It’s been an offseason of delayed change for the Blue Jackets, who took until late May to appoint Don Waddell as their next general manager and until this week to fire head coach Pascal Vincent. With the coaching change being Waddell’s first real mark on the franchise, many wondered if he may have other moves up his sleeve in the coming days.
He still may, but moving on from goaltender Elvis Merzļikins won’t be one of them. Waddell told The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline that the team won’t buy out the final three seasons of the Latvian netminder’s contract and dismissed the possibility of a trade, saying the organization will put “all the resources we can” into helping Merzļikins rebound from a tough couple of campaigns.
“Let’s be honest, nobody is going to trade for that contract. Nobody,” Waddell told Portzline. “People say, ‘Well, why don’t you buy out the contract?’ It’s a six-year buyout, and there are years three, four, five and six when you might need that cap space. So you’ve eliminated those two options.”
The contract Waddell refers to involves a $5.4M cap hit for Merzļikins through 2027, a tough deal to move when there are far more attractive options in the net available for trade this summer. Merzļikins improved from a nightmarish 2022-23 season this year but still struggled with a .897 SV%, 3.45 GAA and 13-17-8 record in 41 appearances. He also frequently entered and exited the lineup due to various illnesses and injuries, including a lower-body ailment that sidelined him for seven of their final eight games. Those numbers were still below average considering the Blue Jackets’ poor defense, saving -6.3 goals above expected, but it was a massive improvement on his -25.9 GSAx figure the year before in just 30 games (MoneyPuck).
It’s all a far cry from his rookie season five years ago when Merzļikins arrived in Columbus with a .923 SV% in 33 games and finished fifth in 2020 Vezina Trophy voting. He was overall one of the better netminders in the league with a .913 SV% in 120 games between 2019-20 and 2021-22, but his past two seasons have brought him down to a much more pedestrian .904 SV% for his career.
In January, the 30-year-old told media he’d requested a trade but later returned his statement. He did have some interest from the Devils before the trade deadline, but they ended up going with Jake Allen as a stopgap option before making a big swing to acquire Jacob Markström from the Flames on Wednesday.
Next season, he’ll face stiff competition for starts from 24-year-old Daniil Tarasov, who ended the season on a high note after struggling with injuries early on. The 2017 third-round pick made a career-high 24 appearances, logging an 8-11-3 record with a respectable .908 SV% and 3.18 GAA that worked out to 3.9 goals saved above average. Pending restricted free agent Jet Greaves is also pushing for NHL time after posting a .926 SV% in 13 playoff games with AHL Cleveland and recording a 30-win regular season.
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