There may be something going on behind the scenes in Montreal... again.
A report from Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman has just revealed that the Montreal Canadiens have placed forward Nikita Scherbak on waivers today. The move comes as a major surprise to many given the promise that Scherbak has shown at times during his young career as well as due to the fact that he is a former first round pick of the Canadiens and was poised to be an important part of the organizations future had things gone as planned moving forward.
The 22 year old Russian forward was selected 26th overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and although he has largely failed to convert his obvious talent into something productive at the NHL level he is just one year removed from an outstandign performance at the American Hockey League level. In 26 games with the Laval Rocket during the 2017 - 2018 regular season Scherbak produced 7 goals and 23 assists for a very impressive 30 points and at that point he seemed destined for a jump to the NHL, a jump that would likely see him cement his spot on the Canadiens roster.
Unfortunately it seems like Scherbak either failed to impress the upper management of the Habs organization or, as Global Montreal's Brian Wilde has suggested, there may be something more than what meets the eye going on behind the scenes here. From Wilde:
Scherbak on waivers goes into the something we must not know file.
It could only be that ...
Because if there is nothing under the surface, this is way way too early to give up on this player.
Now there's no way to know for certain whether or not Scherbak will be claimed but I can think of two teams in the NHL that would immediately be interested in a young forward that has shown some flare for offense in the past. The Edmonton Oilers made a questionable addition today when they added former Hurricanes forward Valentin Zykov and I would imagine that in their desperation for offense they will take a long hard look at Scherbak as well. Additionally the Los Angeles Kings have been starved for offense and with that organization looking to shake things up it seems likely they that would also go after Scherbak.
Surprising that Montreal did not execute a trade here instead of risk losing Scherbak for nothing.
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