The Montreal Canadiens were ripped in the media yesterday by former player Nikita Scherbak who took them to task for hating Russian players. This is nonsense, but it seems like a good time to look back at some great Russians who played in Montreal.
The Montreal Canadiens drafted Nikita Scherbak in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft. Although he was a scoring winger in the Western Hockey League, let’s just say his offensive talents didn’t exactly translate to the National Hockey League level.
After a season with the Saskatoon Blades and one year with the Everett Silvertips, the skilled winger had scored 160 points in 130 career WHL games. It appeared the Canadiens had found a future top six winger.
Then he turned pro. His first season with the Laval Rocket in 2015-16, Scherbak scored seven goals and 23 points in 48 games. That’s not quite the production you want to see from someone who is supposed to take over a scoring role on an NHL team in the near future.
Another middling season as an AHLer followed and then Scherbak finally earned a promotion in his third pro campaign. He scored a whopping six points in 26 games for the Canadiens that season.
Last season, he was called up but didn’t get into a game. He was placed on waivers in December and claimed by the Los Angeles Kings. He had one point in eight games for the Kings, who proceeded to also put him on waivers and when 30 other teams decided they didn’t want him for free, he went to the Ontario Reign of the AHL.
He once again was a disappointment scoring 11 points in 23 games for the Reign. When no NHL offers came his way this summer, Scherbak headed back to Russia where he will play in the KHL next season.
Yesterday, he blamed all of his NHL troubles on the Montreal Canadiens and former Head Coach Michel Therrien.
Qod) Scherbak says:
— Tony Marinaro (@TonyMarinaro) July 26, 2019
(1) Therrien screamed at players all the time & that affected confidence of young players
(2) Bergevin did not allow Scherbak to live downtown & gave him curfew
(3) Russians not allowed to speak Russian in locker room but French was allowed
U say what? https://t.co/bAeGaSrLCJ
Now, this of course does not answer a few questions like:
- If it was all Therrien’s fault, how come you couldn’t score when you played for the Laval Rocket, Los Angeles Kings or Ontario Reign or with the Habs under Claude Julien?
- Maybe Bergevin did not want you to get an apartment in downtown Montreal because he knew your next home game was likely going to be in Laval?
- If you played better and actually paid attention to defence a tiny bit, don’t you think that would have stopped your coach from being so angry all the time?
Also, why are the Habs so infatuated with Russian defenceman Alexander Romanov if they are anti-Russia? They clearly had him ranked much higher than most teams during the 2018 NHL Draft and absolutely love the player. They keep talking about how excited they are to have him join the team and can’t wait to get him to North America next year.
They even invited him to their development camp even though he is not allowed to take part in on-ice or off-ice activities due to his KHL contract. He literally came to Montreal for a week in June just to hang out with the management team and other prospects.
Anyway, the “Russianphobia” around the Montreal Canadiens is ridiculous. Some of the most beloved players in recent history have been from Russia. So, inspired by Scherbak’s comments, we are going to take a look at the five best Russian players in Habs history.