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Photo of NHL player Elvis Merzlikins

Columbus Blue Jackets Logo Elvis Merzlikins

Position Goaltender Current Team Columbus Blue Jackets
Catches Left Current Contract 5 years ($5.4M CapHit)
Height 6'3" Expires 2026-27
Weight (lbs) 190 Expiry Age (Jun 30) 33
Age (DOB) 32 (Apr 13, 1994) Expiry Status UFA
Drafted 2014, Round 3, Overall 76 (CBJ)
Date Team Transaction
Sep 21, 2021 Columbus Blue Jackets Signed 5 years @ $5.400M AAV starting in 2022-23
Apr 23, 2020 Columbus Blue Jackets Signed 2 years @ $4.000M AAV starting in 2020-21
May 15, 2019 Columbus Blue Jackets Signed 1 year @ $874K AAV starting in 2019-20
Mar 20, 2019 Columbus Blue Jackets Signed to an entry level contract.
Status History Coming Soon

About Player Cards

Player cards present an infographic of a players performance using a series of Player Archetypes developed for Puckalytics.com and TheStanleyCap.com. The boxes in the rink image show the archetype ratings for the season specified in the card while the graphs to the right show the five-year trends for those archetypes.

Except for Faceoffs, the values shown are the players z-score (standard deviation from the mean) for the specific metric used to calculate the archetype values. When calculating z-scores forwards were compared to forwards and defensemen were compared to defensemen. Positive values indicate the player is above average and shaded in blue, while negative values indicate the player is below average and shaded in punk. The five year trend charts show a range of -4.0 to 4.0.

The value shown for Faceoffs is the faceoff winning percentage rather than their z-score with winning percentages below 50 in pink shades and above 50 in blue shades.

All archetypes are 5v5 except 5v4 TOI, 4v5 TOI, Skating (even strength) and Faceoffs (all situations). Archetypes use regular season data only.

Archetypes Summary
  • Sniper - Measures the to score above the expected goal rate.
  • Rebound - Measures the percent of a players shot attempts that come from rebounds (forwards only).
  • 5v4 TOI - Powerplay ice time, calculated as the percentage of his teams 5v4 ice time that the player was on the ice for.
  • Shooter - Measures whether a players points come from shots (goals or assists on rebounds from his shots).
  • Producer - Measures a players ability to produce goals and assists, adjusted for quality of teammates.
  • Playmaker - Measures whether a players points come from passes.
  • Drive - Measures a players ability to drive puck possession and generate shot attempts for his team.
  • Rush - Measures the percent of a players shot attempts that come from rush plays
  • Possession - An indicator of a players ability to improve his teams puck possession game.
  • Faceoffs - Faceoff Winning Percentage (min. 75 faceoffs taken).
  • 5v5 TOI - The percentage of his teams 5v5 TOI that the player was on the ice for.
  • Suppress - Measures a players ability to suppress opponent puck possession and shot attempts against.
  • Skating - An indicator of a players skating ability, or speed bursts above 20mph per mile skated.
  • Defend - An indicator of a players ability to suppress shot quality against.
  • 4v5 TOI - Penalty Kill ice time, calculated as the percentage of his teams 4v5 ice time that the player was on the ice for.
Data Sources
Terms of Use

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  • You credit TheStanleyCap.com as the source and provide a link back to TheStanleyCap.com or this player page.
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  • If you are a high-traffic website you must download and host the image(s) on your site rather than overload TheStanleyCap servers with traffic.

Note: Player cards will update daily throughout the season so if you want to include snapshot then you must download the image.

If you have any questions, send an e-mail to the e-mail address at the top of this page.

Read Introducing Player Archetypes on HockeyAnalysis.com for more details on archetype calculations.

5v5 Goalie Stats

Season Team(s) GP TOI SAA/60 SA/60 xGA/60 GA/60 GS/60 Sv% xSv% Sv%AE
2019-20 CBJ 32 1446:18 42.65 30.49 2.35 2.07 0.28 93.20 92.29 0.91
2020-21 CBJ 27 1258:06 43.26 32.95 2.39 2.62 -0.23 92.04 92.75 -0.71
2021-22 CBJ 59 2669:46 47.13 35.19 3.00 2.90 0.10 91.76 91.47 0.29
2022-23 CBJ 30 1262:09 47.06 33.32 2.82 3.80 -0.98 88.59 91.54 -2.95
2023-24 CBJ 40 1796:07 45.97 33.00 3.00 3.07 -0.08 90.69 90.92 -0.23
2024-25 CBJ 53 2623:45 42.03 27.97 2.41 2.58 -0.18 90.76 91.39 -0.63
2025-26 CBJ 29 1369:35 41.44 27.34 2.71 2.85 -0.13 89.58 90.07 -0.49

