RW Nikita Scherbak - Traktor Chelyabinsk, KHL (2014, 26th, MTL; claimed by LAK)

[sbtatter]

That hasn't "developed", he has skated like that during his entire time in the WHL.

I definitely agree that he will need some AHL seasoning before making the jump to the NHL. Still needs to continue to fill out, along with adding more leg strength and learning to be more effective away from the puck.

I don't know, maybe he's taller now but it just stood out more to me this year than the last...maybe it's the tips green that makes it look worse than the blades blue and white haha. Anyway, posture doesn't matter I guess. He never looks fully engaged unless the puck is on his stick, but he sure racks up the points. Not as good as galchenyuk is my guess, but that's a pretty high bar

 

[PernellsWhiteAmi]

Not sure if this is the reason he does it, but I've played with players who have done this. They say they leave the heel to the beginning of the toe of the blade tapeless because the tape creates friction with the puck when stick handling. They don't like how the puck sticks to their stick when stickhandling and they are able to stick handle better without the extra "stickiness" that the tape provides. Some believe a tapeless blade makes it easier to stickhandle, while others (like Patrick Kane for example) have their entire bade taped. Or it could also be that Scherbak does most of his stickhandling with the toe of his stick anyway, and just doesn't bother taping the rest of the blade.

The reason they have tape on the toe of the stick is to give the puck more spin when they take a snap/wrist shot.

Maybe these are the reasons why Scherbak elects to take his stick this way, or maybe it is totally aesthetic. You would have to ask him to be sure.

I'll make sure to ask him at our coffee date tomorrow morning

 

[mtlhockeyfan]

Is it time for a new "kid" line next year?


Hudon-DLR-Sherbak

Id go more for Yakupov (hopefully) Chucky Scherbak

 

[radicalcenter]

he's been held pointless in only one game in october, one game in november, one game in january and one game in february.

December was his worst month being held pointless in 4 games.

So far this season he's got points in 41 games out of 49.

that's very impressive

 

[LeMAD]

Id go more for Yakupov (hopefully) Chucky Scherbak

Aka the minus-40 line.

 

[Wats]

 

[FLYguy3911]

Good effort by 16 there

 

[Ace88*]

Good effort by 16 there

Disconnected controller

 

[CanadienShark]

When they show that clip they probably shouldn't show him turning the puck over on the prior rush! When I saw him in Bdn he looks taller but has now developed a bit of a weird hunched over skating style. I think he will benefit from a year in the AHL before making the big show. Good prospect any way you look at it.

Plays kind of like Galchenyuk and Sekac with that hunched style.

& $16, what the hell are you doing?

 

[FanHabtic*]

Good effort by 16 there

Did Yakupov get demoted to Junior?

 

[TT1]

that was disgusting by 16, i'd be embarrassed to show my face to my teammates after that

 

[Frank Drebin]

We have to find out who that a-hole #16 is.

 

[Intangir]

We have to find out who that a-hole #16 is.

#16 for the Vncouver Giants, one Thomas Foster.
http://whl.ca/roster/bio/181921

We should definitely build a pyre and burn him at the stake to appease the Hockey Gods and earn their favour.

 

[ProspectsSTC]

Beau McCue

 

[ProspectsSTC]

#16 for the Vncouver Giants, one Thomas Foster.
http://whl.ca/roster/bio/181921

We should definitely build a pyre and burn him at the stake to appease the Hockey Gods and earn their favour.

It's Beau McCue, it was against Tri City and #16 was a righty (Thomas Foster is a lefty)

 

[Intangir]

It's Beau McCue, it was against Tri City and #16 was a righty (Thomas Foster is a lefty)

Thank you for the correction, I was wrong and you've spared me the trouble of having to build a second pyre to get it right (and saved an innocent).

 

[NobleSix]

Good effort by 16 there

yeah that was pathetic

 

[ProspectsSTC]

Thank you for the correction, I was wrong and you've spared me the trouble of having to build a second pyre to get it right (and saved an innocent).

