The Canadiens “didn’t think Mikhail Sergachev was that good”.

On the second day of the latest draft, Julien BriseBois caused a surprise by trading his second-best defenseman, Mikhail Sergachev.

The former Canadiens protégé is only 26 years old and already on his third club.

Today, on the Sortie de Zone podcast , Stéphane Waite revisited the first trade involving the Russian: from Montreal to Tampa Bay. The former goaltending coach wasn’t at all surprised when he was traded, as the Montreal organization didn’t think he was all that good. In fact, Waite thought he was overrated.

Sortie de zone, saison 5 | Épisode 66 : le Canadien sera-il une équipe ” dans le mix ” ? https://t.co/xjZCgSuL7K

– La Presse Sports (@LaPresse_Sports) July 2, 2024

The left-hander only played four short regular-season games in Montreal, but he still caught the attention of management with his brain cramps and poor decisions on the ice.

These were the main reasons why he was traded for Jonathan Drouin. Waite doesn’t say it was a good deal for Marc Bergevin back in the day, but when he left, nobody was surprised and nobody was angry/sad; the club didn’t like him any more than it had to.

And in 2017, the Habs got the talented Quebec forward they’d been waiting for for so long. In fact, this talented forward has just signed a new pact with Colorado. Another one-season contract, but this time he’ll be paid $1.675 million more. Serves him right!

Getting back to Sergachev, after a major injury early in the season, he returned in time for the 2024 playoffs. In two games, he collected one point. No one expected those two games to be his last in the Lightning organization. After all, he had just signed an eight-year/$68 million contract a few years ago.

Waite believes that BriseBois was very smart to move that contract. And in the end, that deal allowed him to sign Jake Guentzel, acquire two young talents in Conor Geekie and J.J. Moser, and extend his number-one defenseman Victor Hedman.

It just wasn’t enough to keep Steven Stamkos in town.