What happens next for Elvis Merzlikins and the Columbus Blue Jackets

Questions are raining down on what the Columbus Blue Jackets are going to do with one of their goaltenders.

On Friday, Elvis Merzlikins said he, the team and his agent have agreed to find a “new scenario” for him. After a great outing in a win against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, Merzlikins doubled down and confirmed that he has requested a trade from the team.

Merzlikins had been a healthy scratch the three games prior to Monday, and had been up in the press box in four of the last five, as Daniil Tarasov and Spencer Martin have been seeing the bulk of playing time lately.

Merzlikins have not been bad, compared to last season. In 24 games, he has gone 8-8-6, with a 3.22 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.

He is in the second year of a five-year contract, with an AAV of $5.4 million.

So, the question is, what’s next? If Blue Jackets’ GM Jarmo Kekäläinen is able to find a trade partner for Merzlikins, what will his value be worth?

On Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed what the future could look like for the 29-year-old.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Is he going to get his wish before the Deadline?

Frank Seravalli: Not sold that’s gonna be the case. This has made it out publicly now by virture of Elvis Mirzlikins, basically saying it. You kind of got a sense from the Columbus Blue Jackets and [head coach] Pascal Vincent of what he was thinking about in terms of not playing for a stretch of time…This was kind of writing on the wall, and here’s the thing…NHL teams have known Merzlikins has been looking for a change of scenery for months now.

You can watch the full segment, and the entire episode here…