Golden Knights roster review: Jon Merrill

The Review-Journal presents its “Roster Review” series, which will examine each Golden Knights player’s production and outlook in alphabetical order. Thursday: Defenseman Jon Merrill.

Background

Jon Merrill ended last season riding high.

A breakout performer in the second half, he scored a career-high 15 points, was a career-best plus-16 and played all seven games of the Golden Knights’ first-round series against the San Jose Sharks. Fellow blue liners Colin Miller and Nick Holden each sat at least once.

This season was a chance for the 28-year-old to build on that breakthrough heading into unrestricted free agency. Things, however, haven’t quite gone as planned.

Performance

Merrill hasn’t taken his game to another level this season. That’s left the door open for others to pass him.

He spent the early part of the season fighting for playing time with Holden and veteran Deryk Engelland. The three — all in the last year of their contracts — rotated in and out of the lineup, each bringing experience and penalty-killing prowess.

Merrill has been decent when he’s played and has never sulked or failed to put the team first. He memorably played forward twice to help the Knights — scoring his first goal against Philadelphia in the process. But that didn’t stop the team from looking for upgrades.

Coach Pete DeBoer arrived Jan. 15 and quickly established a new defensive pecking order. DeBoer replaced Engelland with rookie Zach Whitecloud, and Merrill was later bumped for trade acquisition Alec Martinez.

Holden, who took to DeBoer’s system changes quickly, kept playing. Holden also signed an extension at the trade deadline.

That extension was a pretty clear signal about whom the Knights were prioritizing.

Future

Merrill and the Knights might have some difficult conversations this offseason.

The team has six defensemen under contract. All six — Nate Schmidt, Brayden McNabb, Shea Theodore, Martinez, Whitecloud and Holden — were playing instead of Merrill when the season paused because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Knights also have young players Nic Hague, Dylan Coghlan, Jake Bischoff and Jimmy Schuldt in the pipeline. All should push for playing time next season.

That’s a pretty crowded depth chart, which would mean Merrill, who has shown he’s an NHL player the past three seasons, might have to look for larger and more lucrative opportunities elsewhere.

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.