Fan In Van

Samsonov vs. Ohlund

I’m a huge Mattias Ohlund fan. I’ve been a fan of the Pitea native ever since he slipped on the Vancouver Canuck uniform in 1997, and that was quite a long time ago; this was back when the Vancouver Canucks could barely scrape together a competitive team and when they shared a home with the oh-so-memorable Vancouver Grizzlies. One of my most memorable (and first) Canuck experiences was with Ohlund back in 1999 following his freak accident after taking a puck in the eye. Here’s what I recall of my first ever personal Canuck experience:

I specifically remember being at the Vancouver Canucks Children’s Carnival (A now defunct event) where fans were allowed to come into GM Place to meet with many of their favourite Vancouver Canucks to get autographs and pictures. Aside from meeting Mattias Ohlund I also specifically recall begging my father to pay $10 to allow me to get an autograph with Alexander Mogilny and NOT with Mark Messier.

But back to #2. He was just recuperating from his devastating injury when I came up to him, nervous as my 11-year old body could be and asked:

“So how’s the eye?”

And he replied: “It’s coming along. The doctors say I should be able to skate in two months.”

At least, it was something along those lines. But in any case, at the time, I was completely terrified by such a big guy like Ohlund, who was 6′2′’ to my 4 feet. I think he knew I was a little afraid of him, even if I tried to make conversation with him, but nonetheless, Ohlund smiled, signed my Canuck poster and sent me on my way. I’ll never forget that moment, because it was the first time that a Vancouver Canuck ever spoke to me, and it definitely was not the last.
But enough reminiscing; to the present: Sergei Samsonov was placed on waivers today by the Chicago Blackhawks, a move which was to be expected with Samsonov managing no goals in 23 games. This was the same Sergei Samsonov who was drafted eighth overall in 1997 and was thought to be better than his Boston counterpart Joe Thornton when they played together. This was also the same guy who stole the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year from our very own Mattias Ohlund, gathering 43 of the 54 first-place votes.

10 years later, ask yourself who would you rather want on your team today, Mattias Ohlund or Sergei Samsonov?

Yeah. Thought so. There’s no freaking doubt it would be Ohly.

And while Samsonov’s progress as a player may have been hampered by numerous injuries in the last six years, Mattias Ohlund was the one who overcame the adversity of losing almost total vision in his right eye and emerging as arguably Vancouver’s best defenceman in it’s 38-year history. Ohlund is the one who is out there against opposing teams’ top forwards every night, and now it appears Sergei Samsonov’s NHL career may be in doubt.

So even though the 1998 Calder winner may be able to have a rookie award stuffed in his empty trophy case, he’s the one who may never see the light of the NHL again, while it seems evident that Mattias Ohlund has another five years left in the tank.

I know that the whole Calder Trophy business is based on simply who was the best rookie of the year at the present time, and you could probably build a lengthy case with a lot of former Calder winners and their runner-ups. Bryan Berard won the Calder as Jarome Iginla finished as runner-up in 1997. But I think what I’m trying to prove is that Sergei Samsonov is quite possibly one of the worst Calder winners in the last fifty years. Look at the company Samsonov is with among Calder winners: Martin Brodeur, Peter Forsberg, Pavel Bure, Ray Bourque …

Twenty years from now, our children will ask us: Who in the heck was Sergei Samsonov, and how could he beat out Mattias Ohlund?