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Player Discussion: Mikhail Sergachev - Part 2

These Are The Days said:
The thing is I'm just frustrated as shit that this is all we get from him. Guyovich, Master P and others defending Sergachev are all absolutely right. But I don't think the Lightning can (literally and figuratively) afford to hold out any longer for their return on investment. There's only 5 more possible games the Lightning can play this year. That's it. The sample size is over. I was hoping to see a remarkable improvement from Sergachev and save for an amazing mid-year stretch I'm just not seeing it. Any team would be patient but again. I don't think the Lightning can afford it.


This is a "dark side of business" talk with my frustration boiling over. I can be as frustrated as I want or as happy as I want and I cannot make the numbers work for all the offensive issues we have that came at the expense of Goodrow, Coleman and even Johnson.
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Yeah, JBB made the choice of defense first and lost the entire 3rd line because of it. I get why they went that road, but as you said, they can't afford to keep sinking even more money into the dcorp to placate Serg while sacrificing more F depth. While it's possible Tampa has a couple of Syracuse forwards who will become impactful regulars, Cooper won't give them that opportunity (just as he wouldn't for JAM, Verhaeghe, or Raddysh). Now they may not have much of a choice over the next 1-2 years depending on other moves, but the high priced defense first solution is failing miserably against Colorado. Serg has had, what, 6 years now and the great leap forward just hasn't happened, at least not on any consistent basis. I hope they can keep him, but 6 million is the ceiling if they want to be able to keep other guys that are, imo, more important to keep and be able to perhaps acquire a bottom 6 F in ufa or trade.
 
ViD said:
When you guys want to get rid of Serg, look at the age of Hedman and McD and think again
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He had an incredible stretch where he was taking over games in the middle of the season. I thought for sure I hade made a mistake for giving up on him. That lasted about 2-3 weeks. And then it just stopped. I cannot express how disappointed I was. At the beginning of Sergachev's 3rd season in Tampa 3 years ago, everyone said "He is just 21." 2 years ago everyone said "He is just 22." This year we all said "He is just 23." Now he turns 24 in a week. His 6th professional season is due to start in about 4 months and has 450 combined games of regular season and playoff experience.

His age is not the issue. It is that his experience has not taught him how to cut down on simple mistakes. How much longer do we have to wait? I'm sorry but a year from today precisely he'll be less than a week from turning 26 years old. I don't want to be sitting here hearing rationalizing why a player with that much talent and experience can't take care of the puck. 25/26 year olds are not prospects

If could trade his uncanny ability to land on the scoresheet for not making mistakes I would have done it years ago
 
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Stammertime91 said:
By that logic you jettison everyone over the age of 31 because they're "old" and another guy is "young."

Stupid argument.

Younger players won't always outplay the older guys. Not everyone ages the same or develops like a video game simulator.
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Sergachev brings back to those "Waiting on Jameis Winston" feels. Here you have this athlete who is so freaking talented that it's almost unimaginable that he isn't one of the best in the league and every time he makes a mistake you forget about it. This is not fair to Sergachev because (almost no one) would make mistakes at Winston's level.

But the frustration? That's pretty close to equal when you consider Sergachev has enough talent to just wake up one day and realize "lol holy shit I'm a poor man's Erik Karlsson. Brb gonna run PP1 and score 62 points"
 
Vasilevskiy said:
I don't know I think Cirelli is one of the few guys that almost all games looks like he gives an effort. He's just not very good offensively
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If Cirelli is going to be a black hole offensively he can't be the reason we get scored on either like he was casually puck watching and lost his man on the 3rd goal.
 
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These Are The Days said:
Broseph. We have literally traded every player and pick and wasn't nailed down because we have/had a PK and depth scoring problem. Those 2 1st's for Hagel weren't for his contract because we thought we'd get a 20 goal scorer? And now Point is probably at like 50%. You really, REALLY don't think Gourde wouldn't be helping right now? Not even on the PK? Well damn. Then at least I proposed we trade for him at 50% salary? What does that make Killorn then? Harvard Boii literally has as many goals for us in the playoffs as Gourde does right now. We literally rolled into game 2 thinking "Let's just win 1-0" and sat there dumbstruck when it didn't work.

Sergachev is a talented player who makes boneheaded mistakes. My argument has never been anything else than otherwise than going forward, the Lightning categorically CAN NOT afford it anymore. We have WAY bigger problems than "He's only 23" and it's more like we're gonna be going on year 6 and he's no closer to passing McDonagh, Hedman and Cernak on the depth chart than on the day he started.
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You really seem to forget that our famous 3rd line was downright horrible last year against fast teams( Florida, Canes ) and was very good against the physical teams ( Islanders, Habs ). So no he wouldn't help now.
 
Wester said:
You really seem to forget that our famous 3rd line was downright horrible last year against fast teams( Florida, Canes ) and was very good against the physical teams ( Islanders, Habs ). So no he wouldn't help now.
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Which is exactly why I picked Gourde. He doesn't have issues keeping up with fast teams like Coleman and Goodrow did
 
These Are The Days said:
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He had an incredible stretch where he was taking over games in the middle of the season. I thought for sure I hade made a mistake for giving up on him. That lasted about 2-3 weeks. And then it just stopped. I cannot express how disappointed I was. At the beginning of Sergachev's 3rd season in Tampa 3 years ago, everyone said "He is just 21." 2 years ago everyone said "He is just 22." This year we all said "He is just 23." Now he turns 24 in a week. His 6th professional season is due to start in about 4 months and has 450 combined games of regular season and playoff experience.

His age is not the issue. It is that his experience has not taught him how to cut down on simple mistakes. How much longer do we have to wait? I'm sorry but a year from today precisely he'll be less than a week from turning 26 years old. I don't want to be sitting here hearing rationalizing why a player with that much talent and experience can't take care of the puck. 25/26 year olds are not prospects

If could trade his uncanny ability to land on the scoresheet for not making mistakes I would have done it years ago
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This is why it's so frustrating waiting for it to "click" with Sergachev.

Because he's had stretches where it has clicked, and he's been an absolute force. I remember around the time he fought Shea Weber he was just manhandling guys out there. And then he goes back to mediocre play for about a year. Those stretches are way too few and far between to hold out hope forever that he will reach his full potential.

He can improve, sure, but I'm losing any hope that he'll magically become a #1/2 someday.
 
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ViD said:
Sergachev has been Lightning’s best defenseman in the finals so far, I don’t think it can be argued.
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Absolutely not. So many unforced turnovers. Peak Sergachev is on Pronger's lite level tho, as we've seen tonight. A jewel of D game, a f***ing jewel
 
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He has elevated his game lately, going back to the Rangers series. We needed that in a big way. There was a point where I assumed he was battling a significant injury, and that may still be the case, but ever since he scored against New York it seems like he leveled up.

And to think, there are people who still talk about trading him. Nothing you can do but shake your head and laugh.
 
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