The Best of Samuelsson

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

- He skates like an idiot.

- Ruins the whole dynamics of the second PP unit by taking a soft wrister, getting a whistle 99% of the time... Kronwall, Hudler, Cleary, Franzen, Filppula, or whoever's out there all rotate the puck nicely on that unit, not so much Sammy.

- He doesn't have to stickhandle like Datsyuk, but his stick handling could use work.

- He has a noticable panic every time he gets the puck leading to poor decisions.

Those flaws would be dismissed if he was tough, but he isn't. I'm as happy as anyone that we won the cup, and couldn't ask for more. I just have to say, Samuelsson still sucks. Sorry.

It seems like you are trying to ask for more. Were you saying these things during most of the Cup Finals when Samuelsson produced? Nobody is going to overhype Samuelsson and make him seem like the next coming of Luc Robitaille or *insert famous hall of fame player's name here*, but the bottom line is he made a significant impact in a positive way when it counted most with a fairly solid Finals series, given his roles/ice time/salary.

Edited August 4, 2008 by SouthernWingsFan

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Do you happen to have a bigger size of this picture?

No, not sure where to specifically find a bigger version either. I found it reading game recaps the following day and just did a random Google Search in the images section with Samuelsson's name and a few other word combos and eventually ran into it, this was off of TSN's Web site actually.

[Guest LivingtheDream]

I don't know about the best of this or that, but those two first solo goals in Game 1 with the pens certainly gave me some room to forgive him for all those stupid stupid shots over the years. While he is no first or second line player he may be an above average 3rd or 4th line player simply from having been exposed to the top guys for so long. That's the role I'd like to see him stay in.

P.S. He could take a lesson from Dats and start to use that larger body of his. I would take that for 50 less shots per season by him.

Edited August 4, 2008 by LivingtheDream

[hamip1998 3]

It seems like you are trying to ask for more. Were you saying these things during most of the Cup Finals when Samuelsson produced? Nobody is going to overhype Samuelsson and make him seem like the next coming of Luc Robitaille or *insert famous hall of fame player's name here*, but the bottom line is he made a significant impact in a positive way when it counted most with a fairly solid Finals series, given his roles/ice time/salary.

I agree. He does everything that's expect of a player with his skill set and typically ups his game in the playoffs. Ken, Mike, and Co. obviously see something in the guy, especially considering his salary.

Edited August 4, 2008 by hamip1998

[Zion 93]

As much as I loathe seeing him on the point on the PP (Jason Williams, anyone?), he was so solid throughout the playoffs, that (at his price tag) must be kept around for a while. He's a great plug-in player, despite his Lang-like tendancies.

[Nev 1,085]

- He skates like an idiot.

- Ruins the whole dynamics of the second PP unit by taking a soft wrister, getting a whistle 99% of the time... Kronwall, Hudler, Cleary, Franzen, Filppula, or whoever's out there all rotate the puck nicely on that unit, not so much Sammy.

- He doesn't have to stickhandle like Datsyuk, but his stick handling could use work.

- He has a noticable panic every time he gets the puck leading to poor decisions.

Those flaws would be dismissed if he was tough, but he isn't. I'm as happy as anyone that we won the cup, and couldn't ask for more. I just have to say, Samuelsson still sucks. Sorry.

That one. Especially in the neutral zone. And yeah, he had a 2 goal game in the finals, but go back and re-read that GDT, and check out all the "WTF SAMUELSSON????"s before he scored his first. I also agree that he needs to use his size more.

Having said that, I thought he was pretty good when he was stuck on the 3rd line, a 3rd line of Cleary/Draper/Samuelsson is a pretty decent unit.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

i wish they had him missing an open net in game 5

Or the breakaway where he missed the net. That was classic Samuelsson.

Seriously, though, the reason he gets a bad rap is because he was in the top 25 in shots on goal this season, yet his shooting percentage was far below anybody ahead of him. In fact, the players above him in that category were all much better players than him.

Basically, for as many shots as he takes, he doesn't produce enough.

[Guest Crymson]

Basically, for as many shots as he takes, he doesn't produce enough.

He shoots that much because Babcock tells him to. Otherwise, he would not shoot such a large number of shots.

[wingnut40 176]

I can't stand Sammy. I mean 3 goals in the Cup Final, what is that? He had more goals then Malkin or Crosby and the same amount as Crosby and Malkin together. He shoots so much because that's what Babs tells him to do, and he doesn't score because his wicked shot doesn't have very good accuracy. I don't see why everyone has to piss and moan because he doesn't score everytime he shoots. He's not a 1st line player, more like 2nd or 3rd. Why does everyone expect him to have 30 goal seasons? Not sure about him on the 2nd PP point though, but I'd rather have him than Stuart.

