Sergachev in need of more seasoning
SENT BACK TO JUNIOR: Habs’ top pick from 2016 will spend year in Windsor competing for Memorial Cup
MONTREAL — Mikhail Sergachev’s bid to earn regular employment in the NHL as an 18-year-old ended Monday when the Montreal Canadiens sent him back to the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.
“I always said players make decisions for us,” said general manager Marc Bergevin. “It’s not me, it’s him. I watch and he’s not quite ready.”
Sergachev, the team’s 2016 firstround draft pick, played three NHL games, but has been a healthy scratch for the past five.
“The plan was to keep him for a month and then evaluate him,” said Bergevin. “He only played three games, but it’s hard to get in the lineup when the team’s playing well. I don’t want him sitting here when he needs to play. If someone got hurt, he would have played, but I have no control over that.”
Bergevin said Sergachev was understandably nervous in his NHL debut in Buffalo. He said the teenager did some good things, but has to work on his quickness.
“I was impressed with his skating ability,” said Bergevin. “In junior, he paced himself because he was playing 35 minutes a game. But here, you could see his explosion. He moves the puck and he gained the zone fast, but he’s only 18 years old, so there’s a way to go for him.”
Bergevin said his one message to Sergachev was to “do things quicker. In junior, he had more time and he takes his time because he knows he has it. Even there, he can work on doing things quicker.”
Bergevin felt Sergachev changed his game in his brief NHL experience.
“He was trying to survive here, but I want him to be the player he was in Windsor,” he said.
When he was asked if he thought the Canadiens had made the right decision, Sergachev said: “You never know, but if they say it is, it is.”
Sergachev dominated in the OHL last season and was named the league’s most outstanding defenceman as a rookie. Bergevin conceded Sergachev had little to prove at the junior level, but is not quite ready for the NHL.
Sergachev will have some goals for the coming season.
“I’m going to be playing in the Subway Super Series and the world juniors and then there’s the Memorial Cup,” said Sergachev. “People tell me the Memorial Cup is the toughest Cup to win. I expect I’ll be playing lots of minutes.”
Sergachev said he played 15-20 minutes a game in his first 10 games of junior hockey, but soon found that expanded to 25-30 minutes with even longer stretches in the playoffs.
“I had a good time,” Sergachev said when asked to sum up his Montreal experience. “It’s not every 18-yearold that can speak to Shea Weber and Andrei Markov. I learned a lot from talking to those two and being on the ice with them.”
Sergachev should be back in the Bell Centre after Christmas as part of the Russian world junior team. He’s also guaranteed another high-level event because Windsor is hosting the Memorial Cup tournament and is guaranteed one of the four berths.
The Spitfires (10-4-0) are fourth in the OHL’s Western Conference, but only two points separate the top six teams and Windsor is only one point out of first place.
Speaking of Weber, Bergevin said the defenceman has emerged as a leader on and off the ice and credited him for helping to create a more businesslike approach to the Canadiens’ game.
“He has the attitude it’s just one game and then move on to the next one,” said Bergevin.
Weber was recognized Monday for his contributions to the Canadiens’ 8-0-1 start.
He was named the NHL’s third star of the week. Weber had three goals — including two winners — and two assists as the Canadiens went 4-0 last week. He also won the October segment of the Molson Cup, which is based on the three-star selections.
Weber was tied for the NHL lead in points by a defenceman with 10 (four goals and six assists) as of Monday and had the NHL’s best plus-minus rating (plus-12).