Article: It's Fine For the Wild To Play Jon Merrill Over Zeev Buium

[Tony Abbott]

View full article

[Citizen Strife]

Regardless of how the series goes, Hynes has tried different things here and there to keep things going.  Even the Rossi headscratcher proved helpful.  Merrill is a smart choice being in Vegas 2-1.  

Buium and Jiricek have years to prove their worth.  They only have days to keep the season going.

[Patrick]

Merrill is a bum.  He was last in plus/minus despite getting the most protected minutes the coaching staff could dream up.   I don't think its a coincidence that our PK started to improve when the blue line got healthy and Merrill's time out there got substantially less.

I think they should play Zeev and tell him to go for it. You don't ask a racehorse to be a plow horse and asking Zeev to play like Merrill was a mistake.  Live and die with his talent.  We are not making the Cup anyway so may as well see what he can do.

[Willy the poor boy]

34 minutes ago, Patrick said:

We are not making the Cup anyway so may as well see what he can do.

How dare you!!

[mnfaninnc]

Heinzy trusts Merrill. This is the basic point. Bogosian and Merrill trust each other, this is the secondary point. They've played about 50 games together this season, so they know each other's tendencies and communicate well. 

Buium does not have that same trust with either the coach or partner. It's not because he has glaring deficiencies, he just does things and sees thing a little different and he's not always on the same page as Bogosian or Heinzy. 

But, if you're going to do this, which isn't horrible, give Buium an assignment to complete while he's chewing on nachos. Young players need this, need to know there is a reason why they need to watch from up top. 

Chisholm is another candidate that could also play with Bogosian. They have less time together, but they know each other's tendencies. For me, down the stretch, I think Chissy made himself trade bait for the summer and kind of played himself out of a job here. But, should someone like Brodin get hurt, Chissy can plug into a top 4 role and play along side Spurgeon with little problems. 

If I have a criticism of Buium it has been that he has played far to conservatively while in. To me, it seems the message to him was "great to have you in here kid, now don't screw up," which he did with the careless double minor to Stone's eye. I do think that Heinzy needs him to play to his strengths which includes caring the puck and contributing offensively. Unfortunately, his partner has lost a step this season and can't cover for him. 

Vegas is not the fastest team in the league, but they are one of the biggest. Merrill should be able to compete just fine. I know Karlsson is pretty fast, but, to me, it looked like he beat Buium to a couple of pucks. Buium punished him physically after sailing around him on the outside, cutting him off, but he just didn't look as fast as advertised. There are definitely some teams I don't think Merrill can keep up with, but so far, I don't think Vegas is one of those.

[Burnt Toast]

Merrill is going to get targeted and possibly exploited as he’s now the weakest link on the Wild’s D core. Hynes is going to be limiting his matchups and ice time. I think playing Merrill tonight is a 50/50 bet. I’m going to be rooting for him to play well and bring his A+ game. He definitely is rested and will be extremely motivated. It wasn’t mentioned but having Merrill in might be more comfortable for Gus as well. 

[1Brotherbill]

The only thing that playing this guy does is it balances out the rotation.  Instead of Brock or Jonas double shifting you get Merrill paired with Bogo 100% of the time.   Which means that Vegas can attack that pair.  This also means that PK1 will have Merrill on it.  Which also means Vegas's PP1 is that much better.  I could make a movie that would be 4 hours long of Jon Merrill looking at the net with the puck in it.  And I'm not saying he is scoring, it is the Wild's net and Gus is usually looking at him as if to say we worked on this in practice, dude. 

[Will D. Ness]

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

If I have a criticism of Buium it has been that he has played far to conservatively

He isn't ready to play loose.  He still has Denver mindset.  I was glad he did tighten it up the last game but you are right in the idea that we don't want him out there to play conservatively.  No point in that.

[Daraincher]

Yeah great call!  Merrill blew his coverage. He’s a vet (more like a suitcase). He blew his coverage and we lost the game. I could stomach it if it was a rookie with 5 games under his belt. But guess what zeev wouldn’t have. He’s a proven winner. 
#outcoached. 

[Daraincher]

Squirts have better dzone coverage!

[Patrick]

This article did not age well and predictably so.  Not only was the completely brain dead Merrill skating in the wrong direction prior to the game winning goal he had several other equally stupid plays that forced Gus to bail the team out.  Stopping with the puck and allowing Eichel to pick his pocket resulting in 2 min of zone pressure and  a stupid pinch on Eichel at center ice resulting on a 2 on 1 come to mind.

When your vet makes "rookie" mistakes (and Merrill has made them his entire time with the Wild) and is likely the least skilled player in the NHL why not play the talented rookie?

[Citizen Strife]

Reactionary whining posts for $2000 Alex/Ken.

Win a OT faceoff, and then maybe Nyquist and Merrill aren't your scapegoats for a team failing to gain momentum when it counts.

