Sergachev inks new deal with Tampa Bay

During his end-of-the-season media availability three days after winning the Stanley Cup, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois called it a "priority" during the upcoming offseason to sign their three restricted free agents: defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak and center Anthony Cirelli.
On Thanksgiving Eve, BriseBois was able lock in one of those three.
The Lightning announced a new three-year deal for Sergachev that will pay the 22-year-old blueliner an AAV of $4.8 million. Sergachev set career marks for goals (10), power-play goals (5) and plus-minus (+15) this past season and saw his average ice time jump nearly two-and-a-half minutes from 17:55 in 2018-19 to 20:20 in 2019-20.

"He's a really good, young, two-way defenseman who's got size, he's got skill and he can skate," BriseBois told reporters via Zoom Wednesday evening. "He's got all the tools, and it really came together for him especially in the second half of the year this past season. Knowing that we have him under contract for the next three seasons and knowing that he will continue to get better -- he's so young especially for a defenseman -- that's great news for our organization."

Sergachev played all 25 playoff games on Tampa Bay's run to the Stanley Cup and tallied three goals and 10 points, third most among Bolts defensemen. His ice time increased from the regular season up to 22:37 in the playoffs, third highest among all Lightning skaters. He also saw action on Tampa Bay's top power-play unit, spelling Conn Smythe Trophy winner Victor Hedman at times, and was a valuable penalty killer, underscoring his versatility.
BriseBois said he expects Sergachev to play a similar role this upcoming season as he did for the Lightning down the stretch of this past season and into the postseason, which means he'll probably stay on the left side but could also see time on the right. Sergachev is a left shot but has shown the ability to play both sides well, and with the logjam of left-shot D in front of him in Hedman and Ryan McDonagh, a move to the right might allow him to move into a top four role.
"He played over 20 minutes a night," BriseBois said of Sergachev's postseason. "He played on the power play. He played on the penalty kill. Sometimes he was on the first power play, sometimes he was on the second. Sometimes we used him on the right side, sometimes we used him on the left side. We mostly used him on the left side, but we know he can do both. We prefer to have our left-shot Ds on the left side and our right-shot Ds on the right side."
Sergachev took his game to another level in December when he tapped into his physicality and learned how to use his body to his benefit. His progression was punctuated by his play in the final game of 2019, a New Year's Eve tilt in Buffalo where he had a power-play assist and got into a spirited fight with the Sabres Jake McCabe in a 6-4 Lightning victory.
"I think his play in the second half of December when he brought a little more physicality on a night-in, night-out basis gave him a lot of additional confidence that he could play that way, that he needed to be more assertive physically and that when he is assertive physically, his whole game elevates," BriseBois said. "And I think that's what we saw in the second half of the season."

Sergachev is now under contract through the 2022-23 season, although BriseBois expects he'll be around a lot longer than that, alluding to similar bridge deals the Lightning have signed in the past to players like Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov coming off their entry-level contract before locking them in long term.
"We fully expect if things go as they've gone with others in the past eventually we'll sign him to an extension after this contract," BriseBois said. "But just having this one done is great news for us."
As for Cirelli and Cernak, BriseBois said he'll have to move players to create enough cap space to sign both valuable restricted free agents but he's confident he'll be able to do so and has no doubt both will remain members of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Just like Sergachev
"There's significant will on our end to make that happen considering how valuable those players are to our organization and how big a role that they're already playing but that I expect them to continue to play and have that role grow over the next few years," BriseBois said. "They're a big part of why I look at our organization and our organization's future with a lot of optimism. It's because to have a good team, you need good players. You need a lot of them, and these three players are just scratching the surface. So not keeping them was never something that we would seriously consider."