Welcome to the show, Mikhail Sergachev as Tampa Bay Lightning rookie leads team to victory in Columbus

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
October 19, 2017

Welcome to the show, kid.

With decision day number one rapidly approaching for Tampa Bay Lightning rookie defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, the 19-year-old made a statement on his behalf on Thursday in helping Andrei Vasilevskiy silence the canon in a 2-0 victory at Columbus.

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Sergachev picked up his first and second career goals to provide the only offense for Vasilevskiy, who stopped all 43 shots he faced to record his fifth career shutout and first of the season.

Tampa Bay finished off a three-game road trip with five out of six points and sits atop the league standings two weeks in to the season.

The biggest question surrounding Sergachev is how much of the season the young defenseman will be around for. He might have provided an answer to that in his eighth game of the season.

Sergachev was the ninth overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft by the Montreal Canadiens. Tampa Bay acquired the 19-year-old from Montreal in exchange for Jonathan Drouin during the summer with the idea that he will eventually be a top pairing defenseman. Side note: Sergachev has as many goals as Drouin at this point and one more point, but that’s not important right now

But the plan is for the Lightning to bring him along slowly, not rush him in to a role with the team before he is ready. So far in the young season, Sergachev has been brought along at a slow pace, allowing him to gain some footing, get a feel for the speed of the NHL game and see the game coming at him to learn how to play the position at the highest level.

“He understands the game for a 19-year-old and he understands he has room to grow and he has a long way to go,” associate coach Rick Bowness said. “But he understands he has a lot to work with, so he wants to learn, he wants to get better. He is very receptive to video, he’s very receptive to talking to him and he knows he can play in the league. He has all the skills, he has size, skating ability, strength, he has the hockey sense.

“He needs experience. The big thing with kids is they can’t be afraid to make mistakes, they learn from them. And he has that ability to bounce back from it and learn from it.”

The situation surrounding Sergachev, however, centers on whether he is progressing during that time. Because of his age and the race he was drafted out of the Ontario Hockey League where he played for Windsor the previous two years, Sergachev is not eligible to play in the American Hockey League this season – it’s either in the NHL or back to the OHL for the remainder of the season.

The first deadline on that front comes on Tuesday, when Sergachev will be scheduled to play his 10th game of the season. Once he plays that 10th game, the clock on his contract starts ticking and his three-year entry level contract begins.

It seems a foregone conclusion that Sergachev will continue to be a part of the Lightning lineup on Saturday, when Tampa Bay returns home to face Pittsburgh, and once again when the Lightning head to Carolina for a Tuesday matchup with the Hurricanes.

”He’s actually made great strides as a player just in his first eight games in the league, especially these last couple games have been his strongest of the year,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said after the game. “He’s earning his ice time now.’’

His first goal came late in the first period when he took a quick slap shot from the left point after Vladislav Namestnikov and Nikita Kucherov did a strong job in the corner to win the puck. With Steven Stamkos running a moving screen in front of Sergei Bobrovsky, Sergachev ripped the puck to the inside of the near post at 17:48.

”It’s cool scoring your first goal, it’s exciting,’’ Sergachev said. “I didn’t know what to do, I was like “what am I supposed to do, I just scored a goal. So I did a good celly and the boys just congratulated me.

In the second period, as the sea of the Columbus defense parted the middle of the ice, Sergachev took another feed from Kucherov and was able to waltz down the middle of the slot and pick his corner, snapping off a wrist shot to the top corner over the glove of Bobrovsky at 15:37.

”It’s just a learning process, but you can see the skill he has,’’ Cooper said. “He’s got the shot. One thing was the slap shot but then to come right down Broadway and pick a corner like that, that just shows the skill set he has.’’

So, with him almost certain to remain with the team past the nine-game deadline, it does not mean Sergachev is guaranteed to remain with the team for the rest of the season. Should the Lightning at any point decide he is better served back in junior, they can still send him back, but it would still count as a full year against his contract.

The next deadline concerning his contract status comes at game No. 40, which in Sergachev’s case, has two triggers. First, it’s the marker that starts the clock on his free agency status and once that comes, he earns a year toward his unrestricted free agency status.

That 40-game mark also factors in to the deal made with Montreal as once hit hits that benchmark – including the playoffs – the condition of the trade – Tampa Bay would receive a second round pick while the Lightning would send a sixth-round pick to the Canadiens – becomes void.

It’s a ways off before that benchmark starts to appear on the horizon. In the meantime, Sergachev is just trying to absorb as much as he can, learn as much as he can and improve his overall game to make the decision that much more difficult on the organization.

”I’m trying to build my confidence playing better D and the goal just kind of came along with it,’’ Sergachev said. “I’m just trying to play and trying to learn. Obviously there is a learning curve and a learning experience for me, that’s all I have to do now is learn.’’

And he’s very eager to absorb everything he can.

“He’s a student of the game,” Bowness said. “He wants to get better. I think this kid wants to be a star in this league and he knows he has the abilities to do that, the rest just comes from experience and him just working harder to be a better player every day.”

Well, welcome to the show, kid.

Postgame notes:. C Cedric Paquette missed the game with an unspecified upper body injury. … Tampa Bay scratched D Slater Koekkoek and RW J.T. Brown. … C Steven Stamkos and RW Nikita Kucherov each extended their season-opening scoring streak to eight games. … Vasilevskiy has allowed three goals in his past three starts. … LW Vladislav Namesntikov has points in seven of the eight games this season. … D Victor Hedman played a season-low 22 minutes, 40 seconds of ice time. He received a scare in the first period when he had his left leg run in to and made his way gingerly to the bench but did not miss a shift.

My three stars:
1.Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy – Stopped 43 shots for his fifth career shutout

2.Lightning D Mikhail Sergachev – First two career goals, plus-2

3.Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov – Pair of assists, plus-2

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