Browsing the net today, I saw a piece on Kuklas Korner about how Canucks fans’ patience with former Red Wing and streaky peformer Mikael Samuelsson is wearing thin. In the dicsussion on that post, a commenter stated plainly that he was sure the Wings would trade Samuelsson for Hudler in an instant.
Well, I took that question to Twitter and asked the masses and got some pretty varied responses, ranging from “how fast can I sign up for this?” to “What’s the point of doing this?” Courtesy of Twitterers like @Robbenneian @FightNightatJoe @thetinnishflash @Craterburnsyou and @bradonweb, we got some good points out. Here’s a bit of what everybody came up with:
First off, Sammy is 33 years old and Hudler is 26. Both of their contracts expire after next season.
Samuelsson’s cap hit is $2.5 million while Hudler’s is $2.875 million.
Samuelsson is a right-handed shot; Hudler shoots left.
Part of what drove Sammy out of Detroit was a lack of top-six minutes that he felt he deserved. He likely would not get top-six minutes with Detroit’s lineup this go-around either.
Those are just some of the considerations. I want to know what each of you think. Would you pull the trigger on this deal? Is Sammy’s streakiness better than Hudler’s streakiness? Is Hudler’s age a consideration or do you not consider him lifetime Red Wing material after the bolt to Russia anyway? Does Samuelsson fit into the system better with the rest of the Swedes? What else have we missed here? Let us know in the comments.
