Mattias Samuelsson had yet to be cleared to return to the Buffalo Sabres’ lineup from an injury last month when the 22-year-old defenseman used his wry sense of humor to try to lighten the mood amid the grind of the 82-game season.
As the Sabres filtered back into their dressing room in KeyBank Center following an on-ice workout, they gradually noticed that Samuelsson was wearing socks with Owen Power's name and face on them.
Samuelsson had to get creative, and uncomfortable, to pull off the gag. The Sabres’ team store only carried the socks in youth sizes. At 6-foot-4, Samuelsson had no chance of finding a pair that fit, so he labored to pull both extra-large socks on and laughed like a hyena when Power finally saw what his teammate was up to.
“It was pretty funny,” Power recalled, letting out a chuckle at his dressing-room stall following practice Saturday. “He’s obviously a bit of a clown, but he’s such a good guy. Everybody loves him. He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever played with.”
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“I think I’m unapologetically myself,” Samuelsson said with a grin.
" ... when you have an influx of more youth, you have less experience. And when you have less experience, you have more game-changing situations and plays and everything else," Buffalo Sabres coach Don Granato said.
A survey of several Sabres elicited a similar response. Samuelsson is beloved in the dressing room for his ability to keep the mood light. He doesn’t care if he’s the butt of the joke. When Samuelsson scored his first NHL goal in his 64th career game Tuesday night in Detroit, he bounced like an overgrown child while celebrating the milestone with teammates on the ice at Little Caesars Arena.
Samuelsson was playfully criticized by his teammates upon returning to the bench for the routine wrist shot that turned into his first goal since he was a member of the Rochester Americans on Dec. 14, 2021.
His importance to the Sabres extends beyond the tension-lifting jokes and moments of levity. Remarkably, Samuelsson’s presence changes the way the entire team defends and attacks its opponent. Buffalo is 7-3-1 with Samuelsson in the lineup this season, compared to 3-10 without him. He and Rasmus Dahlin have formed a formidable top defense pair that’s learning to slow the top players in the world.
His play should silence anyone who didn’t understand why the Sabres awarded Samuelsson a seven-year contract extension in October when, at the time, he had only appeared in 54 NHL games and had yet to score a goal.
“We felt strongly based on what we saw last year that he was going to be the type of fit within our group that gave us a lot of flexibility,” General Manager Kevyn Adams said recently to The Buffalo News. “You've obviously seen him play with Rasmus, and I think it gives Rasmus comfort and stability, but he brings an element to our team of he's physical. He's hard to play against, he's a top penalty killer, he can play against fast, skilled players. He can play against physical players and he's 6-4.
“When we talked a lot about our team and our core and identifying our core, that's why we wanted to get the contract done the way we did because we just felt he's gonna be such an important piece for us moving forward.”
Samuelsson’s impact can’t be illustrated by basic statistics. He has one goal and 14 points in his 65 games with the Sabres dating back to May 2021. Even analytics aren’t the best way to measure how reliable he is defensively because, as last man standing between an elite goal scorer and the Sabres’ net, he’s often asked to defend in difficult situations against the other team’s top players.
Still, Samuelsson rates as one of the Sabres’ best players this season according to Evolving-Hockey’s goals above replacement metric. He’s averaging 21:03 of ice time in 11 games while playing alongside Dahlin at 5-on-5. The Sabres have a plus-6 goal differential when that duo is on the ice.
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson skates against the Carolina Hurricanes during the third period at the KeyBank Center on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022.
The club has scored 4.64 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 when Samuelsson is on the ice, more than any other player on the Sabres. He gives his teammates confidence to attack offensively. They know that if there’s an odd-man rush or one-on-one situation going the other way because of a turnover, Samuelsson can handle it.
Samuelsson kills opponents’ rush chances by forcing the puck carrier toward the boards. He then creates a turnover with a hit or poke check using his long stick, which Dahlin termed the “cobra.”
Samuelsson’s first game back from the knee injury was a recent example. Knowing Samuelsson could defend multiple Montreal Canadiens if needed, Dahlin joined the rush and scored the opening goal only 35 seconds into a 7-2 win to snap an eight-game skid.
