Sergei Samsonov?

[justintb]

I have witnessed Sergei Samsonov in two preseaon games...One live, at the ACC (that game from last night brings nightmares to me)....It was the worst NHL game ive been in attendance for. The other, I watched live on RDS. Samsonov is showing his speed, but is running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He is being a nuisance to Kovalev on so many different notes. Some things in his game that are weak:

a) His Breakout ability (he looks confused as to what his position is)

B) His stickhandling abilities...On numerous occasions at the ACC he lost the puck by trying to overstickhandle...Not sure if he was trying to be bobby orr or what...but on the Superiorite Numerique, he tried carrying it across the line and got picked, when the ideal move would have been dumping the puck in....

c) Over the opposition blueline....He needs to start playing more like Koivu and getting into the zones where the average forward wouldnt be. He is also skating directly beside kovalev when they cross the blue line, which is very useless, since kovalev really does not have an option to pass if there is a person on him.

d) SHOOT THE PUCK....Its Like the Edmonton Oilers post-season all over again....I still remember that 2 on 1 where he did that stupid drop pass and turned it over....Samsonov has a shot on him...He needs to go on instinct and rip it!

On Another note, Mike Johnson looks promising!

Anyone seeing what Im seeing in samsonovs play so far?

[KoZed]

Heeee...

4 pre-season games... let's wait 42 games in the regular season to ask that question, shall we?

[PB]

I have witnessed Sergei Samsonov in two preseaon games...One live, at the ACC (that game from last night brings nightmares to me)....It was the worst NHL game ive been in attendance for. The other, I watched live on RDS. Samsonov is showing his speed, but is running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He is being a nuisance to Kovalev on so many different notes. Some things in his game that are weak:

a) His Breakout ability (he looks confused as to what his position is)

B) His stickhandling abilities...On numerous occasions at the ACC he lost the puck by trying to overstickhandle...Not sure if he was trying to be bobby orr or what...but on the Superiorite Numerique, he tried carrying it across the line and got picked, when the ideal move would have been dumping the puck in....

c) Over the opposition blueline....He needs to start playing more like Koivu and getting into the zones where the average forward wouldnt be. He is also skating directly beside kovalev when they cross the blue line, which is very useless, since kovalev really does not have an option to pass if there is a person on him.

d) SHOOT THE PUCK....Its Like the Edmonton Oilers post-season all over again....I still remember that 2 on 1 where he did that stupid drop pass and turned it over....Samsonov has a shot on him...He needs to go on instinct and rip it!

On Another note, Mike Johnson looks promising!

Anyone seeing what Im seeing in samsonovs play so far?

You must be joking !

Anyway, the last coffe is keeping me awake so I'll write something.

Remember when Kovalev joined the CH in 94....it took him quite a while to get things going.

Developping a chimistry with your new linemates can take time and remember for Samso this is a

brand new team......and let's face it, it's far from being a team at this stage.

Starting the pre-saison games with 50 players in and around the team can to do just that,....... total anarchy at the ACC as you saw it yourself. Samsonov as now played 3 games in the middle of this confusion and have tried to adapt in the process with an un-stable line that had Kovalev and depending on the day, either Ribeiro or non-NHL players like Lock and Garbowski.

The ACC game was bad for everyone involved,......kovalev lost the puck so many time out there...yet he is one of the best stickhandler ever.

Koivu's line was really TOGETHER at the Bell......that's what 3 good guys can acheived when they are linemates for many months.......Samsonov needs stable linemates too and with 4 games left I hope this is what he will get from now on.

The CH's rookie's parade was maybe a necessity of sort but it is taking a toll on the team's preparation.

Edited September 24, 2006 by PB

[PMAC]

I will give you a partial answer in June 2007, but the full answer may not be revealed until June 2008

[mathieu30]

You're joking, right?

[PMAC]

You're joking, right?

No. But I think/ hope you were replying to the original poster

[mathieu30]

I think/ hope you were replying to the original poster

Correct.

[Dutch_Habs_Fan]

I think we should make a thread for every player, and start worrying, and complaining about them. So everybody lets it all lose.

My god this is ridicilouos

[kaos]

Anyone seeing what Im seeing in samsonovs play so far?

So far I only blame two people.....Guy Carbonneau. So far nothing has shown me that he has prepared these guys for any of these exhibition games....The Habs have looked terrible.

