Sergei Samsonov left Russia in 1996 to pursue a North American hockey career after starring with CSKA Moscow's junior team for a number of years. People were already in awe of Samsonov's scoring prowess when the Russian junior team toured through Ontario where Samsonov scored 46 goals and added 37 assists in just 24 games against some of Canada's best young players. As a 16 year-old, he was elevated to the Russian Super League where he continued to score, recording 21 goals and 17 assists in 51 games. Every NHL team had their eyes on Sergei Samsonov's next moves.
August 22, 1996 saw him follow his North American dream as he signed a deal with the IHL's Detroit Vipers as a 17 year-old, following the same path that Petr Sykora had used in 1994-95 prior to the New Jersey Devils selecting him 18th-overall in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. If Samsonov had a big season playing in the International Hockey League, his draft status would go up, resulting in a better chance of getting a bigger contract in the NHL. The gamble he was taking would only pay off, though, if he had a big season.
"Sergei is inordinately talented and blessed with a great deal of pugnacity and courage," Vipers head coach Rick Dudley told the press. "He is a phenomenal package. Sergei is one of the most talented and exciting players in our game. The signing is a special treat for our fans."
While the financials for the deal to bring Samsonov to Detroit are seemingly lost in history, John Manasso's NHL.com article on the Vipers states, "Dudley thinks it was for between $150,000 and $200,000". With the contract signed and Russia in the rearview mirror, Samsonov and his father moved to Detroit where the North American adventure for the Russian star began.
Vipers head coach Steve Ludzik had a number of obstacles to deal with when it came to Samsonov: he spoke limited English and the coach spoke no Russian, Samsonov played an entirely different style of game, and Samsonov had been the star in Russia no matter where he went. That was all different in Detroit where established players were getting top-line minutes while Samsonov watched from the bench and the physicality was ratched up a few notches from his junior experiences. The Vipers wanted to see their investment pay off, though, and it seems Ludzik found the key.
"He let me be who I was and go out and play and figure out some things later," Samsonov told Manasso. "There's a lot of thanks goes to him. He let me do things that 99 percent of the coaches wouldn't let."
It seemed pretty clear that whatever Ludzik was allowing Samsonov to do on the ice was working well for the Vipers as the soon-to-be 18 year-old opened the IHL preseason by scoring "five goals and three assists in four exhibition games for the Detroit Vipers in the IHL" as per the Chicago Tribune. If this was a preview of the season to come for Samsonov, it would appear the Vipers had themselves a breakout star on their roster!
The opening game against the Quebec Rafales, formerly the Atlanta Knights, on October 4, 1996 saw the Russian rookie look slightly nervous, but he led the Vipers with shots on goal in the game with six as the Vipers won 3-2. Whatever nerves were plaguing him through the early part of the season were gone by the end of October, though, as he led the team in points and was tied for the team's goal-scoring lead with five markers in 11 games. Playing alongside established scorers such as Peter Ciavaglia, Todd Simon, and Stan Drulia allowed Samsonov's game to really flourish.
By the season's end, the Vipers boasted no player in the top-ten of IHL scoring, but they were built differently than the Long Beach Ice Dogs and the Orlando Solar Bears - the only other IHL teams to break 100 points that season. Detroit would finish atop the standings with an incredible 57-17-8 record for 122 points, five better than Long Beach and ten better than division rival Orlando. More importantly, the Vipers were different because they played defence will filling their opponents' nets. When the 82-game schedule ended, Detroit had scored 280 goals - fifth-most in the IHL - but had only allowed 188 goals which was best in the league. Their 188 goals-allowed total was 42 goals less than the second-best Indianapolis Ice team, and Detroit was the favorite for the Turner Cup heading into the playoffs.
Samsonov had established himself as the top rookie by leading the rookie scoring race all season long. He would finish the campaign with 29 goals and 64 points, and that included two weeks where he missed games due to participating for Russia in the 1997 IIHF World Junior Championship. Russia would earn a bronze medal after falling to Canada in the semifinal by a 3-2 score, but would respond in the third-place game with a 4-1 win over the Czech Republic. Samsonov, for what it's worth, scored six goals and added one helper in the six games he played while being named as the tournament's top forward. Not too shabby at all.
In the Turner Cup Playoffs, Samsonov would help the Vipers down the Michigan K-Wings 3-1 in the opening round, defeat Quebec 4-2 in the second round, and eliminated the Cleveland Lumberjacks 4-1 in the third round. That would set up a best-vs-best in the Turner Cup Final as the Vipers met the Long Beach Ice Dogs in the best-of-seven series for IHL supremacy.
