The Utah Hockey Club is 2-0 after their first two games. They opened the season with a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks and then won a 5-4 overtime thriller against the New York Islanders last night.
Dylan Guenther has been the talk of the town after scoring two goals in the first game and two more in the second game. But Mikhail Sergachev has quietly been phenomenal throughout these first two games, and if he can keep this level of play, he could end up in the Norris Trophy conversation at the end of the year.
Here is an in-depth look at just how impactful Sergachev has been in these first two games:
Mikhail Sergachev is showing he is a No.1 Defenseman
Sergachev has recorded three points in the Utah Hockey Club's first two games, two of which have been primary assists at five-on-five and the other a secondary assist on the powerplay. Sergachev's impact has also gone way beyond the stat sheet in these last two games. He is second on the Utah Hockey Club in takeaways and has blocked seven shots throughout these first two games.
While on the ice at five-on-five, Sergachev has an elite 73.48% expected goal share, the highest of any player on Utah. This shows that when Sergachev is on the ice, Utah creates offence rather than having to fend it off. This can be seen further in the high-danger chance numbers while Sergachev is on the ice. In the 34 minutes Sergachev has played at five-on-five this season, Utah has produced 18 high-danger scoring chances while only giving up three (via NaturalStatTrick).
Those two stats may surprise some, considering Sergachev is a -1 in the plus/minus department. However, plus/minus is such a surface-level stat it almost means nothing. If you look a little deeper, Connor Ingram only has a .750 save percentage, while Sergachev is on the ice. When you pair that with the fact that Utah has only given up three high-danger chances while Sergachev has been on the ice at five-on-five, Sergachev has had some unfortunate goaltending luck to earn that -1 plus/minus.
This bad goaltending luck will eventually balance out and translate into a better goal-share percentage while Sergachev is on the ice. However, disregarding the lousy luck in these first two games, Sergachev's numbers are elite. If he can sustain this level of play and stay healthy for the entire season, the Utah Hockey Club may have the Norris Trophy winner on their team.