How many teams would want Merkley??
Based on his talent, probably a decent handful. Add in how much Peterborough probably wants for him and the fact that he always seems to have a cloud hanging over his head, probably not many.
They paid Gogolev, a late 2nd, a 3rd plus a conditional 2nd, 3rd and 4th to get him (likely based on him coming back for this upcoming year). So let's say Gogolev, 2 2nd's, 2 3rd's and a 4th since we are assuming he's coming back.
Now they were able to get a half year worth of value out of him and his stock has gone down too. At this point, they may have to be satisfied with pretty much just breaking even on the compensation they have to pay to Guelph if they want him gone that bad.
I'd say, if it was SSM, the best they could get for both SDA and Merkley would be Carroll, Wale (or if Peterborough was lucky, LeGuerrier) and probably a pick package which essentially covers the compensation with maybe an extra 3rd thrown in. Carroll and the extra 3rd would cover SDA, while the only net compensation Peterborough would get for Merkley would be Wale/LeGuerrier. That's not terrible value considering Wale/LeGuerrier are top 4 quality defenders with 1+1 years of control remaining, but the cost for using Merkley for half a year and him not maintaining his play would be going from Gogolev, a 2nd and a 3rd to Wale/LeGuerrier.