'It's just a match': Utah Hockey's Sergachev eager to prove he's a No. 1 defenseman

SALT LAKE CITY — When Mikhail Sergachev left his apartment Saturday morning to take out the trash, he was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

When he returned, he was on the Utah Hockey Club. That's one memorable trash run.

"It was a shock," the Russian defenseman said. "I wasn't expecting to be traded."

To be fair, it was a shock to everyone in the hockey world. The crowd was audibly stunned when the trade was announced early on the second day of the NHL draft.

But for Utah general manager Bill Armstrong it was a long-awaited move.

Armstrong had looked around at how championship-winning teams had built their defenses and noticed a trend: They mostly traded for their top line, so he started doing the prep work for such a move.

"We always reach out to every team in the National Hockey League that had a No. 1 defenseman and just planted a seed," Armstrong said. "'Hey, listen, I know you wouldn't do it right now but if you ever think about it, we've got the assets that can get this trade down if you want to go down that path.'"

That seed sprouted last week. Utah now has a top defenseman it can build around.

"When you get a chance to add a No. 1 D-man to your roster at 26 years old, that's won two championships, that opportunity doesn't come around (often) — and we jumped on it," Armstrong said.

It's a good thing the Utah front office didn't drag their feet. On Monday, a no-trade clause kicked in on Sergachev's contract. If just two more days had passed, Sergachev would have had to approve the deal.

Would he have done that?

"Knowing what I know now, I'd probably waive (the no-trade clause)," he said.

He didn't know much about Utah when he got the trade call. He had heard of the state due to Salt Lake City hosting the 2002 Olympics, and he saw how loud Utah fans could get while watching the "The Last Dance" documentary about the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls' season. That was about the extent of his Utah knowledge.

"My wife started doing research and we saw how beautiful it is," he said.

He called Utah forward Clayton Keller, who he had grown up playing against, and was told only glowing things about the newly formed franchise. His agent told him good things, and he liked what he heard from Armstrong and coach Andre Tourigny. Soon enough, he found himself looking forward to the opportunity.

His short time in Utah this week has only confirmed what he'd been told.

"I want to give credit to the people because it's so clean here," he said. "You see how clean it is and how people take care of it. That tells you they're going to take care of you the same way they take care of the city. It's just a match."

A match both on and off the ice.

After years of playing with perennial Norris Trophy contender Victor Hedman in Tampa Bay, Sergachev will get a chance to lead the blue line. He's been a budding star; now, he'll get a chance to show how high he can rise.

"I mean, I've thought about it, but, obviously, nothing is given," he said. "I'm gonna have to prove that I'm a No. 1 guy. They have good defensemen now with (John) Marino, (Sean) Durzi. It's gonna be an inside-the-team battle a little bit. When you have the opportunity to go against good defensemen, you grow and they grow. I think it's going to make us all better."

Oh, and he's looking forward to telling a fellow countryman about the trade — former Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko.

"I'm doing a charity game in Russia and he bought one of the suites to watch it," he said. "So he's gonna come to the game and we're gonna meet him, so I'm gonna tell him that I got traded to Utah."

Related topics