Maybe A Second Chance

If I had more time for yesterday's update, I would have liked to talk about the scape-goating mob that has come out of the bandwagonners. The same phenomenon happens every year and when we make the playoffs' they'll all be "cheering for the team and players they never lost fate in". I was going to make this whole exaggeration of our hero from earlier in the season (captain Saku Koivu) would be the next victim of scape-goating and trade wishes and rumours.

I seldom logged on yesterday, and was horrified to see that it has come to that. Yes I saw post blaming solely him self and his line and saw wish lists for trades involving him.

What must one do to get this crowd of Epsilons to understand thus is a team sport, and the successes and failures are seldom based on one player. That is all I will say about that subject.

This waiver exercise with Samsonov had less to do with trading him away as it was a lesson in humility. A cunning strategy by the management that in my opinion will pay off.

Samsonov is well aware now that a trade is out of the question, not because his management didn't try (I think they have been trying), but no one wants him. We're stuck with him and he's stuck with us. Only way out is to perform and get his numbers up.

Furthermore, in the case of an athlete who is plagued by self doubt, nothing could be better than publicly hitting rock bottom in one big giant ball of failure. You're thinking has Number 1 lost it? I'm fairly certain I did...after the second week of sleep deprivation and exhaustion but I know what I'm talking about here and anyone who plays golf will know exactly what I'm talking about. When things get as bad as they possibly can, you are no longer plagued with thoughts of "what if I mis-play" "what if I get embarrassed" "what if it doesn't work" "what if I play bad" etc...

Now that the plague of what ifs are gone, I believe Samsonov is on the way to becoming one of our key players for the stretch. If I'm the coach and I publicly state we can start from 0, I put him on the 1st line and leave him there for 10 games minimum. Although I am fairly certain that Koivu and Sammy could gel together nicely with Streit or Guillaume and there would be no need to change a thing.

Let’s see what happens for tonight. Chances are he'll begin his "come back" on the third line. Time will tell how this will pan out.