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| Photo from Canes Cast |
Merkley was a highly touted midget hockey player with and the Hurricanes drafted him in the 1st round (3rd overall) in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft, he also represented Team West at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge for Team Pacific last year.
Head Coach and GM Rich Preston stated “the Lethbridge Hurricanes organization would like to thank Jay for his commitment and dedication to our hockey club. Jay is a fine young man and a very skilled hockey player, which made this trade very difficult to make. We wish Jay all the best of luck in Swift Current.”
In Derko, the Canes get a towering 6’2, 196 lb. left winger. The 19-year old from Sherwood Park, AB was drafted by the Swift Current Broncos in the 5th round (100th overall) in the 2008 Bantam Draft. In 31 games this season he has 11 points (3G, 8A), he’s a -4 plus/minus rating and has 68 PIM’s. Derko is expected to join the team in time for practice on Tuesday.
(From Esther Madziya, Hurricanes Media Relations)
Thanks,
Pat
What in the world is/was RP thinking with this trade?!?
ReplyDeleteI mean honestly.... Unless there is something we dont know like Merkely requested a move or a dressing room issue then this move makes zero sense.
Essentially the Canes just traded a 17 year old w skill upside for a 19 year old third liner.
The only 'plus' is they add some size and experience but come on.
Unless this is only the first of a few other moves then the Canes are a worse team today than yesterday.
- Daryl
Finally we get some size and age! I think Merkley and the team needed this change. Hope Josh gives us next season as a 20. All the best to Merkley and I hope this move turns his career around. HLR
ReplyDeleteMerkley has a lot of skill but lacked desire and heart. I hope he finds it in Swift....Canes cannot afford passengers on the team so hopefully the message has been sent. I think this works for both teams and maybe there will be more to come. CHD
ReplyDeletePersonally I think this trade was needed. Too many teams push our youth around with no one to step up and handle them. SC gave this kid a letter; he’s big and can fight. Hate to give up potential scoring but our team has enough small high end talent. In all three midget leagues (SK, AB and Man) we have a prospect either leading or in the top three in scoring. HLR
ReplyDeleteThis has to be the worst trade in CHL history! Merkley never really had a chance here and had 14 goals playing minimal pp and 3rd line. He's only 17 and hes traded for a role player fighter who may only play for half a season. To give up on a 17 year old is crazy! Rich is has a new title to go along with bad coach "worse GM. Good luck to Jay. There goes our highest pick ever. By the way Merkley was the first draft for Rich. He does not have a single player that he or Robson drafted thatis playing on his top 2 lines. Worst place in the league for developing talent. Rich was a grinder and thats all he likes. I love the Canes but they are the laughing stock of the league.
ReplyDelete3 to 2. In comments for the trade. Good move Merkly has skill no desire. Need big forward to make room for our smaller skilled players
ReplyDeleteMerkley loved the Canes and was very popular in the room. He was devistated by the trade but had no choice. Drafting him was all Rich and Robson and trading him was all Rich. Its all on Rich and he should be accountable.I know Jay very well and he wanted to be a Cane. He's a first class kid and I know he will very much miss Lethbridge! If you check out the highlights last night the first pp goal on the 5 on 3 (the back door assist to Yack) was a taste of what he could bring to the the plate. Never really had that chance here though. By the way that beautiful pass was credited to Mackecknie. Derko wont give us that but he can fight. Remember the Brian Maxwell era...here we go again.
ReplyDeleteRP makes absolutely no sense to me!! He goes an trades a 17 year old that has tons of potential and has already shown it to get a bigger and older guy that is not known for scoring. Like c'mon RP seriously you drafted this player really high and then trade him after only 1.5 years in the WHL. I hope merkley does an outstanding job in Swift Current and then RP can see the big mistake he made. I hope that RP won't be our coach and GM next year because he is just ruining this team. We need a guy that can develop players and a GM that can make GOOD trades. You would think that eventually RP would get the point!!
ReplyDeleteIt is a good trade
ReplyDeletePeople saying he did not want to be traded, I may misunderstand how it works, but I was under the impression a 17 year old player still in school must approve to be traded during the school year.
ReplyDeleteIts a bad trade. Good luck to Jay. The best trade would be Rich Preston for a real coach.....give up on 3rd overall after a year and half for what...... duh! Time will tell but right now I would say Swift stole Merkley and Rich looks BAAAAAAAAAD. Here we go again.
ReplyDeleteCHD....Merkley wasn't a passenger last night, nor hasn't been the past couple of months. We know what we have in Jay, but we have NO clue what we have in Derko and especially in a 3rd Round pick (which we REALLY don't need!)
