Sergei Samsonov signs with Montreal

Bob Gainey saved the best for last on the most eventful swapping and signing day in Canadiens recent history.

Gainey signed speedster Sergei Samsonov to a 2 year deal. Financial terms haven’t been disclosed yet.

Gainey had been heavily criticized after not signing any rumored big names when the free agent market opened for business. After being snubbed by various players not wanting to play in Montreal, Gainey has now secured a ‘name’ player.

Samsonov is a familiar foe from his years with Boston who posseses incredible speed and skill. In the new NHL those are the ingredients of a potential superstar.

The Canadiens roster adding another Russian who should fit in well with Kovalev and Markov.

Maybe Valeri Bure and Oleg Petrov are looking to make a comeback in Montreal.

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64 Comments

#1 Kamilsky says:
July 19, 2006 at 8:10 pm

The last touch would be to trade Ribeiro and maybe throw in Perezhogin for Robert Lang. Then we would truly have a first line.

#2 Habs says:
July 20, 2006 at 4:19 pm

In my opinion, I think that Simon Gagne from the Philly Flyers would be a great UFA to sign since the time limit is over. He is fast, canadian, young, he has heart, he has a sniper shot, and he could get an easy 30 goals in a season with the habs.

Imagine a line of Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Samsonov, and Gagne. WOW thats a goal scoring line for sure !!

#3 Habs says:
July 20, 2006 at 5:04 pm

i think edmonton is going to suck next season…no pronger…no spacek..no samsonov..no laroque…no Peca…and Hemsky is a FA now…wow

#4 Kamilsky says:
July 20, 2006 at 5:59 pm

Gagne plays left-wing, not center.

#5 Habs#1 says:
July 20, 2006 at 7:43 pm

Habs you don’t seem to understand. Gagne and Hemsky are not UFA’s. They are RFA’s until a certain age. The only way they could have become UFA’s is if they weren’t extended qualifying offers or if the teams decide not to pay what the Arbitrator deems worthy.

If they don’t accept they’re qualifying offers it dosen’t meen jack all accept that they don’t have a contract yet. They’re still the property of their respective until the age of UFA status.

#6 Brian says:
July 20, 2006 at 8:10 pm

so who do you guys think the habs are going to try and get or trade for ?

#7 stevejur says:
July 20, 2006 at 8:39 pm

Gainey has already said on rds.ca he will not go after Gagne. He thinks it’s a dirty way to do business. Meaning he and Clarke are buddy, buddy’s.
We should try to get Lang and maybe give Allison a shot. Gomez might be to expensive,
however the cup sure would look a lot closer with Gomez in the line up.

We should pay more attention to defense, plenty of offense is coming up through the system.
Let’s sign UFA’s like Markov and Desjardins. Desjardins would be a great roll model for some of the youth.

#8 PACTUM SERVA says:
July 20, 2006 at 9:02 pm

Ok i think what you see is what you get for now.This will be the team that starts the season.Gainey will make adjustments from there.We have two new players added and some rookies who may have a shot at making this team this year.Two many changes all at once may not be a good thing.We are a better team now then we were in the playoffs imo.Having said all that we still need a second line center and a solid d-man and i think gainey knows that to but when he fixes the problem god only knows

#9 dyed in the wool fan says:
July 20, 2006 at 10:30 pm

We can’t go into the season without another center. He are too thin at that position. What happens if Koivu gets injured? We all know how injury prone he is. I do believe he will go and get Perreault or Ruzinsky. They are the most logical choices, and because of their ages, fairly cheap.

#10 kazmojo says:
July 21, 2006 at 5:06 pm

One possible solution to the 2nd line centre dilemma is to place Higgins back there. It’s where he started. That leaves a left wing position open, but maybe Perezhogin is ready to step up. Or Kostitsyn or even Latendresse.

