The San Jose Sharks’ most recent first-round pick, Ryan Merkley, will most likely be making the jump to professional hockey next year. With Merkley getting closer to the NHL, it creates an interesting situation for the Sharks.
He had another monster year in the OHL, scoring 15 goals and 76 points in 60 games. He has significant offensive upside and is probably one of the top puck-moving defensemen not currently playing in the NHL. To summarize, Merkely is a right-handed, offensive defenseman. The issue: San Jose’s most noticeable position of strength is right-handed, offensive defensemen.
This is thinking a little bit down the road and Merkley still has to work out defensive flaws in his game before he’ll get a shot in the NHL. That said, Merkley may be able to round-out his game a bit defensively but he's likely never going to get the the point of being extremely reliable.
But say Merkley ends up putting up huge numbers in the AHL next season (which is fairly likely) and is ready to make the jump to the NHL sooner rather than later. Are the Sharks really going to roll Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson and Ryan Merkley as their three defenders on the right side? While the trio would surely put up wild numbers, that’s screaming for odd-man rushes and if Martin Jones is still in net, we’ll be getting some high-scoring games.
It’s also not like Burns or Karlsson is going anywhere, even if Merkley proves to be a quality asset at the NHL level. Karlsson remains a star and if at some point he’s no longer that player, his $11.5M per year contract isn’t getting moved anyways. Burns poses the same dilemma and at 35 years old and with five years remaining at an $8M AAV, he’s not getting traded either. To top it off, Karlsson has a no-move clause while Burns has a list of just three teams which he could be traded to.
It will make for an interesting situation, whenever Merkley makes the jump. San Jose could be playing with three defenseman on the right side who often sacrifice defense for offense, which probably isn’t the most ideal situation.
Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted on the weekend):
When do you think Ryan Merkley will become a permanent member of the Sharks' roster?
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