MAKING AN IMPRESSION
A good look at Sergachev
First impressions are always interesting. Sometimes you can judge a person perfectly and other times you can be way off.
My first impression of Mikhail Sergachev when I met him on the opening day of the Canadiens rookie camp last Thursday in Brossard was how cool, composed and professional he is. The 18-yearold seems mature beyond his years.
The other thing that struck me was how good his English is — especially for a Russian who hardly spoke a word of the language at this time last year when he joined the junior Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.
“My English is not that good now,” said a modest Sergachev, who only has a slight Russian accent. “I could do better. I had a good teacher and my billets in the Windsor Spitfires organization helped me a lot.”
When asked what the biggest adjustment was for him playing in North America, Sergachev
I had a good teacher and my billets in the Windsor Spitfires organization helped me a lot.
said: “Obviously, it’s the language and it’s a different country. It was pretty unbelievable when I got there and it was like: Oh my God, what’s going on here?”
But language and any other hurdles the teenager faced in a new country didn’t hurt his performance on the ice, which spoke for itself.
Sergachev posted 17-4057 totals in 67 games with the Spitfires and was plus-15. His 17 goals led all OHL defencemen and he became the youngest rookie to ever win the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the league’s outstanding defenceman.
The only other rookie to win the award was Bryan Berard with the Detroit Junior Red Wings in 1994-95. Sergachev, who only turned 18 on June 25, was six days older than Craig Hartsburg, the youngest defenceman ever to win the OHL award as a 17-yearold sophomore with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in 1976-77.
Other past winners of the Max Kaminsky Trophy include Aaron Ekblad, Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Ellis, Drew Doughty, Marc Staal, Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis, Larry Murphy, Rick Green and Denis Potvin. That’s a pretty impressive group to be part of.
“After the season, I hadn’t thought about it,” Sergachev said about the award. “Once they called me and said you won … it’s pretty amazing. I don’t know what to say. It was pretty cool. For first year (in the league), it was pretty unbelievable.”
The Canadiens selected Sergachev with the ninth overall pick at this year’s NHL Entry Draft. He is listed at 6-foot-3 and 223 pounds on the Canadiens’ official rookie-camp roster, but the teenager said he’s now between 210 and 215 pounds and plans to stick to that weight, adding: “I think that’s enough.”
When asked what part of his game he needs to work on, Sergachev said: “I just want to be better in the defensive zone. I just want to be better on defence and score some goals.”
The Canadiens got a scare Sunday during a rookie tournament in London, Ont., when Sergachev suffered an upper-body injury after being checked into the boards during the second period of a 6-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators. Sergachev, who had already picked up two assists and threw a classic hip check, didn’t return for the rest of the game. However, Martin Lapointe, the Canadiens’ director of player development, told reporters Sergachev was looked at by doctors and was held out simply as a precaution.
“So far, so good,” Lapointe said after the game about Sergachev’s status.
The Canadiens rookies had the day off Monday and the club said there was no update on Sergachev’s condition. The rookies will practise at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Brossard while the veterans take part in the team’s annual golf tournament at Laval-surle-Lac. The rookie camp wraps up Wednesday with a 10:30 a.m. practice in Brossard and the real camp starts Thursday when veterans report for their physicals before hitting the ice Friday.
Health permitting, Sergachev will almost certainly be invited to the main camp for his first taste of the NHL and he’s looking forward to meeting Andrei Markov, who was one of his favourite players as a kid. Sergachev, who was only 2 when Markov made his Canadiens debut during the 2000-01 season, said he hasn’t had any communication with the 37-year-old fellow Russian since being drafted.
Sergachev was also a fan of Russian Sergei Gonchar as a youngster, but his favourite NHL defenceman now is Doughty “for sure.” However, it was Markov Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin compared Sergachev to after drafting him.
“That’s a good compliment to me because Markov is obviously one of the best D in the league and in the world,” Sergachev said.
With eight Canadiens defencemen under NHL contracts, don’t expect to see Sergachev stick with the club this season. The last Canadiens defenceman to make the jump directly from junior as an 18-year-old was Petr Svoboda in 1984. That’s so long ago that Shea Weber wasn’t even born yet.
But one thing is certain about Sergachev. The kid knows how to make a great first impression.