"Nikita, he's a late-birth year [player] so after he got drafted, he plays one more year, (then) he turns pro," Lapointe said. "It's a big adjustment. Nikita took last year to develop, to know the AHL. The AHL league is not easy, and he's got some things that he needs to work on, but we all can see his talent. His skills are NHL skills, and we'll keep developing him and we'll see … what he brings."
Scherbak's young age was hardly the only rut in the ice in his development; an ankle injury kept him out for two months.
"It's kind of upsetting when you're injured and you want to be with the team," he said. "You want to do all the stuff with the team, like stretch, but you can't because you're injured.
"But I battled through, the guys helped me a lot. I want to say thanks to them. It happens, it's hockey. You can get an injury any time. You just have to battle through, but I don't think it stopped me. So it was tough, it was a tough couple of months but I got back, now I'm ready, now I'm 100 percent and it feels good."
Scherbak said he can stand to gain a few pounds, and has an action plan he wants to implement.
"I need to bring my compete level up," he said. "I think I have skill and I need to get bigger, obviously, get better physically and just bring it at main camp. I'm getting older, so now I know what to expect."