Yegor Sharangovich
NJD Next Great Depth Forward
Earlier this year, I was walking through the lobby of my local rink and I caught a glimpse of overtime between the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins. I saw this goal. I wondered, “who is this guy?”.
Yegor Sharangovich, a former 5th round pick is a 6’2”, 196lbs forward. When I decided to do a deep dive into some of the NHL’s lesser-known rookies this season, I knew I had to write about Sharangovich.
Player Card from JFreshHockey (@JFreshHockey)
I went into this with certain expectations after looking at some of his macro-stats. He looks like a shoot-first forward with limited playmaking, who plays sheltered minutes on a weak team. My opinion changed after watching a 3-game set vs. the Islanders in early March. I think I found the New Jersey Devils next great depth forward. In the Devils’ hay-day in the early 2000’s they played a brand of suffocating hockey, lulling their opponents to sleep and striking on the few opportunities that present themselves. Sharangovich would have fit in perfectly with the likes of Jamie Langenbrunner, Jay Pandolfo and John Madden.
In the games I watched, Sharangovich was paired with Janne Kuokkanen and Travis Zajac. This line was hard matched against NYI best player Mathew Barzal. Sharangovich fits in nicely in a defensive role and has gained the trust of his coach to go up against one of the league’s top players. He forces plays to the outside, is an above average skater and uses his angling and stick position to suffocate opponents.
NJD17 is the last forward out of the zone, he sprints back hard through the dots as NYI13 gains the zone with possession. NYI13 looking for a play to the middle of the ice is closed off by NJD17 hustling hard back between the dots.
NJD17 steps towards NYI13 forcing him down the wall on his backhand. NYI13 reverses it up the wall to NYI5. NJD17 stops, takes away the middle and forces NYI5 back down the wall with an outstretched stick. NYI5 moves the puck below the goal line to NYI13.
NJD17 shoulder checks multiple times while getting himself back to middle ice. NYI13 tries to make a play to NYI4 in a dangerous scoring position but NJD17 breaks this play up with good stick positioning.
NJD28 takes the puck below the goal line and NJD17 sets up as F3 in the slot (more on this later). NJD28 tries to make a move to the middle of the ice and the play gets broken up by NYI13. NYI7 recovers a loose puck and skates up the ice.
NJD17 takes a good angle, and “soft-locks” NYI7 into bad ice. NYI7 makes a good play to NYI15 in the middle of the ice. NYI15 plays the puck back to NYI7 for what looks like a potential scoring opportunity.
NJD17 continues to skate with his check NYI7 and tracks him all the way down to his own net. Using an outstretched stick, he forces NYI7 into a low-quality shot.
Not only is Sharangovich playing well in a 5v5 defensive role, he is also one of the teams main penalty killers. He averages 1:55/gp on the penalty kill which is 2nd on the team for forwards and has a team best 6.6 GA/60 on the PK. This ability to kill penalties should not be understated. The powerplay in recent years has become even more dangerous, as teams score on average more than 30% of the time. At 22 years old, this skill should only improve as he is receiving a ton of reps and great mentorship from a veteran penalty killer, Travis Zajac.
NJD17 is ready to jump off the face-off. After a clean win, he pressures up ice immediately. He separates his man from the puck and NJD clear some more time off the clock.
NJD19 pressures a rim in the offensive zone. NJD17 comes in for soft support but decides to back out as they do not have a chance at full possession.
NYI eventually settle their breakout behind the net. NJD17 as F1 curls and returns to the middle to pressure NYI8 as he comes up the ice. Understanding that the NYI use the drop pass breakout, he forces NYI8 up ice and tries to stay a step behind him to deter the drop. NYI8 does get the drop to NYI18, NJD17 takes away the middle of the ice and forces the entry to the bench side.
NYI is forced to chip the puck into the zone which is broken up by NJD46 and cleared by NJD17 as he recovers between the dots.
Sharangovich’s defensive game is sound, but I do believe he can make more of an offensive contribution in the long term. First, I think he’s better suited as a center. He skates well, understands timing through the middle of the ice, makes quality plays on entries and can drive shot contribution for his line.
Secondly, if playing center does not work for coach Lindy Ruff, he should eventually be playing with better offensive players. The current make-up of his line has a “dump first” mentality. Even with better options, they seem to revert to chipping the puck and applying forechecking pressure. Because of this, Sharangovich leads his team in pressures/60 with 14.09, but only boasts a 1.41 recoveries/60. Which means, he’s hounding the puck, but not necessarily recovering it.
Here is an example of a play that could have been much more:
NJD17 receives the puck in the middle of the ice, makes a good play to NJD19 changing the side of the attack. NJD19 has an odd-man rush developing (4v3). Instead of trying to gain the middle of the ice by skating or with a pass, he opts for dump (albeit a “smart” dump) which NJD17 has to try to recover.
As you can see, this is not necessarily a bad play, but they default to dumping and chasing far too often. With Sharangovich’s shot and his ability to play between the “D” and find soft areas of the ice, he would be better suited playing with other puck retrievers and finding space.
Recognizing this skill, I decided to track his puck touches to see how many touches he is getting off the pass vs. loose pucks. Darryl Belfry in his book Belfry Hockey discusses the importance for offensive players to receive pucks off the pass. He references the bull vs. the spider analogy. The bull wants to go get everything, using all its energy to disrupt and cause havoc. Whereas the spider is more calculated, waiting for the right moment to strike. In hockey, you want to receive more touches off of a pass because it is easier to make a second or tertiary play to create longer zone time that will lead to more offensive chances. As a rule of thumb, Belfry says a good offensive player should receive the puck off the pass about 2/3s of the time. During the 3 games I watched, Sharangovich received the puck off the pass only 51.6% of the time. Too much time being a bull, and not enough time being a spider.
I really like Sharangovich’s game. I was surprised by how well-rounded his game is. He impressed me away from the puck with his hockey IQ and I truly believe he can contribute more offensively if put in the right situation. This is the type of player you can picture scoring a big goal in a playoff series.
Data from Corey Sznajder and Hockey Reference