4v5 Goalie Stats

Season Team(s) GP TOI SAA/60 SA/60 xGA/60 GA/60 GS/60 Sv% xSv% Sv%AE
2019-20 CBJ 32 100:59 61.20 45.16 5.34 5.94 -0.61 86.84 88.18 -1.34
2020-21 CBJ 27 88:31 64.39 44.74 6.46 4.74 1.71 89.39 85.57 3.83
2021-22 CBJ 59 245:43 72.77 53.48 7.02 6.84 0.19 87.21 86.86 0.35
2022-23 CBJ 30 118:21 87.20 58.30 8.44 8.11 0.33 86.09 85.52 0.57
2023-24 CBJ 40 155:35 89.08 62.09 8.57 7.71 0.86 87.58 86.19 1.38
2024-25 CBJ 53 239:24 74.44 55.14 7.60 9.02 -1.42 83.64 86.22 -2.58
2025-26 CBJ 29 115:29 90.92 61.31 9.64 10.91 -1.27 82.20 84.28 -2.08

Legend

Percentile 0-25 Percentile 25-50 Percentile 50-75 Percentile 75-100

Glossary

Statistic Definition
SAA/60Shot Attempts Against per 60 minutes.
SA/60Shots Against per 60 minutes.
xGA/60Expected Goals Against per 60 minutes.
GA/60Goals Against per 60 minutes (lower is better).
GS/60Goals Saved per 60 minutes (xGA/60 -GA/60).
Sv%Save Percentage.
xSv%Expected Save Percentage.
Sv%AESave Percentage above Expected (Sv% - xSv%).
Data from Puckalytics.com (starting in 2015-16).

News and Opinions

Current Contract

Elvis Merzlikins signed a $27,000,000 5-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets and General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen on September 21, 2021 with an AAV of $5,400,000. This contract will start in 2022-23 and end after the 2026-27 season. In the first season of the contract the cap hit was equivalent to 6.55% of the salary cap.

Standard Contract (UFA) ( )  (0 ratings)

Season Age* Clause Cap Hit AAV Perf. Bonus Sign. Bonus Salary Compensation Minors Salary Status
2022-23 28 $5,400,000 $5,400,000 - - $5,250,000 $5,250,000 $5,250,000 UFA
2023-24 29 $5,400,000 $5,400,000 - - $6,000,000 $6,000,000 $6,000,000 UFA
2024-25 30 $5,400,000 $5,400,000 - - $6,000,000 $6,000,000 $6,000,000 UFA
2025-26 31 $5,400,000 $5,400,000 - - $5,525,000 $5,525,000 $5,525,000 UFA
2026-27 32 $5,400,000 $5,400,000 - - $4,225,000 $4,225,000 $4,225,000 UFA
Total - - $27,000,000 $27,000,000 $27,000,000
Signed: Sep 21, 2021
Team: Columbus Blue Jackets
GM: Jarmo Kekalainen
Exp. Status: UFA
Cap %: 6.55

Previous Contracts (show) (hide)

Elvis Merzlikins signed a $8,000,000 2-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets and General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen on April 23, 2020 with an AAV of $4,000,000. This contract will start in 2020-21 and end after the 2021-22 season. In the first season of the contract the cap hit was equivalent to 4.91% of the salary cap.

Standard Contract (RFA) ( )  (0 ratings)

Season Age* Clause Cap Hit AAV Perf. Bonus Sign. Bonus Salary Compensation Minors Salary Status
2020-21 26 $4,000,000 $4,000,000 - - $3,000,000 $3,000,000 $3,000,000 RFA-arb
2021-22 27 $4,000,000 $4,000,000 - - $5,000,000 $5,000,000 $5,000,000 UFA
Total - - $8,000,000 $8,000,000 $8,000,000
Signed: Apr 23, 2020
Team: Columbus Blue Jackets
GM: Jarmo Kekalainen
Exp. Status: UFA
Cap %: 4.91

Elvis Merzlikins signed a $874,125 1-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets and General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen on May 15, 2019 with an AAV of $874,125. This contract will start in 2019-20 and end after the 2019-20 season. In the first season of the contract the cap hit was equivalent to 1.07% of the salary cap.