Another more likely scenario is to bump up the centres from each line: Plekanec between Kovalev and Samsonov and Bonk between Johnson and Perezhogin. And then Begin moves between Murray and Downey. Plekanec showed some real offensive instincts in the playoffs and in the Olympics, and he’s certainly better than Ribeiro.

#11 Habs#1 says:
July 23, 2006 at 4:28 pm

TSN.ca is reporting that Micheal Ryder has re-signed with the Habs and it’s a one year, 2.2 million dollar deal. Ryder would have been ripped apart in Arbitration by Gainey since his defensive play and on ice vision leave something to be desired.

That being said he is their best goal scorer and it’s great news that he’s back under contract and he did deserve that raise.

By the way Bob, there’s no way the Sabres can afford that 5 million Briere was awarded by the Arbitrator so jump all over that will ya. Ribeiro and a good prospect will pry him out of their( Plekanec, Latendresse, Emelin) and maybe and denfenceman.

#12 habsfan says:
July 26, 2006 at 11:09 am

habs #1: or just sign briere as a ufa…he is from quebec so i assume he would want to come play for the habs

he might also take less money doing that

only time will tell

#13 habsfan says:
July 26, 2006 at 11:09 am

GAINEY: DON’T GIVE UP ANY PROSPECTS!!

#14 dude says:
February 7, 2007 at 12:18 am

Trade Samsonov for Havlat

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Last Message 9 hours, 15 minutes ago

