Samberg excited to take the next step in his career

WINNIPEG- It's officially, official. Dylan Samberg is the newest member of the Winnipeg Jets organization.
The 21-year-old defenceman drafted 43rd overall by Winnipeg in 2017 put pen to paper on a three-year entry level contract with the Jets with an AAV of 1.175 million dollars. The contract will begin at the start of the 2020-21 NHL season.

When US product knew the NCAA season was no more - he and his family knew it was time for the next step.
"We made some contact with the Jets and we thought it was time to move forward with everything. We settled on a deal and here we are," said Samberg from his home via video chat on Tuesday afternoon.

While the temptation was there to go back for a fourth season at UMD, Samberg felt the time was now to start his pro career.
"I'm obviously going to miss UMD because it was the college I dreamed of going too," said Samberg.
"But you have to move on with life and hopefully it's going to all work out for me."
Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has is pleased with Samberg's development over the past couple of years and looks to seeing what the defenceman has in store for his professional career.
"He came from a championship season in high school, two championships in college, world junior experience and obviously he went back to (UMD) this year to try and accomplish something that would have been a tremendous accomplishment with a chance at a three-peat," said Cheveldayoff.
"He's been a part of all of those teams. He's a guy that knows how to win. He's been part of organizations that have won. He's developed a tremendous amount physically over the course of time since we drafted him. He's the type of player that is certainly ready to turn pro."

As excited as Samberg is to start a new part of his hockey career, he's equally disappointed that he and the Bulldogs didn't get a chance to three-peat as NCAA champions. The NCAA announced on March 12th that it would cancel all of its championship events due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
"It was very tough; I'm not going to lie on that one. But it was a weird day, I remember getting off the ice after practice and our coaches came in and told us that our season had ended," said Samberg.
"We were all in just disbelief and you know it's tough because that was a big reason why I came back (to UMD). Kind of feel like it got taken away from me but with all this stuff going on. There's nothing much you can do and it's for the best and you really just have to move forward with it."
The 6-foot-4 defenceman comes from Hermantown, Minnesota - the same hometown as fellow Jet, Neal Pionk.
"We've had a little bit of communication the past couple of weeks. He was just asking me some questions about what my plans were about a week ago," said Samberg.
"We were just talking and he was just like 'Hopefully I'll get to see you up here some time.' He's someone I get to look up to and it's nice to have someone that I know personally that can help me when I get up there."
With three seasons of college hockey under his belt, Samberg has had time to develop all parts of his game. This season the prospect felt his offensive game took a step in the right direction.
"I still like to be that shutdown defenceman but getting up in the play, over these past couple of years I've really developed that. It's gotten better," said Samberg.
"Personally for me, I'm a two-way defenceman so I feel like defence first but if I'm able to jump up in the play I can do that as well."