If Pavel Zacha, who left Saturday’s win over Arizona with an injury, is going to miss any time, the Bruins will need to make a move at forward. One of the options is calling up another intriguing prospect — 23-year-old Russian Georgii Merkulov.
The Bruins already have rookies Matt Poitras, Johnny Beecher and Mason Lohrei in the NHL. Merkulov could add to their numbers.
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Going into training camp, the intriguing young center that people thought might push for an NHL roster spot was Merkulov, until Poitras’s electric training camp changed the course of the season.
Merkulov, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound Russian, who the Bruins signed as an undrafted free agent out of Ohio State, leads the P-Bruins with eight goals, 13 assists and 21 points in 24 games. He had 24 goals and 31 assists in his first AHL season last year and was on the AHL’s All-Rookie team.
Other than perhaps Morgan Geekie, Merkulov has the highest offensive upside of the players available to play center. He looked both promising, but not ready yet playing with the Bruins during the preseason.
Boston has veteran options to fill the hole if they’d prefer. The most obvious would be to move Geekie to center. He’s played center and wing this season and has some offensive upside. They could move him to the middle and add someone else at wing.
Patrick Brown, who has played eight games for the Bruins this year and 146 NHL games in his career, has played five game in Providence this year. He can play center or wing. Trent Frederic could move to center, but Boston has been reluctant to move him off the wing so far.
Marc McLaughlin, Jesper Boqvist and Jayson Megna are also options in Providence. Each has NHL experience and can play center or wing.
Former first-round pick Fabian Lysell, who struggled in training camp, has 15 points in 20 games (six goals, nine assists) playing wing in Providence.
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