Standard Contract (RFA) ( )  (0 ratings)

Season Age* Clause Cap Hit AAV Perf. Bonus Sign. Bonus Salary Compensation Minors Salary Status
2019-20 25 $874,125 $874,125 - - $874,125 $874,125 $874,125 10.2(c)
Total - - $874,125 $874,125 $874,125
Signed: May 15, 2019
Team: Columbus Blue Jackets
GM: Jarmo Kekalainen
Exp. Status: RFA-arb
Cap %: 1.07

Elvis Merzlikins signed a $925,000 1-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets and General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen on March 20, 2019 with an AAV of $1,844,559. This contract will start in 2018-19 and end after the 2018-19 season. In the first season of the contract the cap hit was equivalent to 2.32% of the salary cap.

Entry Level Contract ( )  (0 ratings)

Season Age* Clause Cap Hit AAV Perf. Bonus Sign. Bonus Salary Compensation Minors Salary Status
2018-19 24 $1,844,559 $1,844,559 - $92,500 $832,500 $925,000 $70,000 ELC
Total - $92,500 $832,500 $925,000 $70,000
Signed: Mar 20, 2019
Team: Columbus Blue Jackets
GM: Jarmo Kekalainen
Exp. Status: 10.2(c)
Note: This contract was signed after the start of the season resulting in the increased cap hit and AAV.

Career Statistics

Regular Season Playoffs
Season League Team GP GS W L OTL SA GA GAA Sv% GP GS W L OTL SA GA GAA Sv%
2009-10 Swiss-U17 Lugano U17 24 12
2010-11 Swiss-U17 Lugano U17 28 5
2011-12 Swiss-Jr. Lugano Jr. 8 3.52 3 5.07
2011-12 WJ18-A Latvia 3 1 1 130 15 4.88
2012-13 Swiss-Jr. Lugano Jr. 30 2.76 4 3.84
2013-14 Swiss-Jr. Lugano Jr. 12 2.07 10 1.68
2013-14 Swiss Lugano 22 12 10 45 2.13 1 1 1 0.75
2014-15 Swiss Lugano 22 14 9 57 2.61 1 1 2 3.33
2014-15 NL Lugano 22 13 7 2 657 57 2.61 0.913 1 1 14 2 3.09 0.857
2015-16 Swiss Lugano 44 23 13 125 2.76 15 8 6 36 2.32
2015-16 WC-A Latvia 6 1 4 148 13 2.91
2015-16 NL Lugano 46 27 13 5 1607 125 2.76 0.922 15 9 3 3 567 36 2.32 0.937
2015-16 WC Latvia 5 1 4 148 13 2.91 0.912
2016-17 NL Lugano 41 21 16 3 1380 116 2.89 0.916 11 5 5 1 371 25 2.29 0.933
2016-17 OGQ Latvia 2 1 1 29 2 1.32 0.931
2016-17 WC Latvia 6 3 3 190 12 1.98 0.937
2017-18 NL Lugano 42 2.72 0.921 18 2.17 0.935
2017-18 WC Latvia 6 4 2 151 9 1.50 0.940
2018-19 NL HC Lugano 43 22 18 1312 104 2.44 0.921 4 3 141 18 3.95 0.872
2018-19 WC Latvia 5 1 3 128 11 2.78 0.914
2019-20 NHL Columbus Blue Jackets 33 33 13 9 8 919 71 2.35 0.923 2 2 1 1 74 4 1.96 0.946
2019-20 AHL Cleveland Monsters 2 1 1 59 3 1.52 0.949
2020-21 NHL Columbus Blue Jackets 28 28 8 12 5 825 69 2.77 0.916
2021-22 NHL Columbus Blue Jackets 59 59 27 23 7 1920 178 3.22 0.907
2021-22 WC Latvia 5 2 3 116 16 4.26 0.862
2022-23 NHL Columbus Blue Jackets 30 30 7 18 2 889 110 4.23 0.876
2023-24 NHL Columbus Blue Jackets 41 41 13 17 8 1266 130 3.45 0.897
2024-25 NHL Columbus Blue Jackets 53 53 26 21 5 1557 168 3.18 0.892
2025-26 NHL Columbus Blue Jackets 30 30 14 11 3 812 95 3.40 0.883
2025-26 OG Latvia 2 2 2 60 9 5.40 0.850
NHL Career 274 274 108 111 38 8188 821 3.22 0.900 2 2 1 1 0 74 4 1.96 0.946