Player Discussion Nikita Scherbak: Scherby-Dooby-Doo

[Vachon23]

2001...

Pacioretty was close to 70 pts tho but yes I understand your point

 

[the]

Your kidding right ? You can't be serious ?

My mistake didn’t read your post properly, I thought you meant Scherbak was KHL bound because he’s a 4th liner.

Sorry

 

[CauZuki]

Plekanec

He's reached 70 once but he was so fast and defensively skilled , I think he would flourish even more in today's NHL(in his prime obviously).

 

[Bacchus1]

Pacioretty was close to 70 pts tho but yes I understand your point

PK had 60, and he is a D. I find arbitrary point totals useless. I mean, how many points did prize score when he won the Vezna?

It would be nice to draft and develop numerous 7o point players, but the reality is that 33 that fit that description last season, and most of them were picked top 10 of their draft year. Since 2005 we have picked top 10 3 times: Price, Chucky, Kotkaniemi. One was great, one partied out, and one is too early to tell.

Montreal is not a team that can consistently lose to get high draft picks. Fans demand a competitive team every year.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Montreal is not a team that can consistently lose to get high draft picks. Fans demand a competitive team every year.

Fans will come around if the strategy and team build is in a positive direction. Leafs went through 10+ years of misery before they came to their senses and was willing to do a proper rebuild. Habs will go down this road if we are in denial or are not willing to do what it takes to turn our team into a contender. One way or another, it will be forced on us. Better to accept it now vs later IMO. We have certain player we can use to accelerate the rebuild too

 

[Agalloch]

Fans will come around if the strategy and team build is in a positive direction. Leafs went through 10+ years of misery before they came to their senses and was willing to do a proper rebuild. Habs will go down this road if we are in denial or are not willing to do what it takes to turn our team into a contender. One way or another, it will be forced on us. Better to accept it now vs later IMO. We have certain player we can use to accelerate the rebuild too

This is the road to take but for that we need to change our scouting department....

 

[Habs Halifax]

This is the road to take but for that we need to change our scouting department....

I'm not sure how good or bad our scouting department are. I don't think we are terrible but we are certainly not a top 10 drafting team in the league, that's for sure. I do think we have done very well in the last two drafts though. Time will tell what kind of impact players the cream of the crop are in the future (Poehling, Brook, Primeau, Kotkaniemi, Suzuki, Romanov, Ylonen, Olofsson). That's 8 very good prospects IMO. Then who knows what the other picks do in development over the next 2 or 3 years once they turn Pro and show us what they can do with less time and space.

I think the key is we need to squash the Middle of the Pack Strategy, Rebound, Pride attempts. Add 2 or 3 more grade A prospects in the right areas of need and this team can be a contender before Price hits 35 and before Weber hit's 36/37.

We are on a critical path at the moment. Top 10-20 pick or a top 5 pick? Very curious to see who is available and what pick we end up getting.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

What do Kenny Agostino, Michael Chaput, Matthew Peca and Dlo project as? Top 6 players?

None of them apparently could be waived in favor of keeping Scherbak. Third and fourth liners average skill guys who are mostly available across the league, get the nod over a player that was in his early twenties and had scoring ability.



I respectfully disagree. It's the job of the drafting experts to at least get the percentages on their side. They have failed at several first round selections over between 2009 and 2014 -- this is the bread and butter of an organization, you can't afford to get too many of these selections wrong. And you don't cut bait with a young skilled player in favor of journeymen, retreads, AHLers and other assorted third and fourth liners who are older and are easily replaceable.

I understand your point. But there comes a time when a player needs to make the team. You can't really create a false environment where Scherbak is better than Chaput even though he isn't. Anyway, I don't think it'll end up being a big deal with Scherbak, he's never really done that well.

As for wanting the draft picks to be better - I definitely like the way the drafting has trended better since Bergevin has taken over. He continues to tinker with the scouting - I think they are building a really strong development team. Definitely 2008-2011 was quite bad in terms of drafting with really only Gallagher and Beaulieu having NHL success. We will see how things go moving forward, but Scherbak not developing as hoped does not make me worried in the larger scheme of things. 2013 was quite a good draft for the Habs - 2014 looks worse for sure but there's still some hope it will yield some fruit.

 

[Bacchus1]

Fans will come around if the strategy and team build is in a positive direction. Leafs went through 10+ years of misery before they came to their senses and was willing to do a proper rebuild. Habs will go down this road if we are in denial or are not willing to do what it takes to turn our team into a contender. One way or another, it will be forced on us. Better to accept it now vs later IMO. We have certain player we can use to accelerate the rebuild too

We didn’t sell out for the first time in about a decade last year, and it started a chain of non-sell outs.