As well I blame Bob Gainey for handing Mike Ribeiro $1.9 Million dollars of precious salary cap money. The question you have to ask is not whether Samsonov is worth it, but is Ribeiro worth it? Samsonov can be dealt at anytime for something else to help the Habs. Ribeiro is $1.9 Million dollars of dead weight....

[jordi]

I hate seeing the blame put on single players. I mean this isn't all black and white. I'm not saying Samsonov isn't at fault - for the time being he's been lazy but if he could handle being a crappy line with the Oilers, he'll do something well with the Habs. Plus it's preseason, who knows maybe he is being lazy on purpose in order to avoid injury before the games start.

But for them to win games, it's going to need a lot of improvement on everyone's part. And well, as people said, players have known to be dead weight at start and now teams can't imagine their team without them.

[johnnyhasbeen]

So far I only blame two people.....Guy Carbonneau. So far nothing has shown me that he has prepared these guys for any of these exhibition games....The Habs have looked terrible.

As well I blame Bob Gainey for handing Mike Ribeiro $1.9 Million dollars of precious salary cap money. The question you have to ask is not whether Samsonov is worth it, but is Ribeiro worth it? Samsonov can be dealt at anytime for something else to help the Habs. Ribeiro is $1.9 Million dollars of dead weight....

You are right!

What kind of stupid useless coach plays his young guys who are not ready for NHL action and juggles lines during the pre-season?

We should play all our bset lines only, hit hard, win all these games, start the season with three guys on the disabled list, and no idea what the young guys in the system can do.

Is that what you would do?

1.9mil for a guy who was benched in a preseason game, waste of money. How about Markov and Begin? Wasted money if they didn't make a preseaon lineup?

Stop being so pesimistic.

[Psycing]

Heeee...

4 pre-season games... let's wait 42 games in the regular season to ask that question, shall we?

'Nuff said.

[fromage]

You are right!

What kind of stupid useless coach plays his young guys who are not ready for NHL action and juggles lines during the pre-season?

We should play all our bset lines only, hit hard, win all these games, start the season with three guys on the disabled list, and no idea what the young guys in the system can do.

Is that what you would do?

1.9mil for a guy who was benched in a preseason game, waste of money. How about Markov and Begin? Wasted money if they didn't make a preseaon lineup?

Stop being so pesimistic.

agreed

[Colin]

So far I only blame two people.....Guy Carbonneau. So far nothing has shown me that he has prepared these guys for any of these exhibition games....The Habs have looked terrible.

As well I blame Bob Gainey for handing Mike Ribeiro $1.9 Million dollars of precious salary cap money. The question you have to ask is not whether Samsonov is worth it, but is Ribeiro worth it? Samsonov can be dealt at anytime for something else to help the Habs. Ribeiro is $1.9 Million dollars of dead weight....

*sighs* You're right. We should probably fire Carbo now while the getting is good. No sense letting the "Carbo" experiment go any further and damage the Habs anymore. And as for Gainey, totally agree. Might be time to let him go as well. He's made numerous questionable moves and I wonder if the Habs can proceed without him: getting rid of Dagenais was costly to the organization and to Ribeiro's continued growth. Now he's gone and signed him rather than losing him for nothing. I'm not sure Montreal can even consider the playoffs under the current leadership.

Perhaps we can get Houle back for GM and Tremblay to coach.

[sakiqc]

*sighs* You're right. We should probably fire Carbo now while the getting is good. No sense letting the "Carbo" experiment go any further and damage the Habs anymore. And as for Gainey, totally agree. Might be time to let him go as well. He's made numerous questionable moves and I wonder if the Habs can proceed without him: getting rid of Dagenais was costly to the organization and to Ribeiro's continued growth. Now he's gone and signed him rather than losing him for nothing. I'm not sure Montreal can even consider the playoffs under the current leadership.

Perhaps we can get Houle back for GM and Tremblay to coach.

totally agree with you here. and they should buy out samsonov too

[InsaneHABSfan]

I will judge players on regular season but will point out if they float in preseason. Monteal has a few guys that are floating and maybe they are just waiting for when it counts.

Samsonov was a very good pick up for THIS TEAM as he can skate with them and will increase their offensive output. I am weary of Ribero on the second line, however I will be cheering him on to have his best season yet.

