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Joe Thornton would love to see Sergei Samsonov back in the NHL

Sergei Samsonov

One guy who’s taken advantage of the doldrums of the summer is Sergei Samsonov.

After a report surfaced last week that Samsonov would be getting a tryout with the San Jose Sharks pending a lockout, his agent Neil Abbott quickly shot that down, but make no bones about it he wants back in the NHL.

Kevin Kurz at CSNBayArea.com talked with Sharks captain Joe Thornton who says he would love to have his former Boston teammate back in the game.

“It was so long ago, but I enjoyed playing with Sergei. He can stickhandle in a phone booth and is a very high end, skilled player,” Thornton said. “It would be nice to see him back after missing last year, to see what he can do.”

Stickhandling is well and good, but if he can’t score goals then he’ll have a hard time sticking around if he returns. In his last NHL season in 2010-11 he had 13 goals and 27 assists splitting time with the Hurricanes and Panthers.

Whether or not he could rekindle old fires with Thornton in San Jose is a good question to ask, especially with Samsonov turning 34 years-old in October.