It’s been a long offseason for Merrek Arpin, longer than he or the Wheat Kings had planned, but even though he wishes it wasn’t quite so lengthy he’s making the most of it.
The 2006-born right-handed blueliner has had a couple of injuries to rehabilitate, injuries from which he has now fully recovered. Once he was back to full health, it was time to get faster and stronger.
“I’ve been progressing well,” Arpin said. “I’ve been training five days a week. Wednesdays are yoga and conditioning days. I’ve been putting on muscle, losing some body fat, and progressing well.”
At 6-foot-4 and over 200 pounds, Arpin already moved well for his size, so getting leaner and more mobile only adds to his impressive array of physical gifts. Acquired from Tri-City last season just before the trade deadline, Arpin could tell right away he was walking into a good situation, and he’s motivated to help what he thinks will be a strong Wheat Kings squad.
“The team is obvioulsy going to be really good and I just want to be a big part of it,” said Arpin. “I want to be the reliable, steady, defensive defenseman that they want me to be.”
At first, it looked like Arpin would meet those standards and then some. He got off to a dream start in Black and Gold, picking up an assist in his very first game with the team, and seemed to be exactly the sort of defenseman they were looking for. But while the team was in Victoria on their longest road trip of the season, he had to leave to deal with a family emergency with his grandmother (one that, thankfully, had a happy ending; Arpin said he saw her again just last month and she’s been doing well). Upon his return to the team, a run of bad luck on the injury front began.
Arpin suffered a sprained AC joint and a fractured collarbone on an awkward, literally last-second hit against the Moose Jaw Warriors in his first game back. He missed all of February with those injuries. Arpin made his return against the Red Deer Rebels in early March, getting into a fight sticking up for a teammate and finishing plus-1, but then had the same injury flare up the next game in Edmonton on an awkward hit. He said he reaggravated the injury by rushing back.
“The boys on the team were great, helping me through it, but nobody wants to be injured right away,” Arpin said. “You get traded to a new team and I don’t think anybody would want to be put in that situation. It was good to have the boys, the coaches around me to help me battle through it. I’m just grateful to my teammates for helping me battle through it.”
Speaking of his teammates, there was some comfort for Arpin in his long absence from the lineup because, unfortunately, he was far from the only Wheat King missing extended time. Easton Odut and Roger McQueen were both on the injured list for much of his time there, which at least meant he had company.
“I got really close with Rog and Odie,” Arpin said. “Because they were both injured guys, we spent a lot of time together. They’re great guys, great guys to know. That helped a lot.”
His injuries, however, kept Arpin out through the playoffs, and even the early offseason was a time for very slow, cautious rehabilitation. Once he had full range of motion back, he started pushing himself harder, gradually building up to the five-days-a-week program he now credits with putting more muscle on his 6-foot-4 frame.
For many Wheat Kings fans, Arpin will feel almost like a new trade acquisition all over again. In a strange twist, four of Arpin’s five games as a Wheat King came on the road and most Brandon fans haven’t yet seen him play. So when training camp begins, Arpin will have a rare second chance at a first impression.
“I want to show my skating, my defensive prowess, and be a steady puck-moving defender that will be relied on in defensive situations,” he said. “I can get the puck moving up north quickly and shut down plays quickly.”
Between Arpin’s impending return and the acquisition of Grayson Burzynski in the offseason, the Wheat Kings defense looks to be a physically imposing group. Arpin played with a towering defense corps in Tri-City last season before the trade, and he’s keenly aware of the value of a sizeable blueline.
“At the NHL draft this year, there wasn’t a single defenseman drafted that was under six-foot,” Arpin said. “Teams are looking for bigger D that are mobile. I know Burz, I lived in Winnipeg for a while so I know him, he’s a nice guy and a good player. It’s going to be a good group of defensemen.”
Arpin wants to be a lynchpin of that group of defensemen, thus the intense offseason workout regimen. And he knows it won’t just be the blueline that’s a force to be reckoned with when the season begins.
“I think we’re going to be an unreal team,” he said. “First of all we have a fantastic group of guys, that’s the first and foremost part. Secondly, we have a lot of skill coming back. It’s going to be a good team and I expect us to go really far and to make a deep push.”