“In the locker room, on the bench and on the ice, with how our group reacts to him, he has such a presence out there,” Sabres winger Alex Tuch explained. “I don’t know how many games he has, but he plays like a seasoned veteran and has that composure about him.
"He’s a really good skater. Not the fastest guy in the world, but he’s able to move really well and he’s always in the right spot. He’s got a long stick that makes it impossible to beat him one-on-one and he’s really strong too.”
The Sabres penalty kill operated at a league-worst 60% during the losing streak when Samuelsson wasn’t in the lineup. He’s their most physical player and, though he isn’t an offensive defenseman, he’s one of the reasons why Buffalo transformed into one of the NHL’s top goal-scoring teams late last season.
Buffalo Sabres right wing Alex Tuch (89) celebrates with teammates, defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (23) and Tage Thompson (72), after scoring a goal against the Colorado Avalanche at KeyBank Center on December 1, 2022.
Samuelsson’s poise on the breakout helps kickstart the Sabres’ offensive attack, even if it’s a subtle 5-to-10-foot area pass to alleviate pressure and provide his forwards with more space to carry the puck through the neutral zone with speed. And Samuelsson makes opponents pay a price if they attempt to drive to the net to score. His development, like everyone else’s, wasn’t linear.
Samuelsson had to learn how and when to be more aggressive once he became a full-time member of the Sabres in January. His style of play didn’t excite scouts and pundits in the media leading into the 2018 draft because his throwback style of play doesn't wow compared to smaller, more skilled defensemen.
But it became obvious last season why coach Don Granato couldn’t wait for Samuelsson to recover from an injury and join the lineup in Buffalo in January. He knew Samuelsson would change the way his team plays.
“Just how good he is defensively and with his stick,” said Power, explaining what he’s learned to appreciate about Samuelsson’s game. “When you go up against him in practice, he’s always knocking a puck off your stick or getting in your way to make you feel uncomfortable. Seeing him doing that every night to top-end guys is pretty cool.”
You’d never know watching Samuelsson play that his personality is such an important part of the Sabres’ behind-the-scenes culture. He knows when to throw in a playful joke, like his critical remarks about Tuch’s mustache at the start of November, and when to lift a teammate with words of encouragement.
Following the loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night, Samuelsson noticed that goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen looked defeated. Sensing a few words might help, Samuelsson patted Luukkonen on the back and assured him the loss wasn’t his fault.
The Sabres spoke repeatedly last season about the changes made in the dressing room to allow everyone to feel more comfortable being themselves behind the scenes and when others are watching.
When a group of children lined up outside the team’s dressing room to greet players before a game against New Jersey on Nov. 25, Samuelsson ran down the handshake line with an expression of child-like excitement on his face and each hand extended to fist bump as many young fans as possible.
Tage Thompson smiled at his dressing-room stall Saturday as he did his best to summarize how the gentle giant fits in.
“He’s very dry,” said the Sabres’ leading scorer. “He’s kind of got a dopey personality. He’s fun to be around in the locker room. It’s pretty easy to make him laugh, so that always makes you feel good about yourself. He’s just a fun guy, love having him around. It’s funny watching him in practice too. He’s just always having a good time and brings light to the room.”
Casey Mittelstadt added: “He’s just funny. He’s just Sammy, he’s hilarious. Always has a joke, something funny to say or doing something funny. Just one of the guys that stupid things happen to, and we all get to laugh at. It’s definitely a joy to have him.”
Samuelsson agreed: “I do a lot of things before I think, so I’m usually the main part of the jokes.”
Most injured players are nowhere to be seen when they’re recovering, yet Samuelsson was always around the Sabres while out of the lineup for 13 games. He sat in the dressing room following games, win or loss, and he was in there to greet teammates after practices and morning skates.
Samuelsson simply wanted to be around the group and help anyway he could when an injury wouldn’t allow him to be on the ice. And he’s shown when in the lineup that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help the Sabres win.
“I’ve obviously never been in another NHL locker room, but it’s a group of guys who actually care about each other,” he said. “You’re allowed to be yourself. Whether you say something stupid, you usually get laughed at, chirped and we all move on. It actually does feel like a family. You’re brothers. You’ll yell at each other and fight, but at the end of the day, you love each other."