muller93 : MB is forced to go out and get a big D-man. Missing Emelin for almost half the season is the last thing we needed to hear. Now going out and getting a big D-man is a MUST!!!
muller93 : Now for the Fu**en Bruins who have no business even being in the second round are going to get a nice rest. Yes the same goons who took out one of best D-man for 6 more months. There is NO Fu**en justice. Just venting--Ok i feel better now.
muller93 : So pissed to see the Rangers lay down and play like total crap. How did the Rangers beat the Caps? This team is playing with no heart--a must win and can only muster 23 shots...PATHETIC !!!
muller93 : Senet I did see Galchenyuks goal--Made a great move for the game winner. You can see the kid has so much confidence.
goalie : If Rangers get swept I wonder if Tortorella will get his walking papers? Or Glen Sather? They have tons of 'talent' but zero wins in this series.
goalie : It's really too bad we lost to the Sens as we would have played the Rangers and the way NYR are playing we would have beat them too. If only. If only!
Senet1 : Actually I agree it was a good move for them to play a shorter season and get the experience. He could not have played in the minors this year he would have had to play junior or the NHL. However, he now has a year under him and knows what to expect next year and hopefully take a bigger responsibility on the team. Did you see those two goals in the bronze game? Wow.
muller93 : Good move by the Habs not having Galchenyuk play in the minors. Now Galchenyuk has 1 year in the NHL and playoff experience this is going to pay off big time come next year.
Senet1 : Galchenyuk scores to back to back goals in shoot out to help USA win Bronze metal. I did not see the second goal but the first was a beauty.
Senet1 : So we could pick anywhere from 25th to 23rd depending on who wins these quarter final series.
Senet1 : First, is the 14 teams in the lottery. Then there are 12 teams that did not make the semi finals in the order of the seasonal finish, Then there are the four teams in the semi final the first two eliminated pick in the order of the regular season points total and the last two based on who wins and who loses the cup. So as it stand now if say Detroit beats Chicago then Detroit moves up to pick after us. Boston or NYR will move up and pick after us. LA or San Jose will move up and pick after us
Senet1 : Basically, I was wrong about the draft pick situation. There are three groups of drafting teams within the 30 teams.
Senet1 : seriously ready to challenge for the cup. He will us win games but he will not be the difference between winning the cup and not winning the cup. You pick up players like that once you have the team ready to challenge,.
Senet1 : I am looking at the players to draft and there are a lot of big 6'3-6'5 forwards available ion the draft this year. If we could draft 3-4 big young players in the 2nd and 3rd round why would you want to give that up for a roster player who may have 2-3 years at best. If we are going to build a winner to have to build it with bigger players and there are a lot of good big players available this year. So you sign Ott and he is with us for the short run, but probably not when we are seriously re
Senet1 : Boullion is a great mentor for the young D-men
muller93 : Boullion is one of MBs great additions--Boull ion is a definite Keeper.
muller93 : Getting rid of Kaberle frees up a lot of cash. Boullion is small but is reliable and doesn't back down from anyone.
muller93 : Exactly Goalie any thoughts on a punishing D-man?
goalie : They;re showing determination adn skill vs Ducks and Blackhawks.
goalie : REd Wings could turn out to be the surprise team of this year's playoffs!
goalie : WE need to rid our team of Kaberle and Webber. Step two would be to then move Diaz. If we get that big d-man I believe that would push Boullion to # 7 on the chart. We'd then go with Georges, PK,Markov (to continue mentoring Ememlin) Tinordi as our starting six . THEN I'd be excited about our chances. We could then work on getting bigger forwards.
goalie : I too would gladly give up a 3rd round pick for Ott- the type of player we sadly lack. AND if we could get one more rugged, expeienced defenceman it would help immensely.
muller93 : Senet what you are saying makes sense but if we can get Ott for a 3rd round I'll take that all day.
muller93 : MB should be looking at a big D-man first, even though I like our blue line with the addition of Tinordi. We need that insurance just in case one gets injured. Also I'm a firm believer in starting with the goalie first then-defense-for wards-and we already have good goalie. We have all noticed when we have the lead Price is tough to beat.
Senet1 : So sometimes you have to sacrifice for one year or two to build that team in the draft. then add the finishing touches through FA and trades.
Senet1 : Muller, Detroit is another good example. They have been in the hunt every year with good well balanced teams yet only one or two cups to show for it. However, they have built a team that has a chance every years for the last 10+ years. That is what I think we have a chance to do this year with a good draft. It reminds me of the habs teams of the mid 80 and 90's we built a team then with sold draft picks and won the cup twice during that time period. So sometimes you have to sacrifice a one
muller93 : Very true Senet, you do need luck and we haven't had any luck it seems since the habs moved to the Bell Center. We had an incredible run in 2010 with some crazy goal tending from Halak. With Galchenyuk-Tinor di-Gallagher all in 1 year--not too bad, even with an early exit in the playoffs.
Senet1 : Muller I guess we all have our own ideas, but there has never been too many times that were successful when they traded their draft picks away. We have a chance to build this team so we have a shot at winning the cup over the next 10 years. Even as good as Pittsburgh has been they have only won the cup once since Crosby and Malkin have been with the team. That is because you not only need great players but you need luck to win, but one thing about Pittsburgh they have a chance every year. The
muller93 : Good point on Torres, he might be a liability. Torres has to tone it down a bit, but that's his game-very aggressive.
goalie : Though I don't condone what Raffi Torres did - thos shows you how repeat offenders or near offenders are going to be treated. His hit was NOT illegal BUT what the rap sheet adn reputation Torres has he got severly punished. Lesson to be learned by OTHER players because Torres dopesn't learn fromk his mistakes.
muller93 : Senet normally I would agree with you on not trading draft picks but we are not in a rebuilding stage. Sometimes draft picks can be a roll of the dice and it can take up to 3 years to be NHL ready. We have a good team and I agree with Stuo players like Clowe-Torres-Ott -Scott will make a big difference. Somebody has to protect Gallagher, he can't keep getting hit the way does--we need a tough forward so they think twice before going after Gallagher.
Senet1 : Really a heathly Habs team would probably win more games against the Pens that we did against the Sens. Reason they Pens would not play as physical against us as against the Sens. If we get good goaltending we win at least two games.
zpezada4ok : hello all «link»
stuo11 : hes a tougher big guy too! Just a minor adjustment but will help a bit
stuo11 : hes better than markov, and hes french who was in mention for defenceman of the year