We had so much anger and frustration in the press, until people just started not caring.

I think that most people in MTL, smart or not, would prefer a competitive team that makes the playoffs, than a team that sucks for 5 years, and then might be competitive.

You need to more that be really bad to snag a generational player. You need luck and to win the lottery.

 

[admiralcadillac]

Hope he does well in LA

 

[Habs Halifax]

We didn’t sell out for the first time in about a decade last year, and it started a chain of non-sell outs.

We had so much anger and frustration in the press, until people just started not caring.

I think that most people in MTL, smart or not, would prefer a competitive team that makes the playoffs, than a team that sucks for 5 years, and then might be competitive.

You need to more that be really bad to snag a generational player. You need luck and to win the lottery.

If you don't try for the lottery win, you will 100% not win.

I understand what the general fan wants. But if I was driving the ship, I'm steering in the youth movement direction and I ignore the fans who get upset over a rebuild cause they will come around when the rebuild starts showing promise. Heck, we are already half way towards the rebuild anyways. Why not use some of the assets we have to accelerate the youth movement.

Time to try a different strategy. We have been doing this "try to make the playoffs where anything can happen plan" for a while now.

 

[Bacchus1]

If you don't try for the lottery win, you will 100% not win.

I understand what the general fan wants. But if I was driving the ship, I'm steering in the youth movement direction and I ignore the fans who get upset over a rebuild cause they will come around when the rebuild starts showing promise. Heck, we are already half way towards the rebuild anyways. Why not use some of the assets we have to accelerate the youth movement.

Time to try a different strategy. We have been doing this "try to make the playoffs where anything can happen plan" for a while now.

I agree that your strategy might work, but you are focused on having an excellent team.

Some people in the organization also want an excellent business. If people come to the games, and they make money, versus re build for 5 years and lose money, then they might chose the former.

There are also people trying to keep their jobs who might see more value in being competitive, including some players. I’m sure there are no players on the team who want to lose for 5 years to maybe build a contender.

You could trade everyone away for picks, fill you roster with AHL journeymen, and build slowly keeping your prospects in the minors for as long as you can. BUT, .... the team loses A LOT of money.

If it happens by accident, or if your attendace sucks anyway, it would be easier. But, in Montreal, fans will demand more.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I agree that your strategy might work, but you are focused on having an excellent team.

Some people in the organization also want an excellent business. If people come to the games, and they make money, versus re build for 5 years and lose money, then they might chose the former.

There are also people trying to keep their jobs who might see more value in being competitive, including some players. I’m sure there are no players on the team who want to lose for 5 years to maybe build a contender.

You could trade everyone away for picks, fill you roster with AHL journeymen, and build slowly keeping your prospects in the minors for as long as you can. BUT, .... the team loses A LOT of money.

If it happens by accident, or if your attendace sucks anyway, it would be easier. But, in Montreal, fans will demand more.

I think this is the dilemma with how a lot of teams are built. Most trip and fall into prolonged rebuild years. I think we got a very good taste of how to capitalize on an asset like Patch. Byron, Tatar, Petry should be dangled to gauge interest. We can still compete and play entertaining hockey but also add more assets with what we can get in trades and picks.

I understand your point about how the Habs are not willing to rebuild. But this will happen if they continue this middle of the pack strategy. It will take time but it's likely we head down a road like the Leafs did before they came to their senses and hired Shanahan

 

[Bacchus1]

I think this is the dilemma with how a lot of teams are built. Most trip and fall into prolonged rebuild years. I think we got a very good taste of how to capitalize on an asset like Patch. Byron, Tatar, Petry should be dangled to gauge interest. We can still compete and play entertaining hockey but also add more assets with what we can get in trades and picks.

I understand your point about how the Habs are not willing to rebuild. But this will happen if they continue this middle of the pack strategy. It will take time but it's likely we head down a road like the Leafs did before they came to their senses and hired Shanahan

I would do that too, for 1sts only, and they must have a potential to be high to medium 1sts. Not really interested in low 1sts.

 

[Sorinth]

When was the last time we drafted and developed a forward that put up 70+ points? Richer?

Pacioretty came very close twice
Plekanec hit 70 once
Ribeiro hit 70 three times including an 83 point season
Koivu hit 70 twice

But what's interesting to note is in the past 2 decades we have been drafting defenceman with our 1st round pick around 50% of the time. I haven't checked the league average but I have a feeling that league wide it skews heavily towards forwards.

EDIT: It was Ribeiro not Ryder. Corrected it.

 

[Bacchus1]

Pacioretty came very close twice
Plekanec hit 70 once
Ryder hit 70 three times including an 83 point season
Koivu hit 70 twice

But what's interesting to note is in the past 2 decades we have been drafting defenceman with our 1st round pick around 50% of the time. I haven't checked the league average but I have a feeling that league wide it skews heavily towards forwards.