ReplyDeleteHLR.....great, we have a bunch of 14 and 15 year olds tearing up the midget leagues! That's not what we need next year....we need to let the current roster mature into what we've been waiting for. If RP continues to dish his younger skilled players, we have nothing but a revolving door and a good season will never come to fruition.
No, this is not a good trade for the Canes at this point of their development.
Darren
Just listened to Kabayama on the Canes' show.....I fail to understand how this helps the team next year?
ReplyDeletePreston gives up on Merkley when he's playing well, especially for the amount of minutes he gets (errrr, DOESN'T get!) on the PP! If some of you think Merkley lacks heart, I'd be afraid to think of what he'll do to us the next 3 years if he grows one! He's putting up points and skating hard. Not much else you can ask of him. If you're looking for players to trade, how bout starting with Watson? Can't remember the last time he looked dangerous in a game??? November??
Darren
You are right that a 17 year old in school has a no trade clause but all team has to do is say they wont play them if they stay and they really have no choice. Mark my words Jay loved it in Lethbridge and loved the Canes. He's a good friend and trust me he had no choice.
ReplyDeleteWho is accountable. Who picked him. Robson and Preston. That was our highest pick ever. Someone screwed this up and we got nothing in return. This is incompetence and is a very big deal!!!
ReplyDeleteto Anon 8:53
ReplyDeleteahhhhh, let's not get into that right now. *sweeps under rug*
@ Darren The kids in Midget that I was referring to are 15yr old 4th overall pick Giorgio, 15yr old 3rd round pick Colt Conrad and 16 yr old 2nd round pick Kolten Olynek (no 14 yr olds). All three are kids we drafted who look to be promising point producers and look to be on our team next season. For this season and next a 6 foot 2 192lb, assistant captain that can fight and stand up for our current and future youth is more valuable than a small .5 point per game guy. I think we have numerous players with similar skill sets to replace Jays production. We don’t have players that can replace a Hoods size and strength. Rich should be criticized for not drafting larger players that can handle the physical nature of this league. Should it have been Watson traded you would have had seen similar comments. The kid has elite speed, give Watson three seasons to figure it out and he would be punishing us as well. HLR
ReplyDeleteYet another example of a skilled player, young, and with great potential who was NOT developed or used properly by this coach.
ReplyDeleteBet Merkley flourishes in SC.
Agree with the comments criticizing this trade especially the one written at 6:49 today.
Wishing Merkley the best with his new team.
What is this a joke. i'm done with the Canes. I was just starting to become a fan again after the Stasiak era followed by four years of no playoffs with Preston and now he trades his first ever draft pick highest ever by the canes for a 3rd liner and a 3rd round draft pick after a year and a half. No thanks. Bag of pucks. DONE!
ReplyDeleteI agree with HLR. In looking at the trade, it is a case of need. The Hurricanes needed more size and toughness upfront especially with Hood gone next season. Derko fills that role. It is unfair to compare the production numbers of Derko and Merkley. They both play a different game. Would it be fair to compare Merkley's toughness/size with Derko? Certainly not. Merkley is skilled, when he wants to play. I also agree with HLR in his comment about drafting size. All one has to do is look at Calgary and SC to see that size makes a difference. The Hurricanes will not be the last team to trade away a high draft pick. These kids are 15 when they are drafted, not all become the stars that each team hopes they will become. With all the talent the Canes have coming up, they can afford to deal for size and toughness. Next move should be for a 19 year old big, mobile tough d-man to replace Johnston's spot next year. Oh yah, send Sutton and Harper back to the AJHL.
ReplyDeleteA Fan
Derko is a dime a dozen. You don't trade 3rd overall for a 3 goal fighter. If you want a fighter you can get one for a fifth round draft pick. Look at Med hat Doby. Ya you need them on the 4th line, 3 to 4 shifts a game... Merkley has played well all season. You forget he's only 17 and will continue to develop. Its good they got toupher (for one year) but the cost was too high. Merkley likely will be a 30 to 40 goal scorer if given the chance. He will likely have over 20 this year and not one is on the pp. He is one of if not the top 3rd line point producer in the league. Imagine if he played on the top line. Worst of all he's only 17. Yack and Mackechnie did not even play until they were 17 and check their numbers as 17 year olds. Derko is fine but not for Merkley. Good for Swift they stole him.