I do my best to save the innocent and the environment

 

[S E P H]

It's really hard to hate Scherbak, he is an immense talent and has such a fantastic personality. But he is definitely one of the biggest puckhogs I've seen in the Dub. he clearly is the best talent on his team, but he's not playing on the Giants, he plays on a good talented team. He still makes plays and passes, but normally for every goal he scored, there are ten other plays of him trying to stickhandle through the entire opposing team (just to lose it and give possess back to the opponents).

I definitely agree with RS that I doubt he will jump from WHL to NHL, I think he still needs to realize that during certain plays, "less is more" and that will go long ways in refining his game. Even with all this said, I am still a big fan of him and hope he reaches and goes beyond his potential.

 

[MCDAVIDISH]

Did Yakupov get demoted to Junior?

You havnt been watching yakupov...

 

[TT1]

It's really hard to hate Scherbak, he is an immense talent and has such a fantastic personality. But he is definitely one of the biggest puckhogs I've seen in the Dub. he clearly is the best talent on his team, but he's not playing on the Giants, he plays on a good talented team. He still makes plays and passes, but normally for every goal he scored, there are ten other plays of him trying to stickhandle through the entire opposing team (just to lose it and give possess back to the opponents).

I definitely agree with RS that I doubt he will jump from WHL to NHL, I think he still needs to realize that during certain plays, "less is more" and that will go long ways in refining his game. Even with all this said, I am still a big fan of him and hope he reaches and goes beyond his potential.

he wont have a future in MTL if he plays that way, thats one of the reasons why we traded Sekac.

 

[R S]

It's really hard to hate Scherbak, he is an immense talent and has such a fantastic personality. But he is definitely one of the biggest puckhogs I've seen in the Dub. he clearly is the best talent on his team, but he's not playing on the Giants, he plays on a good talented team. He still makes plays and passes, but normally for every goal he scored, there are ten other plays of him trying to stickhandle through the entire opposing team (just to lose it and give possess back to the opponents).

I definitely agree with RS that I doubt he will jump from WHL to NHL, I think he still needs to realize that during certain plays, "less is more" and that will go long ways in refining his game. Even with all this said, I am still a big fan of him and hope he reaches and goes beyond his potential.

It's so interesting just because he's actually a better playmaker than goal scorer. He's got a sneaky good shot but the kid has immense vision and sees things other players can't...sometimes he just prefers to try and make a play himself.

He'll learn. And when he does, it will make him far more dangerous.

 

[S E P H]

It's so interesting just because he's actually a better playmaker than goal scorer. He's got a sneaky good shot but the kid has immense vision and sees things other players can't...sometimes he just prefers to try and make a play himself.

He'll learn. And when he does, it will make him far more dangerous.

I actually agree with you that he is a better playmaker than scorer. He makes a TON of plays and space for his teammates with his talent level. But it is the same reasoning why I think Peter Forsberg was one of the biggest puck hogs in the NHL. Even though he was a superb playmaker, he spent whole shifts with the puck looking for that one single "perfect play", "scoring chance", or "perfect pass". He normally wanted the puck and spent huge amount of times with it. Now of course Scherbak doesn't even come close to Forsberg's talent level (not a knock on Nikita, just how good of a player Peter was), and because of this, I think having the puck a bit too much actually hurts Scherbak's game more than it helps it. Again, I agree that I think he will eventually learn.

 

[Quagmier]

It's so interesting just because he's actually a better playmaker than goal scorer. He's got a sneaky good shot but the kid has immense vision and sees things other players can't...sometimes he just prefers to try and make a play himself.

He'll learn. And when he does, it will make him far more dangerous.

The comments made recently by Kevin Constantine seemed to suggest that Scherbak is an eminently coachable player. One would hope that he gets the right advice from the right people and takes it to heart. Given that Bergevin hired approximately 7,324 of his closest friends as co-directors of player development (rough estimate), I expect that he will.

 

[Mark Kandy]

Hey quick question right here, will Scherbak be playing in the AHL or in the WHL next year? Or is he eligible to play in the AHL?