The Fan In Van Podcast & Blog - Matt Lee

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?

The Chicago Blackhawks placed forward Martin Havlat on injured reserve on Wednesday following a groin injury he suffered in Saturday’s 4-3 victory over the Senators. Havlat has already missed 22 games this season with a shoulder injury and has only skated in twelve contests this season.

Twelve games of 34: Is there anyone more injury-riddled than Martin Havlat? In the last three years, here’s the impressive list of injuries the Czech native has sustained: Groin injury, two shoulder injuries, flu, right ankle injury, a dislocated right shoulder, and a hamstring injury.

The final amount? 107 games missed in three seasons. But hey, at least he’s got that $6M to sit on to keep him warm. Perhaps he’ll be looking to set up a Martin Havlat Infirmary in Chicago Hospital. Meanwhile, here’s a list of other NHLers who are injury-prone:

• Peter Forsberg: The most injuries sustained but not the most amount of games missed. Upper body, groin, concussion, foot, back, ankle, left wrist, groin, knee, groin, groin, groin, groin, and… groin. A total of 44 games missed in three years.
• Marian Gaborik: Just call him Marian Groinorik. Four groin injuries in three years and a hip flexor is no accident. Gaborik missed 34 games last season with a groin strain and has missed 56 overall in the last three seasons.
• Simon Gagne: Nothing insane to worry about, but Gagne’s had just about everything. Currently suffering from dizziness, he’s been on the IR since November 8th and on top of that has had two groin, bruised knee, stomach virus and flu injuries in three years for 20 games.
• Dominik Hasek: ‘Bionic Dominik’ has to be half-man, half-robot. The Dominator missed 45 games in the last two years, including a 35-game span during his stint with the Senators where he missed 25 regular season games and all ten playoff contests.

Who’s your vote for most injury-plagued NHL star?

Christmas, a time of sharing and giving, can also be a time that separates the Haves and Have-nots. But in the case of Alexander Ovechkin, it’s a case of “Hab”-nots.

Jack Todd of Montreal’s Gazette went out and declared that Ovechkin in rouge, blanc et bleu isn’t completely out of the question. Here’s what he had to say on Russian Rocket V.2:

All it will take is, oh, $120 million over 15 years and a slew of first-round picks. Or the Canadiens can go another route: If the Capitals are reasonably certain they’re bound to lose Ovechkin, the Habs might be able to swing a multi-player deal, offering Washington any player on the roster not named Carey Price. The Canadiens get Ovechkin, while the Caps get a balanced lineup capable of winning hockey games. 

Here’s my take on the situation. First things first, the cap number this year for the Canadiens is 48.775M. Next year, Michael Ryder, Bryan Smolinski, Patrice Brisebois, Mark Streit and Cristobal Huet’s contracts all come off the books, which would free up roughly $8.5M. And while that’s plenty of space to acquire a top-line player, rumour has it that the Ovechkin camp wants close to $9M a season, if not more. I wish George Gillett Jr. and Bob Gainey the best of luck in making that work.

Oh, trade players, you say? Well sure, let’s look at the tradeable players on the Canadiens roster.

What’s that?

What do you mean you can’t find anyone? What about Carey Price? He’s marketable, he’s a goaltender whom the Capitals would love to have on their team and formulate their team around.

What do you mean, untradeable?!

Okay, so let’s look at some other viable options. Quite plainly, there’s a handful of teams who are willing to trade the farm and more for a guy like Alex Ovechkin. Bob Gainey would gladly toss Saku Koivu, Chris Higgins, Roman Hamrlik, prospects and picks in order to get #8. However, I find it very difficult for the Capitals to be interested in taking on 12.15M in salary and giving up the face of their franchise at the same time.

Ah yes, that offer sheet business. Don’t even get me started on that. Thank you very much, Kevin Lowe.

Sergei Fedorov, Thomas Vanek, Dustin Penner, Ryan Kesler. All victims of the offer sheet, an overspent offer to restricted players that can be matched or unmatched by team general managers at the cost of a surplus of draft picks. Will Alexander Ovechkin be added to this prestigious list?

Seeing as how he has yet to sign an extension? Unless Washington GM George McPhee starts up negotiations soon, I would say yes. There isn’t a GM in the NHL who would not be willing to throw everything they have to acquire Ovechkin.

But I think that Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals, understands the nature of how important Ovechkin is to keeping the franchise in Washington. Ovechkin’s undying passion and marketable style of play are rare in the NHL, for there are very few players in the game who can electrify crowds quite like him. Leonsis would certainly be willing to match any offer thrown at his star player, which is why I believe he would never allow a trade for Ovechkin to go through.

I suppose the real question is whether or not Ovechkin wants to stay in Washington. That debate is something that can be left for much, much later down the road.