Go HAbs!

[markierung]

he was fine, u should be worried about Rivet

[redondo]

I live in Boston and I've seen Sammy play numerous times during his years with the Teddys. His skating and creativity (apart from putting people in the seats, which over here is a problem) opens up HUGE holes on the ice and makes things happen for his linemates. The guys is a potential threat every time he has the puck, a smart player and a good locker room/community guy. The only question with him is durability, but the same thing can be said about our captain, and the consensus around here seems to be that Saku's worth it.......

[Athlétique.Canadien]

What is all of this? I have one question. How many teams can boast as to bringing back the exact same squad for the exception of 2 players? We are in a very healthy position.

I figure there is an adjustment phase going on here. Carbonneau is getting to know the guys more and concentrating on identifying prospects right now. Carbonneau probably doesn't want to pull the "peel the paint" speech in exhibition. Why would he do that to the youngsters? He'll save that for a 4 pointer when we are crapping out. Or for the playoffs.

The next thing you know someone will bring up Feng shui.

Whoops, I guess I did in consequence

[koivu-11]

Alrighty DUDES, i saw the leafs game yesterday against mtl.Honostly i fell asleep .But only because the power of my couch is just to strong. But from what i saw a lot of players looked lost.

You just cant blame Samsonov Kovalev fell i think 4 times with in a minute, while crashing into players or tripping. ITS PRESEAON MAN! lets wait

Ps. Samonov > Zednik

[shortcat1]

As I listened to the sports comedy show '110%', one comment was made that made sense. Now, keep in mind, it may have been meant as a slam on Samsonov but, I'll turn it around.

The comment was that Boston was a mediocre team and that Samsonov was on that team. This likely meant that he was part of the cause of the mediocrity of the team (this was being said in the context of comments that European players don't have a 'heart' commitment to NHL teams because they haven't grown up 'idolizing' and dreaming of being an NHL player.

I will turn 'mediocrity' comment around to say that Samsonov's difficulties were because he was on a mediocre team. Even Joe Thornton wasn't able to flourish in that atmosphere as he did, last year, in San Jose.

So, in the same manner, maybe Samsonov will flourish in Montreal because of a better, healthier, more forward-looking winning atmosphere. I won't predict that this will happen... my name isn't God but I wouldn't be surprised if it does happen.

Bottom line, again...., we'll see.

Oh... and by the way, with as much sarcasm as I trust was intended earlier in this thread, let's fire Carbonneau (and his staff), Gainey and Pierre Boivin & Jeff Joice (the vice-president) aaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnd, for that matter, let's rise en masse and depose that upstart American, George Gillette from the ownership and replace him with someone who has a heart for the Canadiens!!!!

:king: :hlogo: :king:

[PB]

Hey shorty,....your proposition conscerning Samsonov is actually, as I understood it, the same one as proposed by the comedy show,.....you might differ with them most of time..but not this time.

[beliveau1]

A couple of exhibition games and we can reach a real and valid verdict on Samsonov?????

My goodness - mixed-up lines and no continuity in the lineup and we come to that conclusion.

Let's wait on this one before we draw such an extreme opinion of his ability.

And just because they're Russian doesn't mean they should click automatically - they may never?

Who knows, they may be split up and play on two different lines - my bet is they'll gel but it's going to take at least 15-20 games for it to happen.

I'll reserve my opinion for a mid-season appraisal on this team......

Edited September 24, 2006 by beliveau1

[shortcat1]

Hey shorty,....your proposition conscerning Samsonov is actually, as I understood it, the same one as proposed by the comedy show,.....you might differ with them most of time..but not this time.

I wasn't sure if it was meant as a slam on Samsonov or a 'give that guy a chance' comment.

In any case, I supported the latter.

:king: :hlogo: :king:

[jordi]

Sounds reasonable. From what I hear from Samsonov, he was the only guy working hard in the 2002 playoffs in the Bruins. Not to mention when he entered the Oilers he averaged about a point per game - with linemates that were sometimes less than stellar (Dvorak).

And Sammy's grown up to idolize before, he said his favourite team was the Detroit Red Wings when he was younger (in some old Oilers interview on the website). I think the heart comment is a little flawed. There are many "European" players who always wanted to be on one team. Doesn't Ovy like the Habs?