Mikhail Sergachev was shocked when the Lightning traded him. But he’s found a home in Utah.

It was five hours before a Tampa Bay Lightning game night in Dallas.

Rob Zettler slipped away for a phone interview amidst his duties as assistant coach. There aren’t a lot of spare moments for someone with Zettler’s responsibilities in the NHL. Nonetheless, he had a quick response on the other end of the call.

“For Sergy? I’ll make the time,” he said.

Zettler was talking about Mikhail Sergachev — now defenseman for Utah Hockey Club — who he spent four years coaching in Tampa. Sergachev will be the opponent on Saturday, though, as he faces the Lightning for the first time since getting traded to Salt Lake City in June.

Is it a game he has thought about throughout the inaugural season with the Club?

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t,” Sergachev said. “But I kind of had those emotions when I got traded. Now it’s just I’m trying to think about it as another game. Obviously it’s going to be weird playing against a team that I spent seven, eight years with. But I’ll just try to keep it simple.”

A look at how Tampa raised Sergachev into a top defenseman and where he stands in Utah on the other side of a blockbuster summer deal:

Bill Armstrong makes a splash

The Arizona Coyotes had some top-notch selections in the NHL Draft. They snagged Dylan Guenther ninth overall in 2021 and Logan Cooley third overall in 2022. Tij Iginla was the sixth overall — and first-ever pick — for Utah Hockey Club in 2024.

General manager Bill Armstrong, who started a rebuild of the organization in 2020, felt good about the immediate forward talent the team had accumulated through the draft. Defensemen, he said, took a little bit longer.

After acquiring Sean Durzi from the Los Angeles Kings in June 2023, Armstrong was searching the market for another addition to his blueline. A big one at that.

“We kind of actually studied the Tampa model, how they went out and traded for all of their D that ended up winning a championship for them,” Armstrong said. “We were going down that path and talking to teams and didn’t get a lot of traction mostly because we were asking for their best player and they weren’t interested in giving that up.”

That was until the 2024 NHL Draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada came around. Julien BriseBois, the Lightning’s GM, called Armstrong and said, “This is what we’re trying to do to make another move. Would you be interested?”

It was the type of deal Armstrong had been waiting for and it was for Sergachev. Despite giving up a hefty package — including J.J. Moser, Conor Geekie, a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in 2025 — Utah went through with it.

It was another sign that things would be different for the freshly relocated team this season.

“It was huge for us coming into a new market at the same time — getting people excited. But also getting your team excited about, ‘Hey, look at who we’ve added. This is a big piece.’ We were really ecstatic,” Armstrong said.

“Not only is he a good person, he’s really all about the culture and work ethic along with winning two Stanley Cups. Being able to bring that into your organization — it’s almost a once-in-a-lifetime trade.”

Head coach André Tourigny reflected on his reaction when finding out Sergachev would be one of his players.

“Probably, ‘F––ing right,‘” Tourigny said. “Something like that?”

While Sergachev said he kind of “felt like something was coming,” it was still a shock to the 26-year-old. Sergachev signed an eight-year, $68 million contract extension with Tampa in July 2022. He spent seven years in the Lightning jersey. He hoisted the Stanley Cup in back-to-back campaigns.

Once the weight of that wore off, though, Sergachev got excited.

“It was kind of happiness too because I was like I get the chance to be what I wanted to be my whole career. Just that opportunity outweighed the trade. I wasn’t mad or shocked for long. Only five, 10 minutes,” Sergachev said.

Sergachev was coming off a season in which he played just 34 games due to injuries — including breaking his left tibia and fibula in a gnarly collision in February. Tampa was about to sign defenseman Victor Hedman to a four-year $32 million extension (with an average annual value nearly identical to Sergachev’s) while also trying to keep unrestricted free agent Steven Stamkos around (he ended up signing with the Nashville Predators).

Sergachev could tell things were tight and that his contract took up a good chunk of that cap space.

“I had a tough season. [Tampa] didn’t have a lot of money. They had to sign some guys,” Sergachev said. “They signed Hedman to a four-year deal, pretty much the same money that I make. So it was kind of like why would you have two defensemen with the same salary.”

It wasn’t an easy decision for the Lightning. Sergachev has been a top-four defenseman they developed and a key piece to two championship runs. But the NHL is a business and that means saying goodbye to some good people at times. With the cap space the Sergachev trade cleared, the Lighting were also able to sign forward Jake Guentzel to a seven-year, $63 million contract; he has 64 points (33 goals, 31 assists) in 67 games.

“He’s a very coveted player,” Zettler said of Sergachev. “You could see it with the return we got when we did trade Sergy. We end up getting Moser a top-four defenseman and a top-10 pick in Geekie. That’s a big haul. And it should be a big haul because Sergy is a big-time defenseman.”

Moser, who has dealt with injury this season, is now on Tampa’s top pair and has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 40 games. The 20-year-old Geekie made the Lightning’s opening-night roster out of training camp and had 12 points (six goals, six assists) through 49 NHL games but is now in the AHL.