He's a good player for his role and people need to lay off.

Edited August 4, 2008 by wingnut40

[Chunkylover 26]

He shoots that much because Babcock tells him to. Otherwise, he would not shoot such a large number of shots.

This would actually make him one of the best team players because he does what the coach tells him to. There were a lot of games where guys like Datsyuk missed the net (again I notice Dats because he's my fave). Maybe they're all working on that this offseason.

[ben_usmc 253]

- He skates like an idiot.

- Ruins the whole dynamics of the second PP unit by taking a soft wrister, getting a whistle 99% of the time... Kronwall, Hudler, Cleary, Franzen, Filppula, or whoever's out there all rotate the puck nicely on that unit, not so much Sammy.

- He doesn't have to stickhandle like Datsyuk, but his stick handling could use work.

- He has a noticable panic every time he gets the puck leading to poor decisions.

Those flaws would be dismissed if he was tough, but he isn't. I'm as happy as anyone that we won the cup, and couldn't ask for more. I just have to say, Samuelsson still sucks. Sorry.

Please tell me his contract compared to the others. I'm not saying he is better but he certainly isn't getting paid as much as few of those names yet has produced just as much. If you just dislike Sammy thats fine but that arguement is weak.

[redwing_sparty 0]

totally looks like they were playing beer pong in #12!

[deltsig87 3]

pronger: ah man, i got an itch down there and it's driving me crazy!

sammy: allow me....

[jim3033 1]

Samuelsson looks totally dumbfounded in all these pictures. hahahah.

[BeeRYCE 2]

Please tell me his contract compared to the others. I'm not saying he is better but he certainly isn't getting paid as much as few of those names yet has produced just as much. If you just dislike Sammy thats fine but that arguement is weak.

My argument is weak? I think I established my point pretty well.

I find it pretty funny how there are so many Samuelsson defenders out there when as little as 3 months ago he was hated upon. Nothing has changed, aside from the fact he has a Stanley Cup ring, but aside from it all, he's the EXACT SAME PLAYER. Yes, he won a Stanley Cup, but don't you think we could have won the cup if somebody like Mark Hartigan was in the lineup instead of him? Yes, he scored 5 goals in the playoffs... Well, I would most certainly hope so when you play half of the powerplay every game. I just don't get how Sammy suddenly becomes flawless after he's been the laughing stock of the team over the last 3 years, along with Lang and Lilja... Folks, he didn't play THAT great in the playoffs.

No reason to get hostile at me here either, I'm just not able to figure out why and how Samuelsson's status has changed so drastically. He went from overrated by virtually everybody to underrated by most... All of this overnight.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

- He skates like an idiot.

- Ruins the whole dynamics of the second PP unit by taking a soft wrister, getting a whistle 99% of the time... Kronwall, Hudler, Cleary, Franzen, Filppula, or whoever's out there all rotate the puck nicely on that unit, not so much Sammy.

- He doesn't have to stickhandle like Datsyuk, but his stick handling could use work.

- He has a noticable panic every time he gets the puck leading to poor decisions.

Those flaws would be dismissed if he was tough, but he isn't. I'm as happy as anyone that we won the cup, and couldn't ask for more. I just have to say, Samuelsson still sucks. Sorry.

Those are the only two that I think are really valid knocks against him.

His puck handling is actually pretty good. He just gets into a spot where he doesn't know what to do, panics, and dumps it back to the defenseman, often leaving them to make a difficult play on the puck.

And of course, shot selection. Ovechkin takes the most shots in the league, but he actually gets them on net. I understand throwing the puck at the net, he's just not very good at actually getting there. There's also times where you need to fire it wide to make sure it gets in deep instead of hitting a defenseman in the shinpads and leading to a break the other way.

I've always said about Sammy that he doesn't really hurt us, but he rarely helps us. He's mostly keeping the jersey warm. Of course I had to eat those words in the Finals and was happy to be wrong, but most of the time it's accurate.

Edited August 5, 2008 by haroldsnepsts

[ben_usmc 253]

My argument is weak? I think I established my point pretty well.

I find it pretty funny how there are so many Samuelsson defenders out there when as little as 3 months ago he was hated upon. Nothing has changed, aside from the fact he has a Stanley Cup ring, but aside from it all, he's the EXACT SAME PLAYER. Yes, he won a Stanley Cup, but don't you think we could have won the cup if somebody like Mark Hartigan was in the lineup instead of him? Yes, he scored 5 goals in the playoffs... Well, I would most certainly hope so when you play half of the powerplay every game. I just don't get how Sammy suddenly becomes flawless after he's been the laughing stock of the team over the last 3 years, along with Lang and Lilja... Folks, he didn't play THAT great in the playoffs.