And a goalie with our 5th overall.

 

[zzoo]

I'm a bit sad to see Scherbak gone. He deserves a chance here before waiving him.

 

[greyboy67]

The Athletic spoke with Scherbak on his move to LA: Coming to Los Angeles a 'dream' for Kings waiver pickup Nikita Scherbak (Paywall)

In summary, Scherbak loves Los Angeles and is excited by the move. He's also thrilled to be on the same team as his idol, Ilya Kovalchuk—a player Nikita wants to emulate.

The Kings activated Scherbak before the Tuesday game with the Coyotes but he did not play.

Scherbak on what happened in Montreal:

I have a lot of thoughts maybe why or what happened,” Scherbak said. “I’m never going to know exactly what was the main reason why. Everybody was nice. I’m never going to complain. They treat me well.

But I guess I wasn’t in their plans for the future. I think they just moved on, on me. Just things didn’t go well. I’m not exactly sure why exactly I wasn’t playing and why I wasn’t making the lineup.

It’s a fresh start – a completely fresh start – and I’m excited because I have so many people to prove wrong again.

Bon chance, Nikita!

 

[sheed36]

Pacioretty came very close twice
Plekanec hit 70 once
Ryder hit 70 three times including an 83 point season
Koivu hit 70 twice

But what's interesting to note is in the past 2 decades we have been drafting defenceman with our 1st round pick around 50% of the time. I haven't checked the league average but I have a feeling that league wide it skews heavily towards forwards.

You must be thinking of someone else since Michael Ryder never hit 70 points even once in his NHL career. Ryder's career high was 63 points which he had in his first season with the Habs. He had another season of 62 points with the Stars and 3 50+ point seasons in the NHL with the Habs and B's.

 

[Rockomax]

You must be thinking of someone else since Michael Ryder never hit 70 points even once in his NHL career. Ryder's career high was 63 points which he had in his first season with the Habs. He had another season of 62 points with the Stars and 3 50+ point seasons in the NHL with the Habs and B's.

He's thinking Ribeiro

 

[Sorinth]

You must be thinking of someone else since Michael Ryder never hit 70 points even once in his NHL career. Ryder's career high was 63 points which he had in his first season with the Habs. He had another season of 62 points with the Stars and 3 50+ point seasons in the NHL with the Habs and B's.

Sorry your right, it was Ribeiro who went on to hit 70+ three times with Dallas.

 

[Sorinth]

The Athletic spoke with Scherbak on his move to LA: Coming to Los Angeles a 'dream' for Kings waiver pickup Nikita Scherbak (Paywall)

In summary, Scherbak loves Los Angeles and is excited by the move. He's also thrilled to be on the same team as his idol, Ilya Kovalchuk—a player Nikita wants to emulate.

The Kings activated Scherbak before the Tuesday game with the Coyotes but he did not play.

Scherbak on what happened in Montreal:

I have a lot of thoughts maybe why or what happened,” Scherbak said. “I’m never going to know exactly what was the main reason why. Everybody was nice. I’m never going to complain. They treat me well.

But I guess I wasn’t in their plans for the future. I think they just moved on, on me. Just things didn’t go well. I’m not exactly sure why exactly I wasn’t playing and why I wasn’t making the lineup.

It’s a fresh start – a completely fresh start – and I’m excited because I have so many people to prove wrong again.

Bon chance, Nikita!

If true the part I bolded is disturbing. If a player doesn't know what the coach wants from them they're almost guaranteed to fail with that coach. It's reminiscent of the lack of communication we had with Therrien and is always bad to see. When guys are sitting they it's imperative for them to know what they have to focus on.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Scherbak speaking for the first time as a member of the Kings. Kid is charming, if nothing else.

 

[Archijerej]

If true the part I bolded is disturbing. If a player doesn't know what the coach wants from them they're almost guaranteed to fail with that coach. It's reminiscent of the lack of communication we had with Therrien and is always bad to see. When guys are sitting they it's imperative for them to know what they have to focus on.

You can hardly expect him to enumerate the grievances coaching staff had about him. It's pretty obvious what those were and they don't put a good light on Scherbak as a hockey player. But it always has to be on the coaches I guess.

 

[Sorinth]

You can hardly expect him to enumerate the grievances coaching staff had about him. It's pretty obvious what those were and they don't put a good light on Scherbak as a hockey player. But it always has to be on the coaches I guess.

Which is why I said if true. It's quite possible he knows what he needed to do and just didn't want to bring it out. But we've seen in the past cases where the player doesn't seem to really know what the coach wants.