LD Mikhail Sergachev (2016, 9th, MTL; traded to TBL)

[HeavyHitter99]

Oliver Ekman-Larsson kinda came to mind watching some of those videos.

Seems like a similar playing style and also seems like he could have that kind of upside aswell.

Not at all honestly

 

[puckfan13]

Not at all honestly

His skating, puck handling and especially his shot release look very similar to Letang.

 

[Boxscore]

Not at all honestly

I agree. Doesn't remind me of OEL at all. But he does remind me of a bigger, Russian version of Justin Faulk. And that bomb packs some serious punch!

 

[HeavyHitter99]

His skating, puck handling and especially his shot release look very similar to Letang.

Except Sergachev is big and can have a nasty edge.

 

[AlternateSideParking]

The Draft Analyst 2016 Draft Profile: Mikhail Sergachev

Sergachev has anchored Windsor’s top pairing since the season began, logging minutes on both the top power play and penalty killing units. He possesses above-average speed, and owns a powerful stride which makes him difficult to stop when in full flight. Additionally, Sergachev is a mobile playmaker from the back end, capable of connecting on and receiving difficult passes, whether up the ice or diagonally through a maze of sticks. Most impressive is his hard shot, which he can fire with substantial velocity from the point’s deepest areas.

http://www.thedraftanalyst.com/prospects/mikhail-sergachev/

Excellent offensive blueliner with bite who is a big reason for Windsor's turnaround. Excellent hands and instincts and a heavy shot. Love the way he sees an opening and attacks it. Reminds me of a young Chris Chelios/Vlad Konstantinov but bigger/thicker at this stage.

 

[AstoriaIceNinja]

Presumably echoing what others have said without going all the way back through this thread, I think it will be hard for people not to see the same things they saw in Ivan Provorov: size, two-way acumen, physicality, intelligence, skill, etc. I would expect Sergachyov's draft day value to be similar to Provorov's, but this year's draft seems a bit better through the top half of the first round (McDavid and Eichel excluded, of course) than 2015 did, so if he goes around #10 overall instead of a little higher it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest as I would still probably put him behind Chychrun and Juolevi, but about even with Bean depending on what a particular team is looking for. Can't see him dropping out of the Top 15, though, one of my favorite prospects for this year.

Russia's blueline is looking scary down the line with Sergachyov, Provorov, Zadorov, Paigin, and Tryamkin. All that size and nasty slap-shooting. Like, damn.

EDIT: Not to forget Dmitry Orlov, who is having a breakout year with the Caps. Bit older than the rest of the guys I mentioned, though.

 

[Fantomas]

Everyone always forgets about Gavrikov. WJC best defenseman only recently.

 

[Zombotron]

I wish uploaders of these videos would try to clean them up in post and not stretch the aspect ratios. 60fps upscaled would be a huge bonus but I know that that's a big addition to filesize. Beggars shouldn't be choosers anyways, and...

it's a mother****ing full-game Sergachev highlight video

 

[leaflover]

He's having a good game today.
The Spitfires are on sportsnet right now if anyone else out west wants a look at him.

 

[Zombotron]

He plays a very peculiar game. Roving all over the ice, playing both sides...and he looks weird in the defensive zone, almost disinterested? He plays like an old-school defenseman in more ways than one

And I only caught the last half of this so correct me if I'm wrong, but he started playing hockey late? At age 11 (2009, 2010), he didn't know who Alexander Ovechkin was, lol

 

[Gstank]

Man he doesn't look that good. He's wandering a lot in the defensive zone and would get trapped by a NHL forecheck.

Third time i've been unimpressed with him

 

[Zombotron]

Kingston is dominating play like the 2012 Los Angeles Kings

 

[leaflover]

Man he doesn't look that good. He's wandering a lot in the defensive zone and would get trapped by a NHL forecheck.

Third time i've been unimpressed with him

He had more structure to his game when the score was close. I don't see him enough to know if it's common for him to lose focus once his team falls behind. We'll see how he comes out in the 3rd because he was doing well up until Kingston popped in 2 goals a minute apart midway through that period.

 

[Zombotron]

There's a lot of crap that needs to be coached out of his game. All fixable and the upside is readily apparent.

 

[leaflover]

There's a lot of crap that needs to be coached out of his game. All fixable and the upside is readily apparent.

Definitely.
No great deficiencies from what I saw today.

 

[Xoggz22]

Everyone always forgets about Gavrikov. WJC best defenseman only recently.

Gavrikov looks very promising. I believe he has one year left on his contract in KHL. As a CBJ can I'm excited for him to make the jump soon.looks like a great shutdown dman and showing some skill too.

 

[puckfan13]

He will have games like he had today then he will have games that absolutely blow you away and leave you thinking about him for weeks. He would be a slam dunk top 5 if he played those games every night or 3 of every 4 nights but that's what he's searching for right now. His thing is he looks effortless when he has his A game on but casual and disinterested when it's not on all cylinders.

First year in a new country, new language, new system of play than he's grown up playing, new family and food he has to adjust to, lots of different things for a teenager to adjust to... There is risk in the projection but do not forget those factors.

