It’s been a frustrating start to the season for Nikita Scherbak as he has yet to make his season debut with the Montreal Canadiens.
The Montreal Canadiens announced after their 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars that 2014 first-round pick Nikita Scherbak will be sent down to the AHL on a conditioning stint. The season hasn’t gone his way yet as the team is 11 games and he’s yet to play a game.
A part of it ties to how Scherbak performed during the preseason. There were several forwards who stood out in the eyes of the Habs coaching staff, and he, unfortunately, wasn’t one of them. And even though he was named to the team’s roster at the start of the year, he’s been nothing more than an extra body during practice and a healthy scratch.
It also comes down to how well the team has played as of late. Claude Julien has cycled forwards on the fourth line between Andrew Shaw, Charles Hudon, and Nicolas Deslauriers. All three appear to be ahead of Scherbak in terms of the playing priority list making it difficult to predict when he’s ever going to get the opportunity to play.
That makes this decision interesting. Are the Montreal Canadiens doing this now because they want to insert Scherbak in somehow and want him to be ready? Or is it because there isn’t a long-term vision of him drawing in at the moment and don’t want the young forward to get too rusty seeing as he hasn’t played in a game since September.
Scherbak can stay with the Laval Rocket for up to 14 days. Given Laval’s schedule, Scherbak can play up to seven games by the end of the conditioning stint. What happens afterwards will be based on how the Habs look by then.
Regardless of the motive, it’s the right decision. Scherbak is still a young player and it won’t do him any good to sit while his team plays. But it’ll be interesting to see how he fairs in the AHL. If Scherbak comes out of the gate hot and shows that he is too good to be in the minors, it could push the coaching staff’s hand as to what they should do with him moving forward.