Montreal Canadiens are Wisely Developing Sergachev
The Montreal Canadiens are going to be patient in developing Mikhail Sergachev. This will benefit the rookie later on in his career with the Habs.
The Montreal Canadiens decided to scratch rookie Mikhail Sergachev from the teams lineup last night. Injured player Jeff Petry was returning to the roster and the Canadiens needed to scratch someone else to play him.
The choice to scratch Sergachev was puzzling because I wanted to see Sergachev play in order to evaluate him. I reasoned, if you have Sergachev on the roster why not play him and see what you have? After some consideration I do think the Canadiens are doing what’s best for Sergachev long term.
Bad Conditions for a Rookie
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Ottawa outplayed the Canadiens most of the game. Montreal couldn’t match the physicality and intensity that the Sens played with. The Senators made things difficult for the Habs defense corps by outlet passes difficult.
Clearly Michel Therrien didn’t game plan to be outplayed like that. However, Therrien was aware of that possibility in a tough physical rivalry game while on the road.
The coaching staff clearly wants to protect Sergachev’s confidence by playing him in only certain games and in certain situations. I don’t think they didn’t wanted him to have the added pressure of playing in the bright lights of Hockey Night in Canada either.
Better Conditions for a Rookie
Sergachev’s first game vs the Buffalo Sabres was a better matchup. The Sabres were missing key players from their roster due to injury. Jack Eichel, Kyle Okposo were hurt and Ryan O’Reilly wasn’t 100% coming into the game either.
Buffalo is a rival but the Sabres are clearly not a contending team, especially missing key elements of their roster. These were better conditions for Sergachev to get some ice time. Mikhail could play without the coaching staff worrying about what lines he would be facing.
Sergachev did a few good things against Buffalo in his first game. Overall he looked like a rookie when trying to pass the puck up the ice and skate out of his zone. Obviously, Mikhail hasn’t quite picked up the speed of the NHL game yet.
Sergachev Learning in NHL is Positive
Sergachev will learn so much from being around the Montreal Canadiens veterans. Shea Weber and Andrei Markov will be able to teach the rookie the right way to play defense in the NHL. They will also be able to show him the right way to conduct himself on and off the ice.
Mikhail Sergachev would not be able to learn these valuable things playing in junior hockey. He would get a lot of ice time in junior, but against weak competition. The Montreal Canadiens also feel that Sergachev is physically ready to play now.
So Sergachev needs help with the mental part of the game and who better to guide him than the veterans on the team. Even when Sergachev is watching from the press box he will still be studying, learning, and improving the mental aspects of his game. Than he can use the Habs practice time to apply what he saw in the press box.
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Final Thoughts
I’m not sure that Sergachev will be with the Canadiens the entire year, but it’s still a possibility. Sergachev could be loaned to Russia for the World Junior Championships later on in the year. However, with the Canadiens being patient with Sergachev and letting him learn and be mentored will do wonders for him years down the road.