Who Emerges as the Blue Jackets’ Future Goalie?

Jarmo Kekalainen, the General Manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, has been a busy man in the past 10 days. He found a way to sign both of the current goaltenders to new cap friendly deals. Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins signed new two-year contract extensions. The goalies would have been restricted free agents after the season, so this checks one thing off of Kekalainen’s offseason to-do list. 

Korpisalo started the season for the Blue Jackets as the clear cut number one goaltender after Sergei Bobrovsky went to the Florida Panthers in the offseason. Merzlikins was the backup until Korpisalo got hurt and then the starter’s crease was his. He quickly got national attention after playing well, and kept the Blue Jackets in the postseason race until Korpisalo got back. With the way the two goalies were playing, it was an easy decision to lock both up on bridge deals now. There are pros and cons to each goalie, but the biggest question is who emerges once the dust clears and becomes the Blue Jackets’ goaltender of the future?

The Case for Joonas Korpisalo…

Korpisalo has been with the Blue Jackets organization full-time since the 2015-16 season. He spent parts of his first few seasons alternating between the AHL and NHL before he was the full-time Blue Jackets’ back up goalie during the 2018-19 season. Korpisalo has worked his was through the system even winning a Calder Cup in 2016 so he knows the tendencies of some of the shooters better. The goalie knows the North American style of play, and has adapted his game. Korpisalo was in the middle of a breakout season before he got hurt at the end of December, but he did come back before the NHL paused its season due to the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Korpisalo can make the difficult save look routine and this is due to his work ethic and athleticism. The goalie can steal games for his team and earn valuable points in the standings for his team. He is calm in the net and that has a positive effect on the guys playing in front of him because they know that they can make a mistake, and Korpisalo will clean it up. Korpisalo only has 127 games of NHL hockey under his belt, but that’s 94 more games of experience than Merzlikins. He has shown improvement as he has continued to develop for the Blue Jackets. 

The Case Against Joonas Korpisalo…

There are three big factors that are working against Korpisalo as the Blue Jackets starting goalie in the next two years. The first one is that he is coming off of a major knee injury so there is the question of does that knee hold up over the next two years? Does it give him problems in the future or was it a one-time thing that he has recovered from? The goaltender missed 25 games to the previously mentioned knee injury, but played a few games before the season was paused.

Can Korpisalo handle the pressure of being the number one goaltender? He had the net all to himself until the injury and emergence of Merzlikins. He still is the number one goalie, but he needs to be careful if he slips up because there is someone on the bench who would easily take his spot. The soon-to-be 26-year-old is in his prime now and needs to prove that he can take the pressure of being the number one, if he is looking to continue his career with the Blue Jackets. 

The Case for Elvis Merzlikins…

Merzlikins was far from a known NHL player, especially on the national level. The goalie managed to get national attention when he had five shutouts in a span of eight games. Yes, you read that right. The Blue Jackets were in the middle of a postseason race and its number one goalie got hurt, but Merzlikins didn’t let the pressure get to him. He proved that he can play well under pressure while staying composed and making saves to keep his team in the game. Another advantage that Merzlikins has is that the opposition may not know his game. 

Merzlikins leads rookie goaltenders in shutouts, goals against average and save percentage so it’s clear the kid can keep the puck out of his own net. The 26-year-old proved that he can come off the bench cold and play well. He doesn’t seem to let anything bother him and bounces back pretty well from a tough goal. Merzlikins can handle the puck so he can help move the offense up the ice or stop the puck behind the net for his defenseman. 

The Case Against Elvis Merzlikins…

The biggest factor working against Merzlikins is the uncertainty of what the future holds. The Blue Jackets have no way of knowing if he has the ability of improving from season-to-season because this is his first season in the NHL. He is in his prime now just like Korpisalo, so does he get better or decline in the next two seasons? 

Another big factor working against him is the lack of experience with the North American game. He will need to learn the tendencies of the game and the players in the NHL, and that will come with time, but how fast does he grasp it? The goalie will also need to rein it in just a bit. Merzlikins tends to be a bit too aggressive when playing the shooter and it has burned him more than a few times this season. 

The Blue Jackets’ Future Starting Goalie Is….

Elvis Merzlikins. If the kid is this good now without knowing the shooters’ tendencies, imagine how good he will be once he studies some tape and learns them. He will also learn the North American game better over the next few seasons too. I’m sure that he will go into a slump, at some point in the next two years, but he has the mentality to bounce right back. Merzlikins doesn’t have the pressure on him like Korpisalo does to keep the starter’s crease and to perform.

The 26-year-old is calm, cool and collected while in net and he seems to thrive in big games. He will need to work on how early he goes into the butterfly, but that will come as he gets more experience. The biggest thing that he needs to work on is how aggressive he is with the shooter. He tends to be super aggressive, coming out to the top of the crease and backing in as the offensive players gets closer to his net. If Merzlikins can be a little more patient with the shooter and learn the player’s tendencies then he has a chance to be a very good goalie for the Blue Jackets.