ReplyDeleteEveryone needs to relax. This is a hockey trade in its purist form. Every championship team has a mixture of skill and grit and unfortunately the Canes are heavy on the skill but weak on the grit. They simply used a strengh to fix a weakness. And as far as where Merkley was drafted etc. It just doesn't matter. The draft is a crap shoot, long time Canes fans will remember Ryan Kerr....a high first round pick if not first overall. With the amount of soft skill players the team has now and in midget I would not be suprised to see more veteran grit added. Unfortunately I moved from Lethbridge and had to give up my long time season ticket, but I still follow the team from a far. The team and organization are on the brink of returning the the glory days, for heaven sakes just support the team and quit complaining. Be proud of what the team is and where it is going.
ReplyDeleteIm not a fan of merkley but I don't think this was the best trade for the canes. To trade a kid that half way through the season is matching his points compared to a whole year last year for a third to fourth line 19 year old that has size but not even half the point production. I know his role is different than Merkleys was but if size was the issue we could have kept Merkley and possibly traded for more a year or so down the road, and at the beginning of next season pick up a 20 year old tough guy for a 5, 6 or 7 round pick. Our team is getting pushed around when they stop moving their feet but I don't see a deep playoff push if any for the team this year, so why trade a 17 year old asset in terms of trade value for a year and a half tops 3 line big body that we might have had a chance at when training camp was closing next year? Not a good showing for the gm.
ReplyDeleteWell said,I agree everyone needs to take a pill and chill. Lets just enjoy the game and see what happens. To bad you moved away, we need more fans like you.
ReplyDeleteWhy all the negative feedback?! Maxwell and Ramsey are easily the top 2 centres... and Duke deserves to be the #3 centre over Merkley. They aren't scared to play in traffic whereas Merkley usually shys away into the boards... Blame Rich all you want, but those 3 are much faster and have much more heart than Merkley has ever showed... especially in the past few weeks when Merkley has kept getting worse and worse.
ReplyDeleteThe Canes get a big, competitive winger for an over-rated 4th liner, good move Rich.
My prediction, maybe Rich will add a 19 yr old right-handed D-man in the next couple days...
I'm pretty sure RP initiated this deal... and I'm also certain he would check with every team for what they would offer the Canes...
ReplyDeleteYes, he went 3rd overall, and yes, RP and the Canes may not have a great reputation, but look what Merkley did on OTHER elite teams...
Team Alberta at Nationals... 7th in team scoring
Team Pacific at the World U-17's... tied for 13th in team scoring
He was an unfortunate draft pick that didn't pan out...
Why relax. Call it as it is. Its a bad trade but may be what is needed this year. However the facts are: Duke may fill the spot but does not see the ice--2 goals in 31 games. Estavan can't skate and the other 2 Conrad and Olynuik are truley midgets 5 foot 6 at best. Maybe moving Merkley was the answer but not for a 3 goal 19 year old fighter that we get for 3 month-not for the long term. If the Canes do well this year and make the playoffs then it will be worth it but if they fail to make it this will talked about again. RP MK and CChisimore have made their move and time will tell Good luck to Jay I was a fan and will miss watching him. 7
ReplyDeleteI think we need to stop looking at this as a point-for-point trade and realize that these are two different players with two different skillsets and two different roles. Comparing the points that Merkley has to Derko's is comparing apples to oranges.
ReplyDeleteI look froward to seeing what Josh Derko will bring to the Hurricanes and wish him well here.
P.S. To the Hurricanes office: your new programs are terrible. It is a useless folder with some photocopies shoved inside that are always falling on the floor. There is nothing interesting anymore.
-cc
Bad trade. Good luck to Merkley. Better make the playoffs now. Sold the farm. Atta boy Rich
ReplyDeleteDarren, you say merkley was not a passenger the last few months. But he was at times. Which makes him a guy capable of being a passenger. Which makes him defective. Which makes him expendable. If he was ever a passenger, he has weak character. Canes are poised to go 3 rounds next year and 2 this year. 5 playoff rounds you can only handle so many jay merkleys.......as in zero.
ReplyDeleteBAD BAD TRADE - 20 yr olds must be impact players. Top two d-men, 30+ goal scorers or top end goalies. Derko doesn't fit any of those. You dont keep 20 yr old scrapers. There are lots of 19 yr old meat heads.
ReplyDeleteIf this kid at 17 ends up with 20 goals this year, what will he likely have as an 18 yr old and then a 19 year old? If at 19 he has a 40 goal season that will hurt. Teams will championships with 19 yr old players.
Getting a player of Derko's ilk and a 2014 3rd rounder is unfathomable. Its like trading a Caddilac for a Cavalier. Highway robbery and somebody really was of FUBAR here!