No reason to get hostile at me here either, I'm just not able to figure out why and how Samuelsson's status has changed so drastically. He went from overrated by virtually everybody to underrated by most... All of this overnight.

I'm not hostile at all about it and actually I'm indifferent to Sammy. I just think for the money he is worth he does a good job, and no Mark Hartigan would not do as good as Sammy.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

I'd take last years sammy over last years Filpulla 10/10.

Maybe even this upcomming year if we throw cap room and $ in. I have no doubt Val has loads more natural talent, but it hasen't all been discovered yet.

Not joking at all.

[eva unit zero 271]

Not really sure what people are expecting out of Sammy.

He has played 197 games playing mostly second and third line time over the past three seasons, and he has scored 48 goals and 71 assists in that time frame. That's an average of 16 goals, 24 assists, and 40 points in 66 games per season. For a strong defensive player who, while not a physical force, is capable of holding his own physically due in part to his large frame size. He is an above-average skater as well.

Someone seriously needs to explain exactly what it is that people don't like about Samuelsson...because this has been his AVERAGE contributiion over the past three seasons. For reference, his entire cap hit over that period has $2,937,500. I challenge this board to find any player over the age of 20 who can boast comparable offensive numbers AND defensive game in the NHL to Samuelsson over the past three years whose price tag is not significantly greater. I'll give you a hint; there is none.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Not really sure what people are expecting out of Sammy.

He has played 197 games playing mostly second and third line time over the past three seasons, and he has scored 48 goals and 71 assists in that time frame. That's an average of 16 goals, 24 assists, and 40 points in 66 games per season. For a strong defensive player who, while not a physical force, is capable of holding his own physically due in part to his large frame size. He is an above-average skater as well.

Someone seriously needs to explain exactly what it is that people don't like about Samuelsson...because this has been his AVERAGE contributiion over the past three seasons. For reference, his entire cap hit over that period has $2,937,500. I challenge this board to find any player over the age of 20 who can boast comparable offensive numbers AND defensive game in the NHL to Samuelsson over the past three years whose price tag is not significantly greater. I'll give you a hint; there is none.

I think in short, it's the potential he has to be even better.

It's one thing when you're dealing with a player of extremely limited abilities like Downey. You want him to go out there, do his job, and get off the ice without costing your team.

Sammy has good size, good hands, good stickhandling, a good shot. The biggest problem with him sometimes seems to be between the ears. Better shot selection would go a looooong way towards making him even more productive out there. I'm not even saying take fewer shots or aim for the corners. He just needs to get better at getting shots through. Not telegraphing it so much. aiming through legs instead of trying to hammer it through some guys shinpads.

It's such a relatively small thing for a player at an elite level, but would make such a big difference.

The second biggest thing is more complicated and honestly not an easy fix because it comes down to playmaking. At this point you either have it or you don't. But it's still irritating when he makes a nice move to gain the zone, is down by the faceoff circle, then in a panic throws it back to Kronwall on the blueline.

I can't speak for everyone else, but those are the two things that drive me nuts. It's not that he's an awful player. It's that he's a fairly talented player who has some awful habits.

EDITED to change "elite player" to "player at an elite level." big difference.

Edited August 5, 2008 by haroldsnepsts

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Every time he puts the puck on his backhand, I begin laughing, because I know that something pathetic is going to be displayed shortly thereafter.

The only time he proved me wrong was that soft goal to open up the SCF. Even so, he needs to stop going to his backhand for no reason and just pass the puck to someone else.

[Dabura 12,232]

Sammy is a checking-line forward playing on a scoring line. If anyone should be blamed for his perceived shortcomings, it's Babcock. Proof: he played the best hockey he's ever played as a Red Wing when he was put on a line with Drake and Draper.

[lomekian 201]

I think in short, it's the potential he has to be even better.

It's one thing when you're dealing with a player of extremely limited abilities like Downey. You want him to go out there, do his job, and get off the ice without costing your team.

Sammy has good size, good hands, good stickhandling, a good shot. The biggest problem with him sometimes seems to be between the ears. Better shot selection would go a looooong way towards making him even more productive out there. I'm not even saying take fewer shots or aim for the corners. He just needs to get better at getting shots through. Not telegraphing it so much. aiming through legs instead of trying to hammer it through some guys shinpads.

It's such a relatively small thing for a player at an elite level, but would make such a big difference.

The second biggest thing is more complicated and honestly not an easy fix because it comes down to playmaking. At this point you either have it or you don't. But it's still irritating when he makes a nice move to gain the zone, is down by the faceoff circle, then in a panic throws it back to Kronwall on the blueline.

