HabsCast Hockey Blog

Samsonov’s Problems … Rumours … Tonight’s Game.


Uploaded on October 20, 2006 (flickr.com)
by Big Swede Guy

Looking at comments around the web about Sergei Samsonov produces very mixed results. Trade him, demote him to the 4th, bench him for a game, give him a 2 week vacation to Ireland to find his pot of gold or put him with Koivu are all ideas I have seen written about him. So what is really going on with Samsonov?

Undoubtedly our little leprechaun is struggling, but it isn’t because he doesn’t have the skill. Living in northern British Columbia and our closest hockey crazed city is Edmonton, I had the pleasure to watch all the Edmonton playoff games last year, and I got to hand it to Samsonov. He was a treat to watch. His speed made the ice look like a football field, he threaded amazing passes, dangled through everyone and fought hard in the corners.

What happened?

Alex Kovalev happened.

We know that it’s not about Kovalev not being good enough for Samsonov or Samsonov isn’t skilled enough to play with Kovalev. They just don’t have a spec of chemistry together.

I hope Coach Carbo learned something from our 2 center’s injuries to Radek Bonk and Steve Begin. As soon as Plekanec was moved out of the 2nd line to help out with our depleted 3rd and 4th lines, he put up 5 points in 3 games. Coincidence? Or does it tell us something about line 2?

Now that the Habs are on a bit of a blip, it is Carbo’s duty to finally mix up either Kovalev or Samsonov on our 2nd line. With Radek Bonk returning to the lineup tonight to face the Canucks after missing 5 games, and Steve Begin’s back close to being healed up, we will almost be back to our full lines. When that happens, and because this is such a crucial part of the season where teams can fall behind so quickly, we can’t continue to rely on our power play and first line to produce the offense.

The rumors are flying around the city of Montreal right now, as they usually do in any scenario when a team is struggling getting close to the trade deadline. Lecavalier and Forsberg have been flying around, even though the chances of those happening are slim. However, you can bet that Bob Gainey will be trying to snag up a veteran center to lead our second line in an attempt to balance our scoring. There have also been talks about moving Aebischer out. Despite the fact having a reliable back up is so key in this league (Look at Buffalo, Anaheim, San Jose and others), there are a couple reasons for this:

- It frees up close to 3 million in salary space, which can be used for a valuable signing of either Sheldon Souray next year or a young scorer or playmaker.

- In a sense, it speeds up Carey Price’s entry to the NHL, assuming we would call up either Yann Danis or Jaroslav Halak up to back up Chris Huet, and it gives a chance for Carey Price to get setup in Hamilton.

Whether Bob keeps Aebischer for a cup run or trades away some draft picks and one of our young guys, there will definitely be action coming from Montreal.

Tonight, the Canadiens play the Canucks, at home. The Canucks are red hot right now, going 8-2-0 in their last 10, led by of course by Roberto Luongo.

But will he start tonight?

Roberto took a shot off of his throat yesterday in practice, and left early. In an interview I saw, he was complaining about his inability to swallow without pain, he wasn’t able to eat a lot, and he didn’t sleep much. There is a chance he doesn’t start tonight and the ‘Nucks go with Dany Sabourin.

I have a feeling Roberto will simply wear a neck guard tonight and will start. The Canucks will ride this guy out 75+ games this year, and because they are in point race in the tightest division, every game is key for them.

The success for Montreal tonight is get going 5 on 5. During the Ottawa game, as soon as the 3rd period started, I noticed something that I hadn’t seen a lot of from the Habs all season: They were very physical and started really, really battling on the forecheck, and it translated into a 10 minute success. If the tired, struggling Canadiens want to beat a surging Vancouver club, it’s going to come down to generating offense from at least 2 lines, and not banking on the 1st line and throwing it on Koivu’s shoulders. They need to get gritty in the corners and force the Canucks into penalties, so our Power Play can take over. The penalty kill will get a huge, huge boost with Radek Bonk coming back. The Habs went from the #1 PK in the league to #4 when Bonk got injured.

While it seems unlikely the tired Canadiens can steal 2 points, especially if Luongo plays, as long as the defense holds their own, grabbing 2 points would be a huge boost for the hockey club.

We know that it’s not about Kovalev not being good enough for Samsonov or Samsonov isn’t skilled enough to play with Kovalev. They just don’t have a spec of chemistry together.

I hope Coach Carbo learned something from our 2 center’s injuries to Radek Bonk and Steve Begin. As soon as Plekanec was moved out of the 2nd line to help out with our depleted 3rd and 4th lines, he put up 5 points in 3 games. Coincidence? Or does it tell us something about line 2?

Now that the Habs are on a bit of a blip, it is Carbo’s duty to finally mix up either Kovalev or Samsonov on our 2nd line. With Radek Bonk returning to the lineup tonight to face the Canucks after missing 5 games, and Steve Begin’s back close to being healed up, we will almost be back to our full lines. When that happens, and because this is such a crucial part of the season where teams can fall behind so quickly, we can’t continue to rely on our power play and first line to produce the offense.

The rumors are flying around the city of Montreal right now, as they usually do in any scenario when a team is struggling getting close to the trade deadline. Lecavalier and Forsberg have been flying around, even though the chances of those happening are slim. However, you can bet that Bob Gainey will be trying to snag up a veteran center to lead our second line in an attempt to balance our scoring. There have also been talks about moving Aebischer out. Despite the fact having a reliable back up is so key in this league (Look at Buffalo, Anaheim, San Jose and others), there are a couple reasons for this:

- It frees up close to 3 million in salary space, which can be used for a valuable signing of either Sheldon Souray next year or a young scorer or playmaker.

- In a sense, it speeds up Carey Price’s entry to the NHL, assuming we would call up either Yann Danis or Jaroslav Halak up to back up Chris Huet, and it gives a chance for Carey Price to get setup in Hamilton.

Whether Bob keeps Aebischer for a cup run or trades away some draft picks and one of our young guys, there will definitely be action coming from Montreal.

Tonight, the Canadiens play the Canucks, at home. The Canucks are red hot right now, going 8-2-0 in their last 10, led by of course by Roberto Luongo.

But will he start tonight?

Roberto took a shot off of his throat yesterday in practice, and left early. In an interview I saw, he was complaining about his inability to swallow without pain, he wasn’t able to eat a lot, and he didn’t sleep much. There is a chance he doesn’t start tonight and the ‘Nucks go with Dany Sabourin.

I have a feeling Roberto will simply wear a neck guard tonight and will start. The Canucks will ride this guy out 75+ games this year, and because they are in point race in the tightest division, every game is key for them.

The success for Montreal tonight is get going 5 on 5. During the Ottawa game, as soon as the 3rd period started, I noticed something that I hadn’t seen a lot of from the Habs all season: They were very physical and started really, really battling on the forecheck, and it translated into a 10 minute success. If the tired, struggling Canadiens want to beat a surging Vancouver club, it’s going to come down to generating offense from at least 2 lines, and not banking on the 1st line and throwing it on Koivu’s shoulders. They need to get gritty in the corners and force the Canucks into penalties, so our Power Play can take over. The penalty kill will get a huge, huge boost with Radek Bonk coming back. The Habs went from the #1 PK in the league to #4 when Bonk got injured.

While it seems unlikely the tired Canadiens can steal 2 points, especially if Luongo plays, as long as the defense holds their own, grabbing 2 points would be a huge boost for the hockey club.

Digg - StumbleUpon - Reddit - Del.icio.us - Technorati - Email - Etc...

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!