Did the Avalanche Hit a Sneaky Home Run?
Have the Avalanche struck gold? They now have Ryan Merkley, who was moved to Colorado alongside Matt Nieto in a four-player trade with the Sharks.
If Joe Sakic played his cards right, there could be another Cale Makar hiding in there somewhere. The 21st pick from the 2018 draft was initially lauded for his skating and puck-moving abilities.
However, things grew stale in San Jose. The Sharks weren’t able to give him consistent ice time, so he was floating between the AHL and NHL. It’s looking more and more like there is a chance the young Canadian could break into Colorado’s lineup right away.
Brad Hunt currently occupies the right side of the third pair in the Avs’ defense. Giving Kurtis MacDermid an offensive partner like Merkley could give the bottom pair a jump. However, it’s also worth noting that the Avalanche are still waiting on Josh Manson and Bowen Byram to get off the IR. At the very least, Merkley has upside as a secondary powerplay quarterback behind Makar or Devon Toews.
Riverboat Joe?
This gamble still has a chance of losing. A logjam on the blueline could occur when Manson and Byram return. If Merkley can impress, however, then maybe the latter could be on the way out.
In my opinion, I think this is a risk worth taking. Merkley on sheltered third-pair minutes could pan out quite nicely for the Avs, especially if one of Makar, Toews or Sam Girard get hurt. The way I think about it, it never hurts to have depth in the NHL — until it does. At the very least, Merkley could be a solid stopgap option until some injured Avs start to recover.
Colorado is currently third in the Central. They do have a small bit of cushioning from falling out of a wild card spot, but they need more. Heading into 2022-23 as defending Cup champions, I am sure this is not where they wanted to be.
Ultimately, making a sneaky move like this before the trade deadline could jumpstart a strong second half. Even if it doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world. Sakic did just give up two bottom-pieces in Martin Kaut and Jacob MacDonald after all.
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