Montreal Canadiens General Manager Marc Bergevin announced on Thursday that the team has recalled forwards Sven Andrighetto and Nikita Scherbak from the St. John’s IceCaps of the American Hockey League.
Les Canadiens ont procédé jeudi aux rappels des attaquants Sven Andrighetto et Nikita Scherbak des IceCaps. https://t.co/dQTJYk1c8u.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 5, 2017
This will be Andrighetto’s sixth recall to the Canadiens this season and is now waiver eligible given time spent, however since the Canadiens are dealing with several injuries, this particular recall might fall under the “emergency conditions” clause and he will not need to pass through waivers to be sent back to the AHL unless he plays more than 10 games under this emergency conditions, at which point it becomes a regular recall and waivers eligible.
In eight games for the Canadiens this season, Andrighetto has struggled, putting up only two assists. In the AHL the story is far different, where Andrighetto has been dominant, scoring eight goals and adding 14 assists in 20 games.
As for Scherbak, in his second professional season, he will first stint in the National Hockey League. So far this season he has nine goals and ten assists in 23 games. He missed most of the month of December with a shoulder injury, but prior to the injury was the biggest threat offensively on the team.
Last season was a shortened rookie campaign for the talented Russian due to an ankle injury, missing 28 out of 29 games in the middle of the season. He still managed seven goals and 16 assists in 48 games.
The transition into professional hockey was not an easy one for Scherbak who struggled defensively. As a result IceCaps head coach shunted Scherbak down to a defensive line with Gabriel Dumont and Jacob de la Rose to teach him defensive responsibility. Results were not good. Upon his return from injury Lefebvre made him first line centre, despite Scherbak never having played centre, and Scherbak continued to struggle. Eventually Scherbak returned to his right wing position, and joined a line with Michael McCarron and Charles Hudon, and the line dominated for the IceCaps. Scherbak finished the season strong in all aspects of the game, and carried over that momentum into this season where he was one of the IceCaps best all around forwards.
Although these recalls to the Montreal Canadiens is amidst a rash of injuries to the forward corps, including Alex Galchenyuk, David Desharnais, Andrew Shaw, Brendan Gallagher, Paul Byron, as well as to top prospect Charles Hudon, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t earned for both Andrighetto and Scherbak.
