A native of Ryazan, Russia, Merkulov's goal was to learn 50 words in English each day, and he watched a lot of YouTube to accomplish that, in particular "The Big Bang Theory."
Now, nearly three years since arriving in the United States in November of 2019, the 21-year-old center seems both comfortable and fluent as he tries to make the jump from college hockey at The Ohio State University to the NHL with the Boston Bruins.
"You're like a baby. You can't speak, you can't understand. You're just quiet and you listen," Merkulov said at Bruins development camp last month. "And a couple months go by and you start to understand more. A couple more months and you try to express yourself. You have [bad] pronunciation and no one can understand you, but you can't give up.
"You just keep working, working."
It's his plan for hockey, too.
As a freshman last season, Merkulov led the Buckeyes with 20 goals and 34 points in 36 games before opting to sign a three-year, entry-level contract with Boston on April 9. He then joined Providence of the American Hockey League on an amateur tryout and had five points (one goal, four assists) in eight games.
Bruins director of player development Jamie Langenbrunner praised Merkulov for his offensive play at Ohio State, including on the power play. It's on the defensive side where he needs work.
"That's been an issue since I was like 13 years old," Merkulov said. "I've been working on that in school and juniors. Even when I played for Youngstown (of the United States Hockey League) … my coach was telling me, scouts always ask about you, but they don't like how you play in [the] 'D' zone. So you've got to be better and you will have success.
"They always say 'D' zone, 'D' zone, 'D' zone."
As a result, Merkulov bought an account with InStat, a service that allows him to see all of his shifts from last season. He has also bent the ear of older teammates to try to figure out what he can improve.
"They always say details, small details, that I get distracted or I always cheat," Merkulov said. "I want to get the puck and go [on] offense as quick as possible, and sometimes I force it. So I think that's the biggest issue."
Adam McQuaid, a former Bruins defenseman who now works as their player development coordinator, described Merkulov's ability to pick up the finer points of the defensive game as "something of a daily process for him."
"He's playing the middle of the ice," McQuaid said. "You know, especially here, you have to be good in your own end to play the middle of the ice and play that 200-foot game. So those will be things that the staff here will be working with him moving forward. It's nice that he recognizes it himself. He wants to work at it."
Clearly, Merkulov is not afraid of some work. And Boston believes there's a lot to like in his game.
"Super skilled. Pretty competitive," McQuaid said. "We had him in Providence at the end of the year. Fairly seamless transition. Obviously, still working on details in that part of his game, for sure. But the skill level is there. Things that you can't teach. That's what excites us about him."
