Having finished his season with HC Lugano this past weekend, Elvis Merzlikins is about to officially become part of the Columbus Blue Jackets' organization, The Athletic reports. The team that picked him in the third round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft is looking to sign the Latvian to an entry-level contract. As he is already 24 years old, it could only be a one-year deal, which would make Merzlikins a restricted free agent on July 1.
As the source writes, the plan for the netminder would be to make his debut for the Blue Jackets' AHL-affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, at the end of the month. As the AHL regular season will be over mid-April, Merzlikins would have some time to adjust to the North American style of play and let Columbus take a closer look at him.
If you want to know more about entry-level contracts in the NHL, you can read about it here.