“It’s never comfortable to let go of two great people and two great players. They are home-grown in our organization so they’re hard to let go of,” Armstrong said. “But at the same time, if you’re going to build a championship organization, 50% of that team is traded for. That’s part of our process that we had to use good assets to go out and get somebody who would fill a big role for us.”

Has it been a fair trade for Utah thus far?

“Sergachev’s been tremendous for us and he’s lived up to it.” Armstrong said. “We wouldn’t be competing for a playoff spot right now if it wasn’t for him.”

Learning lessons with the Lightning

Sergachev got a special invitation from Tampa head coach Jon Cooper last season — he was brought into the team’s leadership meetings. The group was made up of players like Hedman, Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov; people Sergachev had looked up to and now had a voice amongst.

“It was weird because you sit there with the guys that are top guys and all of a sudden you’re in there,” Sergachev said.

It was part of the evolution that Sergachev went through with the Lightning. From a 19-year-old kid who was held out of some games to a 25-year-old that others began to follow due to both his early, deep experience and mature mindset.

“There’s a lot of big-time leaders in that room when we were winning,” Zettler said. “I think what Sergy did was just kind of sit back and learn for the first few years. Figure out what it took to win, what it took on a daily basis to win — not only on the ice but off the ice.”

In the Lightning’s two Stanley Cup runs, Sergachev skated in a cumulative 48 games and posted a total 13 points (three goals, 10 assists). He was always behind Hedman who was Tampa’s certified No. 1 defenseman but did not take it as a slight. Instead, Sergachev soaked up all he could and it has been to Utah’s benefit this season

“He served in a lot of different ways, not to mention the work ethic,” Zettler said. “Sergy cares about what he does and he cares about how he does it. He’s very thoughtful that way as far as wanting to be the best and wanting to continue learning and getting better. He always had that mindset. That’s what I loved about him.”

When Sergachev first arrived in Utah, he was not part of those same leadership meetings. He understood he had to prove himself to the coaches and his teammates before they wholly trusted him. It didn’t take long. He was soon looped in and had an “A” stitched onto his jersey.

“I feel like guys listen to what I have to say and I appreciate that. They trust me on the ice to make a play at the right time and defend at the right time,” Sergachev said. “Obviously it feels great but it’s an immense pressure. It’s good. You need pressure to get better.”

It has been a help to first-year captain Clayton Keller to have someone like Sergachev in the room. Utah is led by committee, as he always says.

“This guy has played in huge games, won Stanley Cups, has a lot of experience,” Keller said. “When he talks, everyone listens. He always has great input in meetings. He’s just an easy guy to follow. He’s always doing the right things, he cares so much.”

Sergachev came into Tampa as a young buck who leaned on the veterans around him to shape the kind of player he would turn into. Now in Utah, Sergachev has assumed that role-model responsibility as he embraces — and excels at — the next phase of his career.

“He understood here was an opportunity for him to be a No. 1. He understood as well the quality of the young team we have,” Tourigny said. “He understood his own age and he knew that was a good fit in the direction we were going. It was an opportunity for him to take on a leadership role.”

Impact on Utah Hockey Club

Sergachev’s impact has been felt since the opening puck drop of the 2024-25 season for Utah Hockey Club.

After losing Durzi and John Marino for months at a time due to injury, Sergachev was handed the reins to Utah’s D-corps and did not shy away from the moment. He took on close to 28 minutes of ice time a night while running the first power play unit and contributing on the penalty kill.

It was not an ideal situation for the team but it thrust Sergachev into a new system with no time to hesitate. What’s more, he was coming off a grueling rehab from his broken leg and the extended reps helped him get more comfortable with himself.

“I think it kind of boosted my development as a leader on the team. Because I missed half of the season last year, I needed that confidence to come back and play good,” Sergachev said. “Before Christmas maybe, I was finally feeling — not like I belong — but like this is the team and this is where I get better as a player.”

Now that the Club’s backend is healthy, Sergachev has had a consistent partner – Marino on the first pair. The duo has complemented each other well, added an offensive flair while still committed to being the go-to shutdown defensemen. In 64 games this season, Sergachev has 13 goals (which is a new career-high) and 32 assists.

Away from the ice, the transition to Utah has been smoother than what might’ve been first imagined when the trade news dropped this summer.

“It was easy,” Sergachev said. “People are super nice. I have a big backyard, four seasons, snow, mountains. I honestly — it’s not a shot at Tampa or anything — but I like it more in Utah. We’re more comfortable here with the family.”

Saturday afternoon at Delta Center will be a full-circle moment for Sergachev. No matter how settled and stable he is in Salt Lake City, the Lightning are the team that pushed him to become the star-type player Utah fans have gotten to watch this season.

It will just be hockey once the puck drops. Sergachev can still appreciate the magnitude of the meeting, though.

“I got there when I was 19 and left when I was 26. I had my child there. During that time we got married, me and my wife. I grew up to be a man there and I will always remember it,” Sergachev said. “It’s been a tremendous time and I really appreciate what the organization did for me and the team, my teammates, trainers, everybody. I love them. I will always cherish that time.”