Nikita Scherbak is four games deep into his latest call-up with the Montreal Canadiens, and he’s continuing to have a productive impact.
There are two waves of hype for a prospect. At first, you twiddle your thumbs and wait for them to finally get their opportunity in the NHL while constantly checking what they’re doing with their junior or AHL club. Then when they’re up, you watch. Watch to see if they can take that level of play and keep it going in the NHL. What a good way to describe Nikita Scherbak and his recent play with the Montreal Canadiens right?
Scherbak is an NHL player; you can’t deny that at this point. It was good on Claude Julien to give him an honest chance to produce by playing him with Jonathan Drouin and Alex Galchenyuk. He only has two assists to show for it – both on the man advantage – but the Habs have a player in Scherbak who can create.
Marc Dumont of The Athletic tweeted out some might fine stats about the 22-year-old. In a nutshell, Scherbak is on the ice for a lot more scoring chances for than against.
So far this season Scherbak has been on the ice for 32 Canadiens scoring chances and only 16 against. (66.7%)
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) February 11, 2018
He's been on the ice for 12 high-danger chances for and just 5 against. (70.5%).#ScherbakHypeTrain
Toot toot.
Some of those plays against Nashville on Saturday are just a few examples of that.
I'm here for Nikita Scherbak turning on the jets and dusting defenders. pic.twitter.com/NTiF1MJpak
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) February 11, 2018
It’s more than that. Scherbak is using his speed and strength to outwork his opponents down low in both zones. Fortunately, that has led to scoring chances for the Habs when it’s in the offensive zone when Scherbak lays his hits and quickly puts himself in a position around the net to receive a pass.
Going back to that stat from Dumont, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this from a Habs player this season. Their very Charles Hudon–Artturi Lehkonen like if you look at it.
Via naturalstattrick.com, Hudon has been on the ice for 125 high danger scoring chances for and 84 against (59.81%) while Lehkonen has been on the ice for 107 for and 71 against (59.12). Scherback’s HDCF% will most likely decrease as the season goes on, but he’ll definitely stay north of 60.
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Unfortunately, we know that one of the storylines of the season has been Hudon and Lehkonen’s lack of production despite the chances they create. However, it’s not for lack of trying.
Both have been dangerous pieces on their lines and Scherbak is no different. In another universe, the tale of the tape is different, and those two are among the team goal leaders, but luck hasn’t been on their side.
Considering who the 2014 first round pick is playing with, there’s a good chance a few find the back of the net with 27 games left in the season. Shooting the puck more would be a good start for Scherbak. He had four and five shot games against the Predators and Senators respectively, but none when taking on the Ducks and Flyers.
His growing confidence will make him a player to pay attention to for Habs fans. Instead of twiddling thumbs waiting to see what Scherbak can do when called up, the next wait will be what he can do in a full NHL season.
What have you liked about Scherbak’s game? Can he get the goal-scoring going for him? Let us know in the comments.