Anon 9:50.....so when those 15 year olds you're talking about get to 17, will Preston trade them too?????????
ReplyDeleteIt's a revolving door with no end!
Darren
Anon 11:26......If we needed some grit, don't you think it would've been better to try and trade for a player who will be with the Canes longer than a half a year? (Will RP try putting this kid in the PP next year as he's done with Hood??)
ReplyDeleteGive me a break about this being a "hockey trade". There's nothing good about this trade. A championship team doesn't trade one of it's highly touted 17 year olds away for a player who may or may not be here next year.
Darren
Prince George must be ticked today. They wanted much more for Forsberg, a first overall who had similar numbers. They wont get much more than Merkley fetched. It was very small return. 3rd and 4th rounders are moved all the time as they are not great value. Poor return.
ReplyDeleteMaybe trading Merley and something else for Forsberg and Jacobs. Jacobs is a 19 year tough kid who producing a point a game, and could be a valuable 20 yr old.
This is a head shaker or shocker.
I a sure glad there are as many arm chair GM's out there. Everyone needs to take a Valium and settle down . Had RP traded away Watson who has almost the same stats as Merkly I am sure that some of the more prolific contributors would complain about that trade.
ReplyDeleteWow. I cannot believe any of you think this is a good trade unless you are Swift fans. Derko is only a middle weight at under 200 lbs. We have a guy in that category that is also our top goal scorer. If all you want is a gritty 4 liner then play Harper and tell him his only job is to fight. This may end up costing the Canes alot of season ticket holders. Good luck Jay I for one hope you score 30+ next year and 40+ as a 19. Here is my call for new lines if RP will send Axel home. Ram, Hood ,McK. Max, Yak, Derko. Duke, Lever, Wat. Sof, Laur,Wong.
ReplyDeleteThere is no denying that Merkley has skills, but there has always been signs of a lack of heart, desire and consitency with him. Lethbridge brass had to know this before drafting him, but like a lot of GM's and coaches they think they will be able to change that. So, they got what they could get out of it to help the team and move on. Hopefully, for Merkley's sake, SC and Mark Lamb will have better luck .
ReplyDeleteDarren, great enthusiasm but holly cow are you way off base. There is no free agency in junior hockey, the only way to build a championship team is through the draft and trading strenghs to fill weaknesses. Look at any WHL champion in the past ten years, the consistant theme is trades to fill weaknesses and they didn't always steal the player they wanted. Let this play out, they have drafted extremely well the last 3 years. The Canes will win, just relax and enjoy it.
ReplyDeletePreston has not drafted well, he has drafted a lot because all Rich seems to do is deal players for picks. There is a difference. The Rich/Robson players have yet to result in a single star in this league. Rich seems to have a way of killing the spirit of young players. If Jay was given the opportunities that Axel has been given who knows what happens. Look at how good teams do it. We get Rimmer for a 2nd and a 3rd. Calgary gets a younger Driedger for a 3rd and develops him into a player with better numbers than Rimmer. Thats how you get value.
ReplyDeleteGood deal or not the issue here, is value. We get a golden pick and within 1.5 years of playing that pick has turned into an aluminum asset. For anybody who attended the town hall Rich lied to our faces concerning dealing the high drafted kids we have. I have not written on this blog almost all season due to frustration with Preston and sounding like a broken record but this is ridiculous.
The trade may or may not be a good hockey trade. The issue I am frustrated with is that Preston has shown that he can not develop/motivate players.
Pat please post an interview with Rich concerning this deal and how he messed up such a high pick. The responsibility is 100% on him since he picked the player and was responsible for developing him.
He owes it to the fans.
Sku
My guess would be that this trade has very little to do with the player and more to do with the player's parents expecting more. RP traded the parents to Swift as part of the deal.
ReplyDelete12:33 PM.... Now that is an interesting comment.
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:23.....No, not off base. Read the rest of the comments. You're in the minority if you think this is a good trade. (Not saying we didn't need size, but to give away a player with Merkley's skill is absolutely dumb.
ReplyDeleteTo your point about building a championship team.....if you think Derko will be here for a championship in two years, then you'd better check his age. He only has 1.5 years left of eligibility, so he's gone after next year (at the latest...might even be gone after this year!)
You don't need to fill those gaps until the championship is close at hand.....we aren't even close at this point.
They've drafted extremely well because they've finished in the bottom 5 of the league every year. It doesn't take a genius to draft from that position.
Darren
Daryl 5:28pm raised the question of unless there is something we do not know like Merkley asked for a move or something. Maybe it was parental interference as raised by Anon 12:33? It would not be the first time a player has been moved from one team to another because of parental demands. Heck, just look at the mess with PG and Forsberg.
