The Bruins are introducing another rookie to the mix. General manager Don Sweeney announced on Friday that the team had called up center Georgii Merkulov from AHL Providence, and sent down Patrick Brown in a corresponding move.
Merkulov was on the ice for Friday's practice at Warrior Ice Arena, wearing No. 42, the same number he wore in training camp and preseason. The 23-year-old Russian, who played one season of college hockey at Ohio State in 2021-22 before signing with the Bruins, will make his NHL debut on Saturday when Boston hosts the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden.
"It's great. I'm excited," Merkulov said after practice.
Merkulov was on fire in Providence. He had nine goals and seven assists in his last nine games before this call-up and had climbed up to fourth in the AHL in scoring with 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists) in 31 games. He was also the P-Bruins' leading scorer last year, when he was an AHL rookie.
The scoring is impossible to ignore, but it is not the only reason Merkulov earned this promotion. In fact, what has impressed everyone in the Bruins organization even more are the improvements he has made away from the puck.
"I think the thing that's been the most promising thing that we're hearing is how quickly he's closing in the D-zone and how his 200-foot game has really upticked," Montgomery said on Thursday. "It's not surprising that you hear about someone's 200-foot game getting better and he's [fourth] in the league in scoring.
"We want to score more, but we don't want to score more sacrificing our team defense," Montgomery added on Friday. "And that message has been made clear to Merk. Like the reason he got called up is because of his 200-foot game, not because he's scoring more. Because on our team we have guys that are paid a lot of money to score goals, right? And he's got to come and support them and be part of what we're trying to build as a team. But it's exciting for him because he's got the opportunity to play his first NHL game tomorrow night. That's exciting, and that's good energy to bring to the group as well."
At Friday's practice, Merkulov skated as the third-line center, with James van Riemsdyk and Trent Frederic on his wings. That dropped Danton Heinen down to the fourth line with Johnny Beecher and Jakub Lauko. The top two lines remained Pavel Zacha-Morgan Geekie-David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand-Charlie Coyle-Jake DeBrusk.
That is where Merkulov is expected to play Saturday, too. Montgomery explained why he thinks that's the right place to start him.
"We want to put him in a situation where he's gonna play minutes, and you want to put him in a situation where he's playing with offensive players," Montgomery said. "I don't think it's fair to bring a guy up and put him on the first line either. Like that's not a situation that's good for his… you know what I mean? Like, you see it with 10-year vets, they get on a line with Marchy and Pasta, they're trying to force feed it and not playing their game. We want him to just go out and focus on his game."
To an extent, Merkulov simply forced the Bruins' hand by playing so well in Providence that they almost had no choice but to give him a look in Boston. But the Bruins could use some offensive help, too.
While they did score four goals in Wednesday's win over the defensively deficient Buffalo Sabres, the Bruins have still been held to two goals or fewer in five of their last nine games. One potential offensive spark, fellow rookie center Matt Poitras, is currently playing for Canada in the World Junior Championships and won't be an option for Boston for at least another week.
The addition of Merkulov certainly injects some more offensive creativity into the group, and it also lengthens the lineup. Dropping Heinen, who has 11 points in 25 games this season, to the fourth line could help that line generate more offense than it has.
While the Bruins like the energy and defensive responsibility that Beecher, Lauko and Oskar Steen have brought, it's also hard to ignore the fact that the three of them have combined for just one point in the month of December. The Bruins don't need their fourth line to score a ton, but they do need at least some occasional offense from it.
How long Merkulov sticks in Boston remains to be seen. Obviously his play will go a long way towards deciding that. It is hard to envision Montgomery fielding a lineup of three rookie centers with Merkulov, Beecher and Poitras once he returns, but that is still at least a week and anywhere from five to seven games away. It's always possible someone could shift to wing, too.
Merkulov, for one, will be hoping it lasts at least a couple weeks. His parents are scheduled to visit from Russia in mid-January. It wasn't possible logistically for them to get to Boston for their son's NHL debut, with Merkulov noting that the trip alone is a three-day ordeal. In the meantime, Merkulov's girlfriend will at least be in attendance Saturday, possibly with her parents and a few of Merkulov's friends, too.
He'll have a couple friends on the ice as well. Rookie defenseman Mason Lohrei played with Merkulov at Ohio State and a little bit in Providence, while Johnny Beecher was teammates with him all last season in Providence.
Lohrei said he's excited to see Merkulov getting his shot.
"It's awesome, obviously, to have him up here," Lohrei said. "We had a great time at school. He's such a great kid. Just loves the game, worked so hard, and he's got a great story of kind of where he came from and how he got over here, how he got to school, and obviously succeeding a lot there and then going to Providence and succeeding there, and then this year building on that. He's worked so hard to get where he's at. I'm proud of him and I'm happy I can be here."
