Prospect Info: Sharks Prospect Info/Discussion Thread XV

[The Nemesis]

Interesting that you were more impressed with his passing than his shot. In my viewings of him with the Cuda last year it was his shot that stood out as NHL level. The Cuda often used him in the middle on the power play where he could set up in the high slot and look to shoot. It’s good that he has playmaking ability too. I agree 100% about adding some bulk. He is tall and lanky. That gives him plenty of room to add muscle. I was at a Cuda game right after he got sent down from the Sharks. He was noticeably more physical than I had ever noticed before. He was going hard into the corners after the puck and finishing every check he could. I got the impression that the Sharks told him he needed to be more physical. Unfortunately, it was lass noticeable in subsequent viewings. Let’s hope he’s hitting the iron hard right now.

His shot has stood out more recently, but these observations were from his two Winterhawks seasons prior to his 50-goal breakout over-age season. Perhaps it was a function of his role at the time where he was like the 4th or 5th leading goalscorer on each of those Portland teams and they (or he) decided that he was better suited to be a facilitator and leave the scoring to Kiefer Bellows, Cody Glass, and Skylar McKenzie. I did definitely notice he had more scoring prominence in those years when he went to the WJCs and he was pretty much the go-to scorer for Denmark.

 

[NJ Fan 12]

any info wether Karlis Cukste will be signed? He just graduated ...

Always tough to evaluate D purely on statistics but there's an interesting take on Cukste in one of the Leafs threads in the event that he does not sign by August.

Unfortunately not yet familiar with how to copy and paste posts from one thread to another.

 

[hohosaregood]

Man, Merkley has such an incredible handle on what he wants to do with the puck. Ridiculous precision and control on where he wants the puck to go.

 

[themelkman]

Man, Merkley has such an incredible handle on what he wants to do with the puck. Ridiculous precision and control on where he wants the puck to go.

His game is seriously unique. I can see why there really isn’t a good comparison for him at a high level

 

[Bowie22]

That pass through the opposition's legs

 

[Doctor Soraluce]

His game is seriously unique. I can see why there really isn’t a good comparison for him at a high level

He really looks like EK65 but in slow motion.

 

[TheWayToRefJose]

Man, Merkley has such an incredible handle on what he wants to do with the puck. Ridiculous precision and control on where he wants the puck to go.

Once he's in the O zone, he looks so much like EK65. Not the same player on the rush as he uses his lateral mobility and dangling more than just racing past everyone. But man, his soft touch passes and vision are almost Jumbo-esque. I think he's going to be a great player, especially getting to learn from EK65 due to similar styles and I'm sure he can learn from Burns too. He's in a perfect position to succeed here with the have fun atmosphere in the room and learning from two of the best offensive D men in the past 10 years.

 

[hohosaregood]

I think what it's going to come down to is whether or not he puts in the effort on the boards. I'm not really talking about physicality but more the willingness to engage. When we had Goldobin, the major major issue with him was that he never put in the work to get the puck himself and gave even less of a shit in the defensive zone. If Merkley puts in any amount of effort in that regard, I think he'll make the NHL.

 

[The Nemesis]

I think what it's going to come down to is whether or not he puts in the effort on the boards. I'm not really talking about physicality but more the willingness to engage. When we had Goldobin, the major major issue with him was that he never put in the work to get the puck himself and gave even less of a shit in the defensive zone. If Merkley puts in any amount of effort in that regard, I think he'll make the NHL.

Well he can't be any worse than Jamie McGinn was.

 

[OrrNumber4]

I think what it's going to come down to is whether or not he puts in the effort on the boards. I'm not really talking about physicality but more the willingness to engage. When we had Goldobin, the major major issue with him was that he never put in the work to get the puck himself and gave even less of a shit in the defensive zone. If Merkley puts in any amount of effort in that regard, I think he'll make the NHL.

It is really interesting, given Goldobin's final departure from the NHL, reading all the stories about how it ultimately came down to the fact that Goldobin just didn't work hard enough or the right way. He didn't want to commit defensively, didn't want to make changes to his game, and wanted things handed to him. You kind of get how jettisoning a player like that can be addition by subtraction.

 

[Pavelski2112]

It is really interesting, given Goldobin's final departure from the NHL, reading all the stories about how it ultimately came down to the fact that Goldobin just didn't work hard enough or the right way. He didn't want to commit defensively, didn't want to make changes to his game, and wanted things handed to him. You kind of get how jettisoning a player like that can be addition by subtraction.

