\u201cI thought Samuelsson was an absolute stud in the game,\u201d Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. \u201cRunning over people, physical.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 We talked about making sure that we finished people when we had the opportunity, that we took them out of the play. Or that, in our zone, we were able to kill plays right away so we broke out. And I thought by far he was our most physical.\u201d<\/p>\n
The performance was a reminder of Samuelsson\u2019s integral role on the Sabres, having established himself as one of the league\u2019s premier shutdown defensemen this past season. His plus-41 rating tied for seventh in the NHL and he anchored a Buffalo penalty kill that ranked among the league\u2019s best all season long.<\/p>\n
The fact that Samuelsson added a scoring touch \u2013 he blew past his previous career highs with 13 goals and 41 points \u2013 made for a truly unique season. Since hits started being tracked in 2005-06, there have only been 19 instances of a player reaching at least 40 points, 130 hits, and 150 blocks, as Samuelsson did this season.<\/p>\n
One of those seasons belongs to Samuelsson\u2019s defense partner, Rasmus Dahlin. Three belong to Hockey Hall of Famer Shea Weber.<\/p>\n
Alex Tuch plays against the NHL\u2019s top defensemen on a nightly basis. Still, he shuddered when describing what it\u2019s like to face Samuelsson in practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, he\u2019s got every tool in the toolbox,\u201d Tuch said. \u201cHe\u2019s big, he skates well, he\u2019s got the long stick, he\u2019s got the hockey IQ. And then when he\u2019s physical like that, he\u2019s just horrible to play against. I mean, I practice against him every day, and it\u2019s just miserable.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe makes life hell on the opponent and it\u2019s a lot of fