Georgii Merkulov

It's chaotic, Alison.

You have Georgi Merkulov, Alexey Toropchenko, Felix Trudeau, Logan Mailloux, Trent Minor, Tyler Tucker, plus O'Connor and L'Heureux all sidelined.

That leaves a huge void in the bottom six.

Yesterday, we mentioned that veterans like Nazem Kadri and Jaden Schwartz are gonna have to carry heavier minutes.

Like, um, even Adam Beckman, one of the new additions who's playing in their top six right now, is a younger player.

Um, Merkulov, who's injured right now, is gonna be a really great middle range, like young to mid-range, um, player for center depth.

Um, and so that leaves real opportunity for Matt D'Amourco, Nikita Proshapov, who had another season hampered by injury.

So he, the, the year before last, was hurt in the playoffs, and then he had a season-ending injury last year in the regular season.

That wasn't my thinking.

It's just he's, he's been placed and he's been earmarked with, like, Merkulov, who he, he was with in Boston.

Like, that's just what they see him as.

Like, that's who he plays with.

Mm-hmm.

That's who he skates with.

And then Benner also said, you know, when he was going through the list of options, he mentioned Lysell with Merkulov as, like, you know, AHL dudes that we're gonna look at, so.

Yeah.

That sounds like a plan.

Who do you think needs to step up immediately? Is it time for someone like Georgii Merkulov to see more minutes?

Merkilov has shown flashes.

He's young, he's fast, and he can change the pace.

The stakes feel higher because this is our chance to prove the first game wasn't a fluke of execution errors.

We'll talk about the roster moves, the specific matchups against Velarde, and where Georgii Merkulov fits in moving forward.

Let's get right into it.

Segment one, the matchup and the biggest storylines heading into Pike's Peak.

Today we are reacting to last night's 3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

We'll break down Georgie I. Merkulov's lone bright spot, analyze why the power play looked completely lost, and look at what this means for the rematch on September 26th.

That's right.

It's not just about the score.

He was.

And Josh Morrissey orchestrated the entire second period with two assists.

For Colorado, Georgie I. Merkulov was basically the only guy generating anything close to a threat.

He scored the goal.

... polished.

Uh, Georgi Merkulov, I was like, he's supposed to be pretty electric.

I know nothing really about him other than that, and there was a little e- electricity there.

And Miroslav Hlinka looks like he always does.