Samuelsson on Canucks: “I didn’t think highly of management”
By Cam Charron
11 years ago
Thought this might be of interest. Mikael Samuelsson recently had an interview with Ronnie Johansson of HockeySvierge.Se. The full interview can be found here, but it is unfortunately in Swedish. We reached out to a Swedish friend of Canucks Army who was happily willing to translate the interview for us.
Samuelsson discusses some of his past issues with the Canucks, including his role, his feelings when he was traded away from the club last season, and finds a way to blame Alex Burrows for the Canucks losing the Stanley Cup Finals to Boston.
Click past the jump for the full text.
During his last tenure with the Red Wings, Samuelsson’s point totals varied between 34 and 45 points. His best seasons point-wise were in the Canucks jersey.I had a bit of a different role in Vancouver. Point-wise, it doesn’t really differ that much. I scored around 50 points a season there.First season with the Canucks had its ups and downs, but the second season I got to play with the Sedins. That meant a lot of time on the power play, and if you don’t score lots of points in that situation, you don’t belong there. You can’t fail no matter how little talent you might have.In the media the final series between the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins was described as a series of hate. How did the players experience that?Me, myself was in the press box during those games, but it probably wasn’t very good that (Alexandre) Burrows bit Patrice Bergeron in the finger in the first game. After that, Boston was angry. You might say that was the wrong team to fire up. They play a very physical game and I thought it would’ve been better to let the bear sleep, if you know what I mean.We were close to winning it, we had a 3-2 advantage, but Boston turned it around and deserved to win.What went through your mind when you got traded back to the Florida Panthers team you left in 2004?Disappointed is not the right word, but I liked it a lot in Vancouver. I had a pretty significant injury my second season in Vancouver when I torn (something I can’t translate) in my groin. The rehab was going well and I felt good in camp, but when the season was about to start the leg didn’t work.Looking back at it now, it might have been good to be traded, I got extra time to rehab and come back fully fit. I liked it a lot in Florida, but it was tough leaving the Sedins, Edler and the other guys up in Vancouver. I didn’t think very highly of management, so in that way I didn’t mind.
So there you have it. Unfortunately, Johansson didn’t ask any follow-up questions relating to Samuelsson’s role on the club or exactly why he didn’t think too highly of Canucks management.
There’s some good beef in here. Samuelsson was of course injured for the second half of the Canucks’ 2011 playoff run, and I suspect his thoughts on “Bite-Gate” are no more of a plausible explanation for the Canucks’ sub-3% shooting that Aaron Rome’s hit on Nathan Horton, but it’s fun to hear these guys’ thoughts sometimes.
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