costs us a roster spot.

A month ago, there was a legitimate argument to roll with 3 or to paper Merilainen down and recall him when he is going to start - but that was when Forsberg was playing some terrible hockey. I don't know what changed for him, but he is absolutely on fire right now.

I understand that our entire team is clicking defensively, and that is part of it. He has an easier job than he did a month or two ago. But that's not the entire story. He's doing his part.

I'm hyped about Merilainen too, but I don't see how this was the wrong choice.

We're in a very good position right now, because we have two goalies who are more than doing their part, and if Ullmark is healthy and can come close to his Hart level play he exhibited before getting hurt, we're bullet proof in net.

 

[PlayersLtd]

In his last 5 starts since January 19th Forsberg is 4-1 with a .940 save percentage. Sending Merilainen down is a no-brainer. Merilainen is waiver exempt, Forsberg is not. Keeping 3 goalies creates dysfunction for all 3 of them (there are only two nets in practice), and it costs us a roster spot.

A month ago, there was a legitimate argument to roll with 3 or to paper Merilainen down and recall him when he is going to start - but that was when Forsberg was playing some terrible hockey. I don't know what changed for him, but he is absolutely on fire right now.

I understand that our entire team is clicking defensively, and that is part of it. He has an easier job than he did a month or two ago. But that's not the entire story. He's doing his part.

I'm hyped about Merilainen too, but I don't see how this was the wrong choice.

We're in a very good position right now, because we have two goalies who are more than doing their part, and if Ullmark is healthy and can come close to his Hart level play he exhibited before getting hurt, we're bullet proof in net.

These are the facts of the matter.

 

[Mark Stones Spleen]

We are only 3 points away from the 9th place team in the East.

Is Ullmark going to come in off a nagging back injury and play 25+ of the last 30 games? Doubtful.

So why wouldn't you have him split some starts with a kid who's been almost unbeatable with a .925 SV% over a guy with a .893 SV% that has no future on this team?

If we had a massive gap on our nearest playoff competitor I could understand this, but that's not the case at all. We need to maximize our chance at winning every night, and there's zero question Merilainen has been better than Forsberg at helping this team win games (just look at their records for god's sake).

Playing with fire here.

Ullmark is going to start playing 60% of the games and Forsberg has actually been pretty good down this stretch.

I think that they don't want to lose the 3rd goalie option in case he gets claimed and Ullmark gets re-injured, we'd be in a shitty situation.

More importantly, this will allow Leevi to shoulder the brunt of the workload in Belleville, hopefully keeping his mojo going. Can't afford for him to go to backup status and lose his good form in case we need him back up right quickly. Forsberg is going to be on a very tight leash.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Keeping Forsberg until the summer is the right move. Ullmark is going to be a question mark for at least the rest of the season (no matter how much or how well he plays for the rest of the year). And while Leevi looks amazing, there's no benefit in rushing him at all.