 

[Zombotron]

And that's very, very fair. It almost goes without saying that there's some MHL/general Russian system programming which needs to be worked out of him.

 

[helicecopter]

It almost goes without saying that there's some MHL/general Russian system programming which needs to be worked out of him.

uhh, that sounds like a concerning disease

 

[TT1]

Been a big fan of his since the U17's last year but i gotta say.. i haven't been impressed with him for the past ~ month and a half. He plays with a certain nonchalance in the d-zone (agree with the statement made a few posts above, looks disinterested), lazy coverage, puck watches too much, almost seems like it's tedious work for him. He lights up like a Christmas tree when he's in the o-zone tho.

Dunno whats up with him, he wasnt like this before. He actually put effort into his d game before.. now it just seems like he doesnt care?

 

[AstoriaIceNinja]

And that's very, very fair. It almost goes without saying that there's some MHL/general Russian system programming which needs to be worked out of him.

I don't get this. Saying a player has MHL habits is virtually the same as saying he has bad habits from playing on a CHL junior team: in both scenarios he is likely better than at least 50% of opposing players and can do whatever he pleases and get away with it. I think mis-attributing them to a Russian system is asinine. Sergachyov is a young player who will more likely than not have some holes in his game regardless of where he was trained.

In my opinion, the only real criticism I can have of a Russian system is that it can put less emphasis on two-way play for defensemen, who usually are not given as much license to go forward and contribute to the attack as they are in NA. This isn't dissimilar from the NA stay-home defenseman that every team seemingly has three of, but it is an incentive for a d-man in particular to go abroad to play juniors and show a more offensive game than he would be able to even if he played in the KHL.

This can even vary between individual KHL teams, case-in-point being Ziyat Paigin's excellent offensive year with HK Sochi, but Paigin would probably considered an exception rather than the rule. It's a shame, too, since the Russian development model is highly technique-based and has a universal emphasis on development of skating, passing, and puckhandling as the primary attributes for all players regardless of position. There's a good reason why every Russian team at every international tournament is considered "highly skilled"; it's this. So even a defense-first player in Russia has a higher chance of possessing what North Americans would consider two-way skills, he just doesn't show them very often because of the role he is asked to play in the team.

As for Sergachyov's poor showings, there are too many factors that we can't be aware of since we aren't in his head. 68 games is a long season, not to mention the playoffs are coming. Maybe he's taking it easy because his team clinched a playoff berth already, maybe he's fatigued from the exhausting travel schedule, maybe he's playing hurt and not telling anyone about it. Could be a myriad of things, only he knows for sure.

 

[Atas2000]

And that's very, very fair. It almost goes without saying that there's some MHL/general Russian system programming which needs to be worked out of him.

You mean he should get rid of that hockey? NA chauvinism much?

 

[Fantomas]

You mean he should get rid of that hockey? NA chauvinism much?

The logic is interesting isn't it? Sergachev arrives in the OHL and plays well until a few weeks ago and it's the MHL's fault.

 

[Zombotron]

I don't get this. Saying a player has MHL habits is virtually the same as saying he has bad habits from playing on a CHL junior team: in both scenarios he is likely better than at least 50% of opposing players and can do whatever he pleases and get away with it. I think mis-attributing them to a Russian system is asinine. Sergachyov is a young player who will more likely than not have some holes in his game regardless of where he was trained.

In my opinion, the only real criticism I can have of a Russian system is that it can put less emphasis on two-way play for defensemen, who usually are not given as much license to go forward and contribute to the attack as they are in NA. This isn't dissimilar from the NA stay-home defenseman that every team seemingly has three of, but it is an incentive for a d-man in particular to go abroad to play juniors and show a more offensive game than he would be able to even if he played in the KHL.

This can even vary between individual KHL teams, case-in-point being Ziyat Paigin's excellent offensive year with HK Sochi, but Paigin would probably considered an exception rather than the rule. It's a shame, too, since the Russian development model is highly technique-based and has a universal emphasis on development of skating, passing, and puckhandling as the primary attributes for all players regardless of position. There's a good reason why every Russian team at every international tournament is considered "highly skilled"; it's this. So even a defense-first player in Russia has a higher chance of possessing what North Americans would consider two-way skills, he just doesn't show them very often because of the role he is asked to play in the team.

As for Sergachyov's poor showings, there are too many factors that we can't be aware of since we aren't in his head. 68 games is a long season, not to mention the playoffs are coming. Maybe he's taking it easy because his team clinched a playoff berth already, maybe he's fatigued from the exhausting travel schedule, maybe he's playing hurt and not telling anyone about it. Could be a myriad of things, only he knows for sure.

I greatly appreciate the correction from somebody in the know. Thank you.

 

[AstoriaIceNinja]

I greatly appreciate the correction from somebody in the know. Thank you.

I don't know how much I corrected or how in-the-know I am, I just think it merits pointing out what I think people already know: that the MHL is an under-22 league with more or less that same age range as the CHL. Of course there are differences between Europe and NA; the pace of the game is slower on big ice and there's less contact as a result of more space to move. I can't really expand on that without another long rant, so I'll leave it at that, but it's not enough of a difference to say that one is wrong, just an adjustment that has to take place incorporating the player's pre-existing skills.