Difficult decision put Lightning’s Mikhail Sergachev on path to NHL
WINDSOR, Ontario — Mikhail Sergachev had just turned 17 when he made the biggest decision of his life — to leave his native Russia to play major junior hockey in Canada.
Sergachev was intent on paving a path to the NHL, even if it meant leaving his tight-knit family and starting over in a foreign land. Though he had built a promising reputation in his homeland through the junior ranks, he knew the exposure he would gain in North America while tailoring his game to the smaller rink and faster pace provided his best opportunity.
Now at 25, Sergachev is one of the NHL’s elite defensemen He’s the present and future of the Lightning blue line, locked into an eight-year extension through 2030-31. He already has won two Stanley Cups, and a Norris Trophy could be in the offing.
But before attaining such status, he was determinedly chasing greatness in Windsor, Ontario.
“I don’t think I would be here right now if I had stayed in Russia,” Sergachev said Wednesday. “It’s woulda, coulda, shoulda, but I feel like that gave me so much confidence in my ability.”
Warm welcome
Sergachev moved to Canada in 2015 to play for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. He knew no one and spoke no English. Michelle and Brian Reid opened their home to him as his billet family. The Spitfires set Sergachev up with an English teacher who worked with him for two hours a week.
He quickly found a routine rare for a teenager, but it revealed his resolve to those around him early on. He’d get to the rink early in the morning for one-on-one instruction, then study film with coaches, who pulled clips of top defensemen like Erik Karlsson and Drew Doughty for him.
“I had the whole ice to myself at 17 years old,” Sergachev said. “I mean, that’s better than staying at home and playing video games.”
Afterward, it was usually off to Tim Horton’s for coffee and a sandwich, sometimes a half-hour nap at the arena before teammates who were attending school arrived, then back to practice.
“From the day he got here, you can tell how dedicated he was, how dedicated to his craft in terms of wanting to do this for a career,” said Jerrod Smith, a Spitfires assistant at the time who is now the team’s head coach.
“There’s certain guys that come in and just have that knack to want to be on the ice all the time, who want to work on specific skills related to their position on their own, along with the coaching staff, after practice, before practice. You can really tell his dedication to wanting to be a player.”
Initially, Sergachev shied away from conversation because he was worried he’d say the wrong thing in English. When he and another Russian player living at the Reid house spoke Russian together, Michelle insisted they speak English in the house.
“Make your mistakes at home, because we’ll fix it here,” she would tell him. ”That’s how you’re going to learn.” Sergachev picked up the names of certain vegetables from grocery trips and eventually learned to order for himself at restaurants.
“It was very hands-on,” Michelle said. “And those kind of things took precedence over thinking anything about him being a superstar. But I know Brian did go to one of the first practices that he had, and I remember he came in and he said, ‘This kid can skate.’”
Singular focus
Sergachev also had a rocket shot that immediately impressed his Windsor coaches. Once he gained confidence in his new language — he was doing media interviews in English three months into his arrival — he became engaged with his teammates, who did their part to help bridge the language barrier. Pretty soon, players were gathering in the Reids’ basement to watch hockey games and for poker nights.
“To have his English go from nothing to that, then all of a sudden the guys just really started to click with him,” Michelle said. “They would be able to laugh together, and it helped him on the ice and off the ice, too. And then the whole team just kind of took to him. So then he started making friends and just things started to come a little easier.”
The Reids would toss a candy bar on Sergachev’s bed when he got home from games in which he scored a point. Around the team, there was a running joke about Sergachev’s sudden affinity for Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid Jammers.
All fun aside, Sergachev remained focused on the reason he moved to Canada — getting to the NHL.
“He told us that basically from Day 1,” Brian Reid said. “Me and him were outside (by the firepit), and he said, ‘I’ll be gone next year.’ I looked down and said, ‘This is your first year here.’ He said, ‘I’m going to be in the NHL next year.’ He was honest, and he planned to do that.”
