Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 2.8

www.afootinthecrease.com

Sign a big contract. Go to a new team. Drastically underachieve. Get demoted to the 4th line. Start complaining. That, in a nutshell has been the season so far for Sergei Samsonov of the Montreal Canadiens. After playing a significant role in the Edmonton Oilers playoff run last spring, Samsonov, along with several other erstwhile Oilers, caught the Edmontonitis virus and chose to seek work elsewhere for the upcoming NHL season.

Samsonov arrived in Montreal with lofty expectations from the team itself, not to mention the passionate and faithful fans of Les Habitants. He was expected to be a source of offense on a team looking to upgrade that area of their game. However, through the first nine games of the season, Samsonov wasn’t contributing on the scoresheet nor was he devoting much attention to solid positional play and this prompted Coach Guy Carboneau to cut his ice time and skate him on the 4th line. Instead of working harder to regain his coach’s confidence, Samsonov started to whine and complain hinting he would prefer to be traded instead of bouncing from line to line.

Now I really hate to judge but I don’t see how signing a significant contract and proceeding to underachieve gives Samsonov the right to complain. Coaches, now more than ever, are expected to win hockey games first and worry about player’s feeling second. Carboneau felt Samsonov needed to play better and took action to spark his game. Great players responded to challenges, average players do not. Dwayne Roloson, now a top netminder in the league, was demoted to the AHL during the 2000-2001 campaign. He went down, worked hard, posted a record of 32 and 15 and got his career back on track. Had he shared the attitude of Samsonov, Roloson may have found his way out of hockey.

Samsonov responded Saturday with two goals. Much better but did we really need the whining. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

N.B - Andy Frost, public address announcer for the Toronto Maple Leafs, host of Leaf Talk, the Leafs Tonight on AM 640 Toronto Radio and host of Psychedelic Psunday and Frost Overnight on Q107 in Toronto, joins us on Episode 2.8 of AFITC to talk all things Leaf