No way New Jersey does that given how high their draft pick will be.

On the bright side, Merkley may be improving

https://lfpress.com/sports/hockey/london-knights-addition-of-merkley-ranks-as-ohls-best-trade-this-season

It's not the Devil's own pick. It's the Arizona pick from the Hall trade.

Merkley>>>>whatever mid first prospect we get

looks like I forgot how to read.

now I think San Jose declines because Merkley is getting even more points with London and his attitude is rumored to be getting better. After all, he could have been a top 10 pick in the draft if it wasn't for his attitude.

That's not set in stone.

The purpose of the trade assumes that right now Merkley is the more valuable asset. I won't dispute that. But let's also not forget the talent had in that #10-20 range from the 2015 draft. Now let's consider that this draft is deeper. If there's a forward that the Sharks can select in that range AND upper management believes that said player could be a factor after an extra year in junior/Europe/college (Holloway comes to mind here), it seems like a really smart add to help both short- and long-term.

Merkley is likely a season to a season and a half from being a full-time NHL player. He's then going to be bogged down by Burns and Karlsson until the very second their wheels fall off. If he's not ready to take a top-4 role - or even a top pairing role - it could destroy his development. A top forward on this roster at least has some insulation and won't immediately need to be relied upon as "the guy".



His lack of defensive talent in his draft year probably hurt him just as much as his piss-poor attitude did for what it's worth.

While he's worked substantially on both, first impressions last a lifetime. I doubt Doug Wilson has forgotten the utter nonsense Merkley's found himself in the center of. That's stuff that's hard to sweep under the rug in any sphere, regardless of performance.

Doug frankly doesnt care. He didnt care when he signed Kane, and he wont be looking to give up Merkley. Now if someone came to me with the option of a pick from 4-7 yeah I probably do it, but outside the top ten its a no.

These trades all favor the Sharks...

I wanna applaud you for this proposal -- that COL deal is pretty intuitive and realistic -- not many people have tossed around the idea of Patty and Jumbo moving to a cup contender for the same team, and with the recent Kadri injury, COL might be the perfect fit.

Dillon trade is very realistic with value and team, as is the NYI deal (although they tend not to trade picks so maybe a team like CLG bites instead).

I don't think I do the Merk for 1st deal though. Merk's shown too much promise, but it's an interesting idea and definitely worth DW doing research and asking the guy coaching Merks on what his progress both on a hockey level and attitude has been.

I think the way the Sharks get their 1st is by trading Burns, retaining cap, and taking on a cap dump.