Edited April 30 by Citizen Strife

[Dean]

Win a face off. Haha. They did last game only to have mids give it back for over time winner. Win a faceoff. I thought that’s what 40 point Fred ( 1/2 of which were empty net points) was for. He doesn’t do anything else. Just a pedestrian, soft and weak with no business in playoff hockey. They dropped him down lineup because he ruins any line he’s on . Kappy gets momentum and Fred’s line kills it. That’s what 2.1 mill for 5 years with ntc gets a pedestrian in the playoffs. We’ve known this since he’s been here and yet Billy’s ego won’t go find a center to replace Fred. Just like Billy and the coaches ego have nyquist still in lineup because Billy over paid for him. Like Billy over paid Fred . Someone was going to steal him from us he said. To funny. 
   Oh but the future is bright because some clown at the athletic says  Judds got good prospects. Judds Crown Jewel the 9 th overall who we were told was only nhl ready prospect at time ( aged well) is on 4 th line ready to be traded. Meanwhile Fred and gus do nothing . Rossi hasn’t lived up to hype so why believe any of these other prospects will.  His damn prospects should be here like Dallas s prospects. 
   Bad ownership, a bad gm with a big ego and a clueless coach is what the wild are. Kappy , ek and Boldy can’t make up for there incompetence! 
Vegas are winners and the wild are golfers 

[raithis]

1 hour ago, Patrick said:

Merrill ... is likely the least skilled player in the NHL

This is just not true. 

I think we can easily upgrade from players like Merrill and Chisholm, and that neither should be back with the team next year, but to say Merrill is the least skilled player in the NHL is just stupid.

There are worse players in the NHL.  Hell, we've had lesser skilled players on our own team this year.  Or do you think players like Dermott should have gotten more games?  Dermott's play made Merrill look like a first pairing defenseman.

 

[RedLake]

Merril couldn't crack a USHL lineup yet the Mild march him out there in OT.

[FredJohnson]

Maybe next time…

🤦‍♀️

[Patrick]

1 hour ago, raithis said:

This is just not true. 

I think we can easily upgrade from players like Merrill and Chisholm, and that neither should be back with the team next year, but to say Merrill is the least skilled player in the NHL is just stupid.

There are worse players in the NHL.  Hell, we've had lesser skilled players on our own team this year.  Or do you think players like Dermott should have gotten more games?  Dermott's play made Merrill look like a first pairing defenseman.

 

Least skilled. Not worst defenseman.  Merrill is absolutely in the conversation for least skilled in the NHL. He is in the conversation for both actually.

[RedLake]

Buuim or bust in game 6. Let the kid correct his game 4 high stick penalty that actually changed the entire series.

[Protec]

The Wild are a good team despite their obvious handicaps and many weak players. They've overcome a lot and have talent but it's not enough to make up for their foolish blunders. 

Putting in Merrill = Stupid. 

Putting in NoJo = Stupid.

They won without those guys. NoJo coughed one up last night that nearly resulted in a tap-in, if not for Faber. 

I do believe the deck is stacked against MN and we've seen examples each game so far. The league and sportsbooks are a factor, but Hynes and Guerin have their guys and a few of them don't move the needle. They will get what they deserve in the end. Their PP is still average and their center depth is also weak. 

The coach telegraphs his lack of confidence in players and they flip-flop without a real identity. 

The bright spot for me has been Boldy's ability to score playoff goals. He's proven me wrong about his ability to step up in big moments. 

[mnfaninnc]

18 hours ago, Daraincher said:

Yeah great call!  Merrill blew his coverage. He’s a vet (more like a suitcase). He blew his coverage and we lost the game. I could stomach it if it was a rookie with 5 games under his belt. But guess what zeev wouldn’t have. He’s a proven winner.

There were 2 goals scored with the decision to sit Buium, maybe 3. 1 for us and 2 for them. Boldy was forced to play defense on the PP, and you could tell this was not his position. Merrill lost his man in front of the net in OT and it got buried. I'm not sure if Kaprizov would have scored his PP goal had Buium been on the ice, but we got that one back. Shorties hurt worse than PPGs.

Merrill was pretty solid for the night, and Bogosian looked a bit more comfortable, but you could tell that Merrill struggled to keep pace. Did Heinzy see that? Did Guerin see that? I think you put the kid in for 6 and maybe 7. I'd rather Cassidy target Buium than Merrill....or, maybe the 11/7 idea should be considered?

[RedLake]

Nyquist Delete. Ohgren installed. Lightwinds bye bye. Haight installed. Merril start looking for a blue collar career.. Buuim or Chis-tac installed. 

[mnfaninnc]

6 hours ago, raithis said:

There are worse players in the NHL.  Hell, we've had lesser skilled players on our own team this year.  Or do you think players like Dermott should have gotten more games?  Dermott's play made Merrill look like a first pairing defenseman.

I'm not so sure I agree with your take. I would say that in the skills department, Dermott was better. He just wasn't as good of a defender. I think Merrill would be considered for at least bottom 5 in the skill department, but that is not why he was in, he was in to stabilize the 3rd pairing. It cost the team. 

Where do we go next? Bogosian has had time with Chissy, and they're not a bad pairing, but Chissy's also had a bunch of unforced errors that has not earned trust back yet. I think going back to Buium is the right call. 

[RedLake]

We can compete with Vegas. Just need more perfection and pepper Hill.

[mnfaninnc]

19 minutes ago, Protec said:

The bright spot for me has been Boldy's ability to score playoff goals. He's proven me wrong about his ability to step up in big moments. 

This has been a nice surprise, and one reason why I'd be leery of trading him. There are only a few players I'd trade him for, much like Faber.