I can't speak for everyone else, but those are the two things that drive me nuts. It's not that he's an awful player. It's that he's a fairly talented player who has some awful habits.

EDITED to change "elite player" to "player at an elite level." big difference.

This is exactly the point....Sammy's a good solid 2-way player who fits our system pretty well and comes cheap....as a 3rd line forward he's actually a very good deal....its just that he frustrates so much because he fundamentally has the tools to be a much more impactful player. Every so often you see a shift from him that makes you think 'wow..where the hell did that come from', and then, like Kaiser Szose he's gone....with his physical attributes and actual skill level, he should be a 60 point forward, but he lacks those key mental attributes of say a zatta......he's a good solid forward, well worth his salary and plays his role pretty well...its just you can never hske the if only when watching him....that said with Hossa's arrival, Sammy will get the 3rd line slot that suits his production level and responsible play and will probably still get 35-40 points.....

[eva unit zero 271]

I think in short, it's the potential he has to be even better.

It's one thing when you're dealing with a player of extremely limited abilities like Downey. You want him to go out there, do his job, and get off the ice without costing your team.

Sammy has good size, good hands, good stickhandling, a good shot. The biggest problem with him sometimes seems to be between the ears. Better shot selection would go a looooong way towards making him even more productive out there. I'm not even saying take fewer shots or aim for the corners. He just needs to get better at getting shots through. Not telegraphing it so much. aiming through legs instead of trying to hammer it through some guys shinpads.

It's such a relatively small thing for a player at an elite level, but would make such a big difference.

The second biggest thing is more complicated and honestly not an easy fix because it comes down to playmaking. At this point you either have it or you don't. But it's still irritating when he makes a nice move to gain the zone, is down by the faceoff circle, then in a panic throws it back to Kronwall on the blueline.

I can't speak for everyone else, but those are the two things that drive me nuts. It's not that he's an awful player. It's that he's a fairly talented player who has some awful habits.

EDITED to change "elite player" to "player at an elite level." big difference.

213 forwards have higher cap numbers that Mikael Samuelsson's $1.2m. That makes him paid like a #8 forward. He produces like a top-6 forward. He also plays strong defense; the kind that would make him a top-unit PKer on many teams and garnered him a few Selke votes last season.

For reference, Samuelsson took 249 shots on goal last season. According to NHL.com, he only had 64 'missed' shots. By comparison, Pavel Datsyuk had 264 shots on goal, and 97 'missed' shots. Johan Franzen had 70 'missed' shots and only 199 shots on goal. Samuelsson is doing a better job of getting the puck on net than either of those two scoring machines. You know who else he's doing a better job of getting the puck on net than?

Someone with 111 missed shots and 358 shots on goal; Henrik Zetterberg.

Yes, Samuelsson's shooting percentage is atrocious. Why? BECAUSE HE'S ON THE ******* POINT, AND HIS SHOTS GET THROUGH TO THE NET MOST OF THE TIME. IF HIS SHOTS WERE MISSING THE NET OR HITTING SHINPADS ALL THE DAMN TIME LIKE EVERYONE LOVES TO CLAIM, HIS SHOOTING PERCENTAGE WOULD BE BETTER.

[Opie 308]

213 forwards have higher cap numbers that Mikael Samuelsson's $1.2m. That makes him paid like a #8 forward. He produces like a top-6 forward. He also plays strong defense; the kind that would make him a top-unit PKer on many teams and garnered him a few Selke votes last season.

For reference, Samuelsson took 249 shots on goal last season. According to NHL.com, he only had 64 'missed' shots. By comparison, Pavel Datsyuk had 264 shots on goal, and 97 'missed' shots. Johan Franzen had 70 'missed' shots and only 199 shots on goal. Samuelsson is doing a better job of getting the puck on net than either of those two scoring machines. You know who else he's doing a better job of getting the puck on net than?

Someone with 111 missed shots and 358 shots on goal; Henrik Zetterberg.

Yes, Samuelsson's shooting percentage is atrocious. Why? BECAUSE HE'S ON THE ******* POINT, AND HIS SHOTS GET THROUGH TO THE NET MOST OF THE TIME. IF HIS SHOTS WERE MISSING THE NET OR HITTING SHINPADS ALL THE DAMN TIME LIKE EVERYONE LOVES TO CLAIM, HIS SHOOTING PERCENTAGE WOULD BE BETTER.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

If there was an emoticon of a standing ovation you would have just received one, as it is I hope the standing 'O' you just got in my cube was enough!!!

EDIT: Oh and watch out for the "well he breaks the goalie's crest too, explain that!" or whatever other reason people can drum up to whip the official whipping boy some more.

Edited August 7, 2008 by Opie