Merzlikins wants more playing time
DETROIT — After splitting the Blue Jackets' net with Joonas Korpisalo, battling two injuries and fighting off a “NON-COVID illness,” Elvis Merzlikins now hopes to get his first shot this season at starting a string of games.
It's an opportunity Korpisalo has gotten twice because of injuries to Merzlikins, and the Jackets could use a spark from the goaltender who gave them one last year in a similar spot.
After being swept over the weekend in Detroit, the Jackets are now in Florida to continue a critical road trip with a pair of two-game sets against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.
Is Elvis ready to deliver?
Consider the backdrop:
The Jackets last week play a strong, four-game series against the Carolina Hurricanes, one of the best teams in the league. The Jackets lose the last game of the series in overtime, on a boneheaded giveaway/backchecking failure by Jack Roslovic.
Roslovic goes right back into the lineup Saturday in Detroit. The Jackets generate just 22 shots against a goalie who hasn't won a game in more than two years. The Jackets lose, 3-1.
Their season hanging in the balance, they have a team meeting. They come out sleepwalking Sunday, put only 17 shots on goal and lose, 4-1 ... on national television.
That is a statement made by the players about their coach.
This team isn't very good. It is deficient at the center position, lacks highend offensive talent and has a terrible time scoring. More or less, all of these things were true last year, when Tortorella extracted every bit of energy from
the roster in the playoff bubble. He was demanding. Their style of play was taxing. They were well-organized and tough to play against.
Maybe that should have been Tortorella's final note in Columbus, one last high note. He knows his players better than anybody. He also has an acute sense of his own shelf life. He had to foresee, coming into this season, that there were hard times ahead. He had to know that he would be the face of it.
The Jackets' hard-nosed culture was built around players like Boone Jenner, 27, Cam Atkinson, 31, and captain Nick Foligno, 33, who can't bring the jam every night, not anymore. Tortorella's style is to defend for 60 minutes like penalty killers, and not only has this defensive bent softened — they can't even kill a penalty anymore.
What we have here is a buy-in problem combined with a personnel problem.
This is a team that hasn't won more than two in a row this year, which really isn't all that surprising. The most basic stats say they don't do anything particularly well; in fact, every facet of their game can be rated as fair to poor. Their record is the sum of their numbers, and at this point they are exactly what every
measurable says they are — the 23rdbest team in a 31-team league.
How many great (“Hey, look at them Jackets!”) periods have they played this year? By my admittedly conservative count, I'd say five: Three (out of 12) against Carolina last week, and two in their 5-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Jan. 23.
My guess is that general manager Jarmo Kekalainen thought Tortorella could get the Jackets through one more season, and that Tortorella had reservations but acceded. Both crossed their fingers, because they had to fear it might come to this point. It's a dark place.
If the players are no longer responsive to the coach, for whatever reason, does Kekalainen make a change now? Does he go with an interim coach, if only to clear the air in the locker room, where trade rumors are beginning to circulate? Or does he ride it out with Tortorella?
Can any of them see a brighter future? Can they even imagine contending?
Whenever the divorce comes, it'll be a sad thing for the coach and the franchise. Tortorella is one of the best things that ever happened to the Jackets. Alas, his time here is almost done.
marace@dispatch.com