Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames1217
Where would we play him at the moment though?
He's been relegated to NJ's third line. Do I think he is a third line player? Absolutely not!
At the moment our top 6 RW'ers are Pospisil and Coronato. Pospisil has shown chemistry with Hubey and Kadri and I have very little interest splitting them up. Long term having Coronato learn how to become a top 6 player from both Backs and Coleman is great for his development and for this team long term.
Throwing him on the third line also becomes slightly problematic as he would be where he is right now in Jersey and either of Pelletier or Sharky would need to drop down a line. Sharky isn't a fourth liner and shouldn't be anywhere near a fourth line. Pelts can play there and has shown to be effective there in the past but this wouldn't be providing the opportunity for Mercer to pop.
I would love to have him on the team but for this to happen Pospisil would need to no longer be effective in a top 6 role as he would need to be in the top 6. No point to bring him in to be a bottom 6 player.
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If you can acquire a player like Mercer at a reasonable price that you can live with, you do it. Where he fits on the current lines is largely irrelevant - you're acquiring him to be part of the future core you're building.
(that's why I am not keen on acquiring Pettersson - he will be old before a decent core can be assembled)