Samuelsson's 'big strides' key to Sabres' playoff success

For so long, Mattias Samuelsson spent the summers playing catch-up. 

He would be rebuilding his strength and regaining his touch, instead of making gains or making progress. It was a frustrating cycle, a legacy of all too many injuries, all too much time spent away from the ice. 

This summer was different.

“You’re healthy the whole summer, so you can focus on what you’re supposed to be,” Kjell Samuelsson, Samuelsson’s father and an 813 game veteran veteran of the NHL, said. “You can get a little stronger, work on your flexibility, just like everybody else is doing.”

He was no longer behind. He was working for the future. 

It has made a world of difference. 

“I think the fitness level of any young guy is so important,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “I think he made big strides this summer and I would probably put it in the category of one of the biggest differences, to come to camp in superior shape than other guys, and then to play the minutes he’s playing and not drop off.”

The Buffalo Sabres prevailed in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a feat they haven’t pulled off since 2007,  and are set to face either the Tampa Bay Lightning or Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Second Round. In Game 1, it was Samuelsson whose shot from the slot broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Sabres their first win of the series. In Game 6, it was Samuelsson whose shot from above the left circle pushed the score to 2-0 and stood as the game-winner.

It’s all a far cry from the player who, before this season, had scored no more than four times in a regular season and had put up no more than 14 points. This season, Samuelsson, with the benefit of a full summer of training, a full summer healthy, scored 41 points (13 goals, 28 assists) in 78 regular-season games, and has added two more goals in six games in the postseason. 

Samuelsson's father, who played defense for the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning, and won the Stanley Cup in 1992 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was at KeyBank Center when Samuelsson scored in Game 1. 

He heard the pop. He heard the cheers. He knew how far his son had come. 

“He’d gone through some tough times in the last couple of years here with the injuries and never ever got back to what he was supposed to be because he was never healthy,” Kjell Samuelsson said. “He had had a pretty good year this year. Like, any parent wants your kid to succeed, and I think that was a moment when he kind of (showed he had) done pretty well this year, and I’m proud of him for that.”

* * * *

Kjell Samuelsson stepped away from the game after the 1998-99 season with the Lightning. Mattias was born one year later, on March 14, 2000. But even though Mattias never frequented NHL dressing rooms when his father was playing, he had plenty of access as Kjell became a longtime assistant coach with the Philadelphia and Adirondack Phantoms of the American Hockey League, before becoming a development coach with the Flyers. 

And so there are ways in which his father’s career – his father’s experiences, to be exact – continue to impact the way that he plays the game, the way in which he has handled what has been dealt to him, the way in which he has reacted to it. 

It has been especially crucial for Mattias Samuelsson when he has faced injuries. 

“He’s been huge my whole life, obviously, but he was banged up a little bit during his career and it’s hard to take advice in those situations from someone that hasn’t been through it, like a doctor or whatever, so it’s just nice,” Samuelsson said. “And he’s my dad, so it’s comforting, but just someone that’s also been through the grind or been in the dark days of being hurt for weeks on end.”

It’s that prism, that understanding of what it’s truly like, that has been such a salve. 

He gets it. 

“When he got frustrated – I won’t say this as an excuse – but you’re coming back (from injury) and when you’re playing for a good team, coming back, they can hide you and they can monitor your ice time and all that, kind of ease your way,” Kjell Samuelsson said. “But when you’re playing for a below average team like he did for the last few years, they’d throw him back in there and you’re not up to pair, and you try to get up to the tempo.”

He added, “You’re almost put out to be criticized. I don’t say that as an excuse. That’s happened to everybody.”

And Samuelsson was criticized. He found himself under fire from the Sabres fan base, a base that was losing patience with a team that it felt wasn’t making progress, wasn’t finding a way out of the wilderness it had inhabited for so long. 

“I just said, you’ve got to be simple and you’ve got to play a simple game, play defense, and first pass out and don’t do anything extra,” Kjell Samuelsson said. “Then, when you feel comfortable, you add on, and you hang onto the puck and more. So it’s about building up your game. That’s easier said than done though.”

* * * *

Mattias Samuelsson spends his summers in Philadelphia, training at the Flyers practice facility, a callback to the world in which he grew up with his father. This summer, he was there four or so times a week, skating as much as possible.

That, in itself, was different. 

For the first few summers after he turned pro – he left Western Michigan after two seasons, splitting 2020-21 and 2021-22 between the Sabres and the Rochester Americans of the AHL – his main objective was to get stronger. Now, though, he felt strong enough, better able to integrate some drills that Kjell thought would help with some of the areas in which he wanted to improve. 

In previous summers, Samuelsson had tried to limit the skating so he wouldn’t get sick of it, but this summer he doubled down -- even if it was a solo session for 20 minutes to work on the little things -- on puck movement, on passing, practices that he has seen pay off this season. 

“Last summer was probably the first summer in three years he didn’t do any rehab and he was fully healthy when he got into the summer, worked out and worked out stuff, mobility, even worked on stuff on the ice,” Kjell said. “When he got to camp he was – not like he was in bad shape before – but he was in shape to play right away. He didn’t have to go to camp and try to ease his way into it because (he’s) not really fully healthy.”

Paired with Rasmus Dahlin, Samuelsson started scoring early – he had two goals and four assists by the eighth game of the season – and the confidence built from there. He noticed that opposing defensemen would key in on Dahlin, sometimes leaving him open and, now that he felt better about his offensive game, he could capitalize on that. 

As Samuelsson put it, “They’re more worried about him, so I’m usually open.”

“I think there’s a curve a defenseman goes through early on in his career to find out exactly what he has and what works for him,” Ruff said. “And I think that this year, he’s taken a big step to be one of those really solid, good two-way defensemen that can be counted offensively and defensively.”

He said that there are some times that Dahlin would like to take off offensively, but Samuelsson has already gone. There have, he noted, even been times where Dahlin will shoot the puck, with Samuelsson the one in front for the tip.

“I don’t know if that’s exactly how we want it to play off, but it has (happened),” he said, laughing.

It’s a far cry from where Samuelsson started, a defensively solid prospect with the idea of a chance of a higher offensive upside. Then, though, it was still conceptual. Now, with the benefit of more experience, less time in the trainer’s room, he’s been able to unlock that, in addition to doubling down on his defensive game. He finished 13th in the NHL among defensemen in blocked shots (154), 21st in hits (132).

“I think the first couple years of my career, I kind of mentally boxed myself into, like, I defend,” Samuelsson, who is in his second season as an alternate captain for the Sabres, said. “Which I think with today’s game, how fast it is, you need four guys on the rush, you need to be a part of the attack. 

“Obviously, defense is still my priority, but I think I take more pride and focus a lot more than I used to on getting involved offensively, and helping the forwards make plays and create space. It’s helped my game a ton and I think it’s helped the team a ton too.”

He has blossomed this season, become a better version of himself. 

“I’m very proud of it,” Kjell Samuelsson said. “I’m proud of it because he struggled so much, and was working so hard and didn’t gain any ground, get any payoff for it at all.”

The struggle has eased this season. And the payoff? 

It’s May, Samuelsson is still playing hockey, and the Sabres are still playing hockey. Buffalo hasa few more rounds to go until Samuelsson's name could be etched on the Stanley Cup like his father’s, but it’s also closer than it’s ever been.