Jonathan Merrill

[Aaron Brouwer]

What is his upside?

[JimEIV]

Difficult to tell at this point. Last year I watched about a half dozen regular season games of his plus NCAA tournament play.

Last year it was looking very much like he was a budding two way defender with a top pairing potential, a good #2 defenseman. But the loss of this development time and his off ice issues have left things rather hazy in a lot of peoples mind.

I'm personally still high on him, I think he has all the tools to be a solid twoway guy in the vein of a Jordan Leopold

[devilzrule27]

Merrill is back in Michigan's lineup tonight according to his teammate Chris Brown via twitter! Woooohoooo!

[Clarkson Falls Down]

Great news. Good for him sticking it out.

[Zajac's Bowl Cut]

go big Jon

[vonbonds]

While I am glad he stuck it out for character building reasons this season if he is really a high end prospect he needs to play in a league that plays a lot more games than in the NCAA next season at this point in his career. Just my opinion.

[devilzrule27]

notched two assists last night in his first game back! woot woot

[Clarkson Falls Down]

Very good read on Merrill. Looking forward to seeing him in New Jersey.

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/20...-a-defenseman/

[Dr. Doom]

I think Merrill should at least finish one more year of school. I would personally like to see him finish college and then turn pro. There is already a logjam at defense and adding Merrill would really intensify things.

[Clarkson Falls Down]

I would understand either way if Merrill bolts or stays in school one year. If he stays next year, he probably wants a full year with the program. If he bolts he probably feels that he wants this stuff behind him and is good enough to turn pro.

I support him either way.