Elvis Merzlikins' wife shames heckling Blue Jackets fans

Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins has caught a lot of flak for his slow start to the 2022-23 NHL season. (Getty Images)
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Some fans appear to have crossed a line with Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Elvis Merzlikins.

An Instagram story from Merzlikins' wife, Aleksandra, earlier today detailed some horrific comments that she and her husband, along with their one-year-old son, have received in the early goings of Merzlikins' difficult 2022-23 season.

“Enough with the trashing, enough with the pointing fingers,” Aleksandra Merzlikins note said. “Enough with the hoping something bad happens or wishing someones [sic] death.”

Merzlikins detailed further in her Instagram story that there had been ongoing struggles with Columbus fans acting disrespectfully towards her and her son, to the point that she would not be bringing him to games for fears over his safety.

She also described fans speculating over Elvis Merzlikins having “mental issues”, arguing that fans only see a sliver of what goes on in their personal lives.

Merzlikins has had his share of struggles to begin the season, along with the rest of the Blue Jackets, who rank last in the Metropolitan Division. Through Saturday night, the Latvian netminder currently boasts a record of 2-3-0 with a 4.31 GAA and an 0.863 save percentage. He is also in the first year of a new five-year, $27-million deal that he signed last September.

His play on the ice, of course, doesn’t make the alleged remarks from a few Columbus fans justifiable in any way, especially towards his wife and child.

Merzlikins and his wife have dealt with their share of hardship over the past few years. Back in July 2021, the couple lost their dear friend and Elvis' goaltending partner Matiss Kivlenieks in a tragic firework accident, in which Kivlenieks reportedly saved the Merzlikins' family from harm.

Later that season, Merzlikins shared that a Dallas Stars fan taunted him over the tragedy, disgustingly yelling “don’t light a firework” towards the netminder prior to a game at Nationwide Arena.

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