Blue Jackets finish emotional season with romp over Islanders
Blue Jackets finish just shy of the playoffs after routing Islanders in season finale, salute fans amid postgame chants of ‘Johnny Hockey!’
Anybody going into this Blue Jackets offseason thinking they’ve seen the last of Elvis Merzlikins in the Columbus net might want to sit down for this one.
Asked if he felt the team’s payroll was at a point where a contract buyout or two could take place this summer, Blue Jackets president of hockey operations/general manager Don Waddell shook his head.
“That’s not something we’re looking at,” he said. “I can’t say how the summer is going to play out, but as of now, we haven’t talked about it.”
Merzlikins’ name wasn’t mentioned in the question or answer, but it loomed as one of two names on the Blue Jackets’ roster who elicit buyout speculation.
While Merzlikins is one, defenseman Damon Severson is the other. Based on Waddell’s comments, it doesn’t seem likely that either will depart. Merzlikins has two years left on his contract, which carries a $5.4 million charge against the NHL’s salary cap. Severson’s deal has a cap hit of $6.25 million for six more years. Severson sat the final nine games this season as a healthy scratch, while Merzlikins missed the final five with a concussion.
But when the discussion turns to the number of goals the Blue Jackets allowed this season, it’s more than Merzlikins whose name comes up. Backup goalie Daniil Tarasov, a pending restricted free agent, also struggled.
Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason lost confidence in Tarasov, which led to rookie Jet Greaves joining the team twice as an emergency recall during Merzlikins’ injuries. The second of those stints was for five games to close out the season, which Greaves handled with aplomb without losing.
Greaves far outperformed the other two goalies, albeit with a smaller sample size. In his 11 appearances, the undersized rookie went 7-2-2 with a 1.91 goals-against average, .938 save percentage and the first two shutouts of his NHL career, both in elimination games the Blue Jackets had to win in the final week.
He’s back with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, trying to help them make the Calder Cup Playoffs, but Greaves’ outstanding performance in the clutch for the Blue Jackets had fans chanting his first name during a 6-1 win April 17 over the New York Islanders to close out the season.
Neither Waddell nor Evason would commit this early to Greaves, 24, making the team to start next season, but his play through 21 career NHL games (20 starts) makes a good case for him to be considered one of their top two options.
He’s 10-9-2 with a 2.62 GAA and .924 save percentage in those outings, which include games the past two years for short-handed Blue Jackets teams decimated by injuries and far outside the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.
Merzlikins, meanwhile, has been been fantastic, mediocre and dreadful while handling the Jackets’ No. 1 goaltending role since 2021. In 244 NHL games (220 starts), he’s 94-100-35 with a 3.20 GAA, .902 save percentage and 11 shutouts while dealing with the same roster depletion issues the past three years. Tarasov is 19-34-6 with one shutout over parts of four NHL seasons.
Asked about the goaltending situation, Waddell said the position will be placed under a microscope this offseason to see what, if any, changes need to be made. He also left open the possibility that nothing would change.
“To say we’re just going to stay with the status quo, maybe that’s the way it ends up, but we’ve got to examine this position like all the positions and make decisions,” he said. “If we don’t examine every position and dissect everything that we’ve done this year, we’re not doing our jobs. Certainly, the goaltending numbers aren’t as good as we would hope they’d be.”
Trading either Merzlikins or Tarasov is another possibility, but neither appears to be a likely option. A Merzlikins trade would almost certainly require salary retention and might need a prospect or draft pick(s) added to complete. A Tarasov trade probably wouldn’t return much more than a late draft pick since he’s a pending RFA and the Blue Jackets must make a decision to re-sign him or let him walk.
In other words, don’t be surprised if the Blue Jackets’ goaltending depth chart looks the same next season.
“I remember the outdoor game and some other nights where (Merzlikins) just stood on his head,” Waddell said. “So, there’s more talent, in particular, there that we’re looking more for the consistency factor. Tarasov had a great run last year. Again, our goal is … I don’t want to be talking next year on the last day of the season. I want to be talking on the last day of the playoffs. So, until we get to that point, we’ve got to continue to look at everything.”
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