I still argue that that trade wasn't all that bad. Hindsight is 20/20 with regards to Hansen, who at the time was still a solid depth add and a playoff veteran. Goldobin wasn't gonna get his chance here, and there's debate to whether he deserved one.

 

[WSS11]

Merkley’s edge work and vision/passing are amazing. Can’t wait to see him in teal. Hopefully he gets a game or 50 with the big club next year lol.

 

[Mattb124]

I still argue that that trade wasn't all that bad. Hindsight is 20/20 with regards to Hansen, who at the time was still a solid depth add and a playoff veteran. Goldobin wasn't gonna get his chance here, and there's debate to whether he deserved one.

He went from a good Sharks team to a really bad Canucks team and still could not stick in the lineup. Many Sharks fans got caught up in the glitz and didn't recognize he was a borderline NHLer at best.

 

[fEyD08]

Goldobin is still very talented. But he never understood to work on his
200 ft game. He seems very immature in my opinion.

 

[hohosaregood]

Wheeler: The top 50 drafted NHL prospects ranking, 2020...

Has Merkley ranked at 22 and former Sharks prospect Josh Norris at 40. Not much new in the write up. Just some more confirmation that he made major strides in the problem areas.

He’s the best passer not named Trevor Zegras on this list. As with Kaliyev’s shot, you have two choices. You can start from there and work your way backwards in an attempt to contextualize his clear faults against that skill, or you can do the reverse, get bogged down in the faults, and miss the forest for the trees. I’m not here to tell you that Merkley isn’t flawed, or that he doesn’t still show signs of frustration, or of cheating, or of wavering commitment defensively. But I think he took real, tangible steps in each of those areas this season and if he continues to take those steps he’s got more offensive ability than any defenseman on this list, including the top-ranked Bowen Byram.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

Wheeler: The top 50 drafted NHL prospects ranking, 2020...

Has Merkley ranked at 22 and former Sharks prospect Josh Norris at 40. Not much new in the write up. Just some more confirmation that he made major strides in the problem areas.

That last sentence was just nice to read.

 

[themelkman]

I also asked scott about Blichfeld, Dahlen and Chmelevski. He says Blich and Dahlen are firmly in the top 100

 

[themelkman]

Spiridonov and Kniazev both invited to the Team Russia U20's sochi tourney in august.

 

[Alaskanice]

Spiridonov and Kniazev both invited to the Team Russia U20's sochi tourney in august.

This is exciting. I like to see our draftees playing in this tournament. The early years didn’t showcase our draft picks.

 

[Lebanezer]

Spiridonov and Kniazev both invited to the Team Russia U20's sochi tourney in august.

Surprised not to see Ibraghimov.

 

[PacificOceanPotion]

What's the deal with Kotkov? Decent enough numbers but no love?

 

[Caser]

Surprised not to see Ibraghimov.

What's the deal with Kotkov? Decent enough numbers but no love?

Both Ibragimov and Kotkov are 2000 borns, which makes them ineligible for the U20 tournaments now.

 

[Lebanezer]

Both Ibragimov and Kotkov are 2000 borns, which makes them ineligible for the U20 tournaments now.

Ah, thanks for the info.

 

[TheWayToRefJose]

That last sentence was just nice to read.

So was when he said Norris is probably a good 3C, maybe a 2C.

 

[Desert Eagle]

Surprised not to see Ibraghimov.

He never played in national team unlike Knyazev and Spiridonov.
Hockey fans in Russia and press doesn’t know about him.
At this moment he was just not bad work-horse in VHL with some upside, Russia has many same players. And Russian team traditionally full of offensive players. It’s bad but this is Sparta (sorry, I mean Russia). I have some expectations on him but I know about Timur only because Sharks drafted him. He wouldn’t be on WJC even if he would born in 2001.
We are all here have one problem: we overestimate our prospects. And we should pay more attention for scout reports, many of them rate our prospect pool one of the worst in the league and season 2019/20 showed that our best prospects like Chekhovich, Chmelevski are not that good as we thought even on AHL level. I know it was just first their season and they may improve and become NHLers, but still.
Let’s just hope that Merkley and Leonard will realize our high expectations.