The Boston Bruins called up 23-year-old Georgii Merkulov from Providence on Friday, and he comes in a lot more assured than he did during offseason training.
Merkulov, who was signed by Boston last year out of Ohio State, has been among the AHL’s top goal scorers this month. He might make his debut during the Bruins’ back-to-back set this coming weekend.
According to a team-provided video, Merkulov told reporters, “It’s super exciting.” “My father advised me to just enjoy every game and play it as if it were my last.”
Although the forward prospect showed promise in offseason camp, he wasn’t good enough to make the starting lineup on opening night. However, he answered admirably, scoring a highlight run in the AHL.
Merkulov declared, “I feel confident about my game.” “You don’t play for four months in the summer.” It’s tough because all of the NHL players are here for training camp when you arrive. However, after three months of playing, I feel confident in my abilities. I will thus attempt to translate it as best I can to the NHL.
Though Boston’s offence could use a spark, head coach Jim Montgomery praised Merkulov’s defensive game development and said that’s not the only reason he was called up.
According to team-provided video, Montgomery told reporters, “It’s probably a combination of those two.” We have communicated to Merk that while we want to score more, we don’t want to do so at the expense of our team’s defence. We have guys on our team who are paid a lot of money to score goals, so it’s not like he’s scoring a lot of goals that got him called up because of his 200-foot game. And he needs to join us in our efforts to develop as a team and support that.
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