ReplyDeleteBut strictly looking at point production is not right. You have to sit back and see what each player brings to the table. Sure Merkley has lots of scoring potential, but he does play soft. If he played like Russ, Jamien, Sam, Reid then this trade would never have happened. On the other hand, Derko brings size, toughness, skates well, and he will open up space for the skilled players. Derko was traded to stay here for this season and next as an overager. Better to have him here now and know what you are getting then wait til next season to fill the OA spots. Having Hood and Derko for the rest of the season, will make other teams think twice before going after our skilled players.
A Fan
For those wondering about Merkley's thoughts regarding the trade, check out Shawn Mullin's Swift Current Broncos blog on the right side to listen to his chat with Jay after Broncos' practice Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteTo "A Fan"......why do teams have to think twice before going after our skilled players with Hood on the ice?
ReplyDeleteThe question is a catch 22....I've seen opponents take liberties with our small forwards and watched Hood just stand there with very little said. He's not the enforcer you think he is.
My other question is in regards to you calling Merkley "soft". What type of player would you call Adam Oates when he played? Bernie Nichols? Peter Stastny? My point is, we don't need a team full of the same type of players. Preston should've scouted a player that wasn't "soft" BEFORE he drafted Merks! That's called poor drafting. Obviously, Preston didn't know what type of player he drafted and he didn't know what type of player he was coaching. That's called "a poor coach".
Darren
Derko hasn't played since Dec 4th.
ReplyDeleteShould have been able to get him for the 3rd round pick ALONE... Merkley was a throw in... no charge...
Just like Moser was let go by RP and is now the Broncs 4th leading scorer.
3rd overall pick TRADED by RP at age 17... for a guy with bad stats who hasn't played in a month; I don't know how you can see it any other way than failure by the coaches and GM.
Thanks for the link Pat.
ReplyDeleteDerko WILL be a fan favourite... if you want a comparison, think a 6'2 version of Wuchterl... or a faster version of Hood! And he is one of three 19 yr olds now, so expect him to play the next two post-seasons. If you're aren't going to welcome him or aren't happy to see him, then why bother be a Canes fan?
Since his ankle isn't 100%, we won't see him on home ice until the Jan 25th so keep on complaining for the next 2+ weeks.
It's unbelievable how many Merkley supporters there are. When has he ever shown that he is a skilled player? Duke is ABLE to and DOES dangle through D-men every game, look at his highlight reel goal on Sunday night! Preston has taught him the defensive game and Duke is now ready for a bigger offensive role. He is the first player since Boychuk to show that kind of skill each and every game... Merkley has NEVER shown that kind of skill in 1.5 years. He has a great shot but you need much more than that to survive in the WHL.
Remember, he was the 3rd best 1995-born player in May 2010, not in January 2013. Not even close.
A very good move for Merkley....now he can try getting back to form as demonstrated in his earlier years of Bantam, etc. He will be used effectively in SC---get lots of ice, get team systems, be motivated, and be productive. If he has weak areas he will be coached to improve.....
ReplyDeleteJay was no more a "passenger" with the Canes than many, many other players on the team.....too often the team was unprepared, unmotivated, lost on the ice....so disappointing especially at home games and with no attempts to change up the play, to motivate, to make adjustments. Unacceptable with so much talent and skill on the team
Thanks for the heads up on the Merkley interview from Swift Current. There is a lot going on that we the fan are never told about. Seems like Merkley wanted to go and RP wanted him out.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone is wondering about Derko it is interesting to go to hockey fights dot com and see him in action. Especially you should watch his Dec 4 fight where he folds his ankle You can see it buckle over and over (no wonder he's been sitting for over a month) but he finishes the fight strong. He finishes all his fights strong. And he's a good skater by the looks of it. He towers over Yak in their fight. And finishes strong.
I think trade is good for both Swift and Lethbridge. Time will tell. I think Swift is very happy and the Canes needed to get toupher. Duke has 2 goals and did not get his first until his last game and Merkley had 26 goals in lethbridge in a season and a half playing on the 3rd and 4th line which is more than half the players playing 2x as much. Derko is a great player and will help the Canes. The Canes had no answer when the Hitman put 5 dmen out the last shift of their last meeting in Calgary. Their intent was to intimite and the message was sent. This is likely why they got Derko. By all account a great kid. Too bad he's 19 but it will work for now. Good luck to Jay. Great kid and I wish him all the luck in Swift.
ReplyDelete