Does Elvis Merzlikins Suck Or Is It Columbus’ Fault?
Elvis Merzlikins is basically the worst goalie in the league. It’s Valentine’s Day and Merzlikins might be the last athlete in the world that deserves love. Seems harsh but what Merzlikins is doing is starting to become historic in a bad way. It just might not totally be his fault?
Merzlikins, 28, is 6-14 while allowing 4.34 goals per game. The Blue Jackets’ number one goalie also sports a save percentage of .871. It’s the worst SV% in the league tied with Spencer Martin who just got put on waivers by the Canucks. The only difference is, Martin is supposed to be an AHL goalie. Merzlikins makes an AAV of $5.4 million.
Does Elvis Merzlikins suck or is it Columbus’ fault? Merzlikins is a few starts away from having one of the worst goalie seasons in recent memory. What happens when the Jackets trade Vladislav Gavrikov in the next few days? The worst SV% mark in a single season is .835 back in 1980. We’re in range of making history in a bad way.
The other problem is Jonas Korisalo is outpacing him. If you go to Moneypuck.com, Merzlikins is basically the worst goalie in the league in all metrics. Korpisalo is 28th in goals saved above expected. Daniil Tarasov is 43rd. Merzlikins is dead last ranking 89th. The Latvian netminder has notched a -23.5 GSAE mark.
The Blue Jackets team defense is terrible but Korpisalo and Tarasov are outpacing him with the same circumstances. If you were dumb enough to take Merzlikins in fantasy, he has rewarded fantasy owners with -31.2 points on the season. In my three years playing fantasy hockey, I’m not sure we’ve ever seen a goalie put up this dreadful of a season. You are literally better off playing nobody instead of Merzlikins.
Maybe Merzlikins sucks (the evidence is in the pudding), maybe he doesn’t suck (starting to run out of excuses…). Regardless, this should continue to serve as a lesson for NHL team builders. Stop paying your goalie. Stop doing it. Never do it. If your blue line isn’t up to par, the rest doesn’t matter. The Blue Jackets are learning this the hard way.
Side note: Each and every day goes by it somehow becomes more insane that Johnny Gaudreau picked Columbus. Never forget that this is what he signed up for. It was stupid then. It’s still stupid now.
