THREE THINGS: Sharangovich's Breakout Season

The Devils played 10 rookies during the 2020-21 campaign, with seven of them making their NHL debuts during the year. Though defenseman Ty Smith would most likely take the mantle for the team's Rookie of the Year, fellow novice
Yegor Sharangovich would likely take the superlative of "Most Surprising Rookie."
Smith, 21, entered the season with the pedigree of a first-round pick (17th overall) from the 2018 NHL Draft. In the same draft and 124 picks later (141st overall), the Devils selected Sharangovich, 22, in the fifth round.
The expectations for Smith this season were high, though he certainly exceeded those expectations. But Sharangovich entered training camp as a bit more of a question mark. The 22-year-old had played the previous two seasons with Binghamton of the American Hockey League totaling just 26 goals and 55 points in 111 games.

In just his second-career NHL game, Sharangovich scored perhaps the most memorable goal of the entire season for New Jersey. He cut in on a breakaway and beat Boston's Jaroslav Halak with 1.7 seconds remaining in overtime to win the game, 2-1, with his first-career NHL goal. The image of him skating away from the goal, with a single arm raised and screaming, will be a lasting image of the season that was.

Sharangovich, who also developed into a quality penalty killer, was off and running from there, and found himself flanking star center Jack Hughes in the final weeks of the season. In our latest installment of Thursday's Three Things series, we take a look at three things to know about Sharangovich's incredible rookie campaign.

THE NUMBERS

Sharangovich made the trip to North America in 2018 to join Binghamton. He scored nine goals in 68 games in his first AHL campaign. He followed that up with 10 goals in 54 games during the 2019-20 AHL season.
But scoring in the NHL is a much more difficult task. Players have less time, there's less room on the ice, opponents are faster, defenses are better, goaltenders are better. So, it was reasonable to expect Sharangovich's production to take a dip. Instead, he outperformed even his AHL showing.
Sharangovich scored 16 goals in his inaugural NHL season, nearly matching his output over two full AHL campaigns. Those 16 goals ranked third on the team and third-most (tied) among all rookie NHL scorers. Sharangovich's 30 points on the season also ranked third on New Jersey's roster while claiming fourth place amongst all neophyte NHLers.

THE SHOT

If you take one look at Sharangovich's shot, it's clear that he would project to be a natural goal scorer. Particularly, his ability to toe-drag the puck into his body while still simultaneously snapping off a hard shot with velocity. The drag changes the angle of the shot on the goaltender. The quick release makes it nearly impossible for the goaltender to adjust and reset in the proper angle before the puck is on its way toward the net.

Sharangovich's shot has undergone some work. Before the NHL resumed play in the 2020-21 season, the Belarus native joined Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League. While there, Sharangovich worked with Dinamo assistant coach and former NHL forward Mikhail Grabovski on his release, getting the puck on net faster. The fruits of that labor bore out as he potted 17 goals in 34 games for Minsk. That was a preview for the goal outburst that awaited his NHL arrival.

THE SMILE

Devils fans got a glimpsed of Sharangovich's good-natured and comical personality following a 5-3 win against Philadelphia April 29. In the contest, the 6-foot-2, 196-pound forward posted his first-career two-goal game. When asked about his goal-scoring success on the year, he responded:
"My wife told me that I could score three goals, so I tried to score three goals."
That was followed by a wide grin and eye roll that has endeared him to the fanbase. Well, the smile, and of course, the goals.