“Going to the Finals with Edmonton was a great thrill. I hope to be on the winning side of Game 7 next time.” –Sergei Samsonov
Sergei with Mike from Mike's Wish Foundation
Sergei Samsonov was just 18 years old when left his native Moscow, Russia, to pursue his hockey dreams in the United States. And it didn’t take long for it to pay off – that first year, with the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey League, Samsonov used his slick skating and smooth stickhandling to lead the Vipers to the league championship.
Samsonov was selected with the eighth overall pick of the NHL draft by the Boston Bruins. After a standout rookie season he was awarded the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year. He is currently playing for the Carolina Hurricanes.
In addition to hockey, Samsonov also finds time to be a family man. He met his wife, Megan, in his first year in the United States, and the couple still lives outside Detroit with daughters Natasha and Anya. In the off season Samsonov has also remained active in the community. While playing for Boston, he hosted a golf tournament to benefit Mike’s Wish Foundation, a local charitable foundation.
“We really did a lot of research on him. All the things that we were told prior to making the move, that he was a really good person, that he’s a good team guy, hard worker in practice, and still has a good skill level – all came true. Sometimes you do that background check and all the points don’t check off but in this case they did.”
–Jim Rutherford, General Manager, Carolina Hurricanes
Sergei Samsonov….
- Played his 800th career NHL game when he skated vs. BUF (3/21/2010)
- Ranks 10th in NHL history in goals by a Russian-born player (230)
- Won a bronze medal (playing for Russia) at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, tallying one goal and two assists (3 points) in six games
- Played in the 2001 NHL All-Star Game
- Received the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL’s top rookie while playing for the Boston Bruins 1997/98. He had also won rookie of the year honors in the IHL in 1996-97, making him just the second player to win a rookie of the year award at a minor pro level and the NHL in consecutive seasons
