Are the Canadiens giving too much ice time to Lane Hutson? Ben Merrill hails from Hingham, Massachusetts. A lot of great hockey players have come from that state. Kraken center, Matty Beniers is from the area, maybe the Canadiens are hoping that lightning strikes twice. The only difference is Merrill was taken in the sixth round with the 166th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. In 2021-22, Merrill [https://www.hinghamanchor.com/ben-merrills-road-to-the-nhl/] played with the Cape Cod Whalers 16U AAA, the same as Beniers. It’s a good path to take and he had six goals and four assists that season. He played at St. Sebastien’s too, and that’s a notable prep school in the area. In 2023-24, at St. Sebastien’s, he scored 18 goals with 19 helpers in 25 games. That season, he did a little traveling to play a few games with the Chicago Steel in the USHL. Michael Hage was on that team. That’s interesting to me. This season he’s with the Penticton Vees. The BCHL is a good feeder system for NCAA hockey. The center has eight goals and no assists in his first 26 games. That’s odd considering that he’s a center. This prospect is 6’4”, 194 pounds so he needs to get physically stronger. He’s drawing penalties and averaging 1.34 hits per game. According to InStat, he’s winning 50% of his puck battles, and around 49% on face-offs, both should improve over time. In just over 11 minutes of ice time, his production is good. He has a long skating stride. His speed must get better over time but I'm guessing Ted Donato will fix that when he reports to Harvard University next season. Offensively, he has a heavy wrist shot and when he’s near the net, deflections happen and his cuts through the crease are good too. He’s too raw to say what he might be. I’ll keep track of him.
