(MONTREAL, QC) -- On a hot July day, Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey decided it was time to busy. There's no questioning whether or not he had the air conditioner on: He was a smoking gun... a sweating bullet.

In a single day's work, Gainey got rid of underachieving winger Richard Zednik, acquired two-way forward Mike Johnson and re-signed goaltender David Aebischer.

Most notably, Gainey dropped a frenzy-bomb by announcing the signing of the team's only free-agent star Sergei Samsonov, who accepted a two-year offer to play in the demanding hockey city of Montreal.

"Whoa! Tabarn..." pretty much summarizes the reaction that came to the minds of most locals.


To think, Samsonov – whom Canadiens' fans loved to hate on the archrival Boston Bruins – would be potentially paired up with fellow Russians Alex Kovalev and sophomore Alexander Perezhogin.

That was until training camp put a halt to all the excitement.

As soon as he hit the ice, an awkward looking Samsonov just couldn't follow the Canadiens' style of play, nor could he find his game.

"It's early and we haven't played a single game yet," head coach Guy Carbonneau said at the time.

But Carbo's patience couldn't be placed on hold for too long. After trying every possible solution to accommodate the 28-year-old's game into the lineup, the Habs' bench boss demoted Samsonov to the fourth line.

"If this is the case, then, obviously, I'm not needed here," Samsonov said. "I brought my family and settled here, thinking I would be important to the team. That doesn't appear to be the case."

Soon after, Carbonneau reunited Samsonov with Kovalev on the second line and the results, sometimes exciting at times, were all but consistent.

On December 12th, Samsonov broke a twenty-game scoring-slump by netting two against Boston and finished the match with a team-high seven shots on goal and was the most used forward by Carbonneau (17minutes and 15 seconds). He was also the picked as the game's first star.

"When you're in a slump, you just hang on and try to find ways to score," Samsonov said.

By focusing more and exerting a higher effort of play, Samsonov tallied another two assists last Tuesday against top-seeded Buffalo, a game in which the Canadiens won 5-2.

While nobody's praising him just yet, there appears to be hope for a consistent contribution after all.

Nevertheless, the addition of a veteran centerman with enough speed and playmaking abilities to feed the puck to both Samsonov and Kovalev would undoubtedly help the team's second line.

Tomas Plekanec has been up-and-down skating between the two offensive-minded wingers and this has dug a noticeable gap in Montreal's overall performance, even though the team sits fourth in the Eastern Conference.

As the Habs search for a No.2 center, Samsonov has clearly improved his play of late (2 goals and 3 assists in his last 6 games).

The Canadiens can only benefit from the Russian native's latest efforts, but will need him to remain on top of his game as the doors begin to open on the second-half of the season.

Samsonov is a high-priced player to have ($3.25 million) and Montreal cannot afford to have him underachieving the rest of the way.

I think the habs will have to get Thornton or Bergeron if they want him to produce in the second half.

Nah, seriously, they'd just need a good veteran center. Maybe someone like Prospal in Tampa Bay. Tortorella's not to happy with him lately, anyway.

and to get one of the sharks 2 franchise players they have now, JT or Pat Marleau, youd have to give up some good players, cos the sharks aint as dumb as Jeremy Jacobs!

Yeah, I know. I was just remembering Samsonov's good days with Thornoton. Obviously, there's no one of that caliber on the habs... yet.