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Nikita Scherbak
Born (1995-12-30)December 30, 1995,
Moscow, Russia
Height
Weight
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shoots Left
KHL team
F. teams
Free Agent
Montreal Canadiens
Los Angeles Kings
Avangard Omsk
Traktor Chelyabinsk
NHL Draft 26th overall, 2014
Montreal Canadiens
Playing career 2015–present


Nikita Sergeevich Scherbak (Russian: Никита Сергеевич Щербак; born December 30, 1995) is a Russian professional ice hockey player who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played under contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Scherbak was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round (26th overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career[]

Junior[]

Scherbak began his junior career in 2012 playing with Kapitan Stupino in the Russian Junior Hockey League.[1] Scherbak was drafted by the Saskatoon Blades in the 2nd round of the 2013 CHL Import Draft.

He joined the Blades in 2013 where he led all rookies in goals (28), assists (50), and points (78) during the 2013–14 WHL season.[2] His outstanding play was rewarded when he was invited to play the 2014 CHL Top Prospects Game.[3]

Scherbak was rated as a top prospect who was viewed as a possible first round selection heading into the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.[4] After his selection on July 22, 2014, he was signed to a three-year entry-level contract with the Canadiens.[5]

On September 22, Scherbak was traded to the Everett Silvertips from the Saskatoon Blades based on league rules which state that no more than two non-North American players may be on the same club's roster at any given time.[6]

Professional[]

During the 2016–17 season, Scherbak made his NHL debut for Montreal Canadiens on January 7, 2017 against Toronto Maple Leafs and scored on the power play, on his first NHL career shot, to put the Canadiens up 3–2, with just 0.9 seconds left of the first period.[7] Montreal won the game 5–3.

After starting the first 11 games of the 2018–19 season as a healthy scratch, Scherbak was assigned to the Laval Rocket, Montreal's AHL affiliate, for conditioning.[8][9] He made his season debut on October 31, 2018 in a 2–1 loss against the Belleville Senators.[10] On November 9, 2018, Scherbak scored his first goal of the 2018–19 season in a 5–1 victory over the Cleveland Monsters.[11] He was recalled from the conditioning stint on November 14, 2018, but did not immediately rejoin the Canadiens because of a lower-body injury.[12] On December 1, 2018, Scherbak was placed on NHL waivers by the Canadiens.[13] He was subsequently claimed by the Los Angeles Kings.[14]

On June 25, 2019, having completed his contract with the Kings, Scherbak was not tendered a qualifying offer by the club, releasing him as a free agent.[15] The following day, while opting to return to Russia to continue his career, Scherbak was officially signed to a three-year contract with Avangard Omsk of the KHL.[16] In his first KHL season in 2019–20, Scherbak opened with just 2 goals and 6 points through 16 games before he was released by Avangard Omsk. On November 5, 2019, Scherbak continued in the KHL, joining fellow club Traktor Chelyabinsk for the remainder of the season.[17]

Career statistics[]

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2012–13 Kapitan Stupino MHL 50 7 7 14 14
2013–14 Saskatoon Blades WHL 65 28 50 78 46
2014–15 Everett Silvertips WHL 65 27 55 82 60 11 3 5 8 10
2015–16 St. John's IceCaps AHL 48 7 16 23 20
2016–17 St. John's IceCaps AHL 66 13 28 41 32 4 1 1 2 4
2016–17 Montreal Canadiens NHL 3 1 0 1 0
2017–18 Laval Rocket AHL 26 7 23 30 20
2017–18 Montreal Canadiens NHL 26 4 2 6 8
2018–19 Laval Rocket AHL 5 1 0 1 2
2018–19 Los Angeles Kings NHL 8 1 0 1 2
2018–19 Ontario Reign AHL 23 4 7 11 18
2019–20 Avangard Omsk KHL 16 2 4 6 10
2019–20 Traktor Chelyabinsk KHL 15 1 4 5 12
NHL totals 37 6 2 8 10
KHL totals 31 3 8 11 22

Awards and honours[]

Award Year
WHL
CHL Top Prospects Game (Team Cherry) 2014 [18]

References[]

  1. Nikita Scherbak prospect profile. HockeysFuture.com (May 1, 2014). Retrieved on May 2, 2014.
  2. "Saskatoon Blades’ Nikita Scherbak snubbed of rookie honour, and other WHL awards notes", Yahoo! Sports, April 2, 2014. Retrieved on April 2, 2014. 
  3. Nikita Scherbak - The Next Ones: 2014 NHL Draft Prospect Profile (June 15, 2014). Retrieved on June 15, 2014.
  4. Nikita Scherbak Top 30 NHL Draft Prospect (June 15, 2014). Retrieved on June 17, 2014.
  5. Canadiens sign first round pick Scherbak (July 21, 2014). Retrieved on July 22, 2014.
  6. Blades Trade Scherbak to Silvertips. WHL.ca. Retrieved on October 1, 2014.
  7. Canadiens Scherbak scores on debut (January 7, 2017). Retrieved on January 7, 2017.
  8. "Nikita Scherbak assigned to Laval Rocket for conditioning", Eyes On The Prize. 
  9. "Canadiens' Nikita Scherbak: Heads down for conditioning", CBSSports.com. (en) 
  10. "‘It’s frustrating’: Nikita Scherbak makes season debut with Rocket, loses 2-1", Eyes On The Prize. 
  11. "Two goals from Jake Evans fuel Rocket in 5-1 victory over Monsters", Rocket de Laval, November 10, 2018. (en-US) 
  12. "Le Canadien rappelle Nikita Scherbak | Hockey", La Presse, November 14, 2018. (fr-CA) 
  13. Cowan, Stu. "Canadiens put Nikita Scherbak on NHL waivers", Montreal Gazette, December 1, 2018. (en-CA) 
  14. Cowan, Stu. "Canadiens put Nikita Scherbak on NHL waivers", Montreal Gazette, December 1, 2018. (en-CA) 
  15. "Blake on draft, approach to free agency" (June 25, 2019). Retrieved on June 25, 2019.
  16. "Avangard signs Nikita Scherbak, announces return of two juniors" (in Russian). Avangard Omsk (June 26, 2019). Retrieved on June 26, 2019.
  17. "Nikita Scherbak will continue his career in Traktor" (in Russian). Traktor Chelyabinsk (November 5, 2019). Retrieved on November 5, 2019.
  18. Top Prospects Game Standouts (January 7, 2014). Retrieved on July 18, 2014.

External links[]

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Michael McCarron
Montreal Canadiens first round draft pick
2014
Succeeded by
Noah Juulsen
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Nikita Scherbak. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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