By Jordan Long
The Buffalo Sabres begin their season tonight as they host the Ottawa Senators. Buffalo is looking to end their playoff drought. They haven’t earned a playoff spot since 2012 when they lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first-round. That series went 7 games. Buffalo signed defenseman Mattias Samuelsson to a massive contract extension.
Samuelsson enters his third season with the Sabres. In his rookie year, 2021, he appeared in 12 games, totaling 2 assists. This was just a taste of what he could do at the NHL level. The Sabres expected more production from him. They wanted him to grow to be one of their top blue line players on the team and possibly the NHL. The bar was set high for Samuelsson.
Last season, Samuelsson missed 40 games dealing with a lower body injury. Even so, he showed Buffalo he was one of their better young defensemen. In the defensive zone, Samuelsson skated hard to check a skater off the puck. He could also block shots so the puck wouldn’t be on his goaltender. Samuelsson used his stick to poke check the puck away from opponents which ended scoring chances. The Sabres could then skate the puck into the offensive zone as they tried to score.
In the offensive zone Samuelsson set up from the blue line. From there he found his teammates for goals. Samuelsson added 10 assists last year. He hasn’t shown the scoring touch since he hasn’t scored a goal yet in his NHL career. Those are going to come in bunches with his slap shot from the blue line.
The Sabres decided it was time to extend his contract even though he has only appeared in 54 games. They agreed to a 7-year, $30 million contract, averaging out to around $4.28 million a year.
Samuelsson will be with the Sabres until the end of the 2030 season. When the contract expires, he will be 30 years old. The Sabres anticipate the rebuild phase will be over within the next two years which could lead to them earning a playoff spot year in and year out with Samuelsson. They want to be a Stanley Cup threat in the Eastern Conference.
The Sabres know Samuelsson is only going to grow at the NHL level. This deal for him makes a lot of sense if Buffalo is patient. The worst case scenario is the Sabres keep missing the playoffs and they deal Samuelsson to a winning team where he has a chance to win the Cup. For right now, this is a great move showing they are going to trust Samuelsson to become a better scoring defenseman.
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