Game One of the final was a perfect example of why Samsonov's stock was on the way up heading into his draft year as Samsonov scored four times in a 5-3 victory to put the Vipers up 1-0 in the series. After losing Game Two 3-0, the Vipers travelled to Long Beach where they handed the Ice Dogs consecutive home-ice losses for the first time since October 1996 by 5-1 and 3-1 scores to sit one game away from championship glory. For the record, Samsonov scored his eighth goal of the playoffs and fifth of the final when he made it 1-0 in Game Four.
Game Five at the Palace of Auburn Hills saw this on June 15, 1997.
The Detroit Vipers won 2-0 as they defeated Long Beach 4-1 in their series, earning the Turner Cup and making Detroit the only city in hockey history to have two pro hockey championships won by teams in the same city in the same year after the Red Wings captured the Stanley Cup in 1997.
If you're watching closely, the names on the Vipers are impressive: #30 is Sergei Samsonov; #35 is Belorussian netminder Andrei Mezin; #14 is long-time NHL forward Wayne Presley; #29 is former Alberta Pandas defender Ian Herbers; and, #10 is former NHL sniper Jimmy Carson. That roster is... wow.
high Back to Samsonov, he would be named the Garry F. Longman Memorial Trophy winner in 1997 as the IHL's best rookie after leading all first-year players in scoring with his 64 points. It seemed that he had cemented his place as a legitimate first-round pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft after his performance with the Vipers, but some still questioned his skills. As written by Karen Crouse in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, New York "Islanders General Manager Mike Milbury called the IHL 'a gentleman's league' by way of dismissing Samsonov's numbers," but we all know how well Mike Milbury evaluates talent. For the majority of the NHL GMs in 1997, Samsonov was a player they hoped to draft if he fell down the draft board.
"We don't think Samsonov will be there," Florida Panthers GM Bryan Murray said to Crouse of his team's 20th-overall pick. "But if his number does come up, from the standpoint of his ability to play right now, the consensus is we'll take him."
Samsonov didn't have to wait long for his name to be called on June 21, 1997 in Pittsburgh as the Boston Bruins used the the third of the three first-round picks sent to them by the Hartford Whalers in the Glen Wesley trade to select Samsonov eighth-overall, seven picks after they had selected Joe Thornton first-overall. Samsonov would play the sixth-most games of anyone drafted in the top ten that season, and played 869 more games than Calgary's sixth-overall pick Daniel Tkaczuk. Mike Milbury and the Islanders, for what its worth, had the fourth- and fifth-overall picks in the draft, and they chose Roberto Luongo and Eric Brewer as Milbury stuck to his guns in not drafting Samsonov.
Samsonov found his scoring touch in the NHL fairly quickly with the Bruins after his one professional season in the IHL, and he would finish his first NHL campaign as the highest-scoring rookie with 22 goals and 25 assists in 1997-98. When the nominees for the Calder Trophy were announced, Samsonov earned votes on 93.15% of all ballots as he was named the 1998 Calder Trophy winner in the NHL, making him the only player to have been the best rookie in both the IHL and the NHL and the first player since Sawchuk to win a best rookie award in two professional leagues.
A lot of people knew how special Sergei Samsonov was, but it really was Rick Dudley who helped put him on the map thanks to taking a risk as the GM of the Vipers. Had he not taken that risk, who knows where Samsonov would have been drafted? More importantly, he likely wouldn't have the honour of being Rookie of the Year in both the IHL and NHL if Dudley didn't take a chance and the veterans on the Vipers didn't look out for him.
"I'd say to this day (Ludzik) and I talked about it but we think that Sergei Samsonov won us a championship because he was simply such a good kid," Dudley told Manasso. "He was 17 years old and they wanted to take care of him and they brought him along. It was very, very important for those guys that he succeed and get drafted as high as possible. All these things played into as probably a unique way."
I'm not sure we'll ever see what Terry Sawchuk or what Sergei Samsonov did in today's game. Most high-profile first-round picks aren't sent to the minor leagues any longer, and we'll never see an underaged star win the AHL Rookie of the Year award prior to being drafted. Sergei Samsonov was the last to do it in the IHL and NHL as former NHL star Ed Belfour won the Garry F. Longman Trophy in 1988 before winning the Calder Trophy in 1991. Samsonov, though, is the only player among him, Sawchuk, and Belfour to do it in back-to-back seasons!
There's a bit of cool history for a Saturday as two Manitoban goalies and a Russian sniper will likely be the only men in hockey history to ever accomplish this feat!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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