Elvis Merzlikins

Born in Riga, Latvia, on April 13, 1994, Elvis Merzlikins was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third round, 16th pick, of the 2014 NHL Draft. Standing 6'3" and weighing 190 pounds, the left-catching goaltender wears number 90 for Columbus and carries 274 career regular-season games played, 108 wins, and 12 shutouts into the current season.

InGoal Magazine has covered Elvis Merzlikins in three Pro Reads. All three were conducted after an in-person video review session with InGoal Magazine, and all were written by Kevin Woodley. The first, published in December 2021, was a two-part breakdown of a one-on-one rush and a behind-the-net play against the Nashville Predators ^[1]. The second, published in January 2022, examined a 2-on-1 against the Vegas Golden Knights ^[2]. The third, from April 2022, covered an in-zone sequence against the Dallas Stars ^[3].

Across all three sessions, Merzlikins walked through his reads in precise detail — including when he looks off the puck to track backdoor threats, how he reads an opposing player's hand position, and how he weighs the risk of activating his stick on a poke check. In the first Pro Read, he acknowledged the risk in the poke-check decision on the Tomasino play, noting it was calculated based on the puck getting away from the attacker ^[1]. In the second, he discussed the importance of knowing not just what hand an opposing player shoots with, but where he holds his hands, and emphasized that "you can't cheat" when loading a push leg during a 2-on-1 ^[2]. In the third, breaking down the Dallas sequence, he critiqued his own stance relative to Jamie Benn's shooting threat and explained his preference for staying on his feet in certain situations: "It's better to be low and stay on your feet then to slide out" ^[3].

Merzlikins also participated in an interview on the InGoal Radio Podcast, referenced across multiple Pro Reads as a companion to the video sessions ^{[2] [1]}. In the 2024-25 season, Merzlikins has appeared in 30 games for Columbus, going 14-11-3 with a 3.40 goals-against average, a .883 save percentage, and one shutout over 1,678:37 of ice time.