Still, Sergachev did get homesick — he was nearly 5,000 miles from home — and it showed on the ice early on. The Spitfires made it possible for his family to visit him in Windsor. Success followed, and Sergachev soon cemented himself as a top draft prospect.
“You could just tell right away the first time playing against him that he was going to be something special,” said Lightning center Anthony Cirelli, who played against Sergachev for two seasons in the OHL. “Just how big and strong he was, the way he skated, the way he made plays, the full 200-foot game that he had. He was really good offensively early on, but he was really hard to play against as well. He just kept on getting better.”
Fulfilling his promise
Playing in Russia on bigger rinks, Sergachev said he was a good player but found himself watching a lot, a habit he says he still sinks into. But in Canada, players shot the puck more often and skated with more pace, so he learned to play faster and use his stick. With that, his game developed more bite, coaches saw.
Sergachev won the OHL Defenseman of the Year award with a 17-goal, 57-point season. When he gave his acceptance speech at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, he did it in English and thanked his billet family.
That summer, the Montreal Canadiens drafted Sergachev ninth overall. Fulfilling his promise to Brian Reid, he made the team’s opening-night roster before being returned to the Spitfires. As he worked to improve, Sergachev’s motivation was back home in Russia: his parents Alexander and Ludmilla.
“In the back of my head I was always thinking about them, what they gave for me,” Sergachev said. “They gave half of their salary to bring me up as a kid. Hockey’s expensive and they were making decent money, but still to give up half of their salary, imagine that, that’s crazy. It’s insane. So I felt like I needed to get better.”
Sergachev was one of three first-round picks on that Windsor team — Logan Stanley and Logan Brown also were among the top 18 players taken in 2016 — and the Spitfires had 12 players with double-digit goals, including Sergachev (10) and current Lightning defense prospect Sean Day (12).
“When we got to play together it was fun, because we’re both offensive-minded guys,” said Day, who currently plays in AHL Syracuse. “So, it was like having five forwards out there.”
Windsor was eliminated in the first round of the OHL playoffs but received an automatic berth to the Memorial Cup as host team. The Spitfires’ early exit meant six weeks off, but they ended up winning the tournament, beating an Erie team that included future Lightning teammates Cirelli, Erik Cernak and Darren Raddysh.
Sergachev was the first player to take home the Memorial Cup trophy, and he slept with it in his bed that night. It wound up being his last game in Windsor. Eighteen days later, he was traded to the Lightning in a deal that sent Jonathan Drouin to the Canadiens.
Home away from home
It’s been more than six years since Sergachev left Windsor for good, but it is still special to him. He said it’s one of three places he considers home, along with his hometown of Nizhnekamsk and the Russian countryside he visited during summers with his family as a kid. He remains close with the Reids, who attend road games within driving distance and visit him in Tampa at least twice a year.
“There’s not a lot of people in the world that care about things — not just about me, but actually care, and they do,” Sergachev said. “They’re caring people for everyone around them, so it’s beautiful.
“At first, they were so strict ... but now looking back at it, it kind of kept me in place and disciplined me. Mainly because of them, I didn’t take any wrong turns, because they were so passionate and gave me everything I needed. They’re caring and loving people. And I love them.”
The Reids’ next trip will be this month, when they’ll see Sergachev’s 7-month-old son, Fyodor, the first child for Sergachev and his wife, Liza.
“He’s pretty remarkable,” Brian said of Sergachev. ”He’s a man now, a wife and a kid. It’s just amazing what he’s doing. And he’s so genuine.”
In August, Sergachev returned to Windsor to play in a charity event that raised $200,000 for ALS research. He stayed in his old room at the Reids’ home. After the game, he was the last player off the ice, making sure every kid who wanted his autograph got one.
“I’ve been having a good career so far,” Sergachev said. ”I’ve gotten places and won trophies, and it’s all been great. And a huge part of it is Windsor. I spent two years there growing up. I’ve been really fortunate to be there. And any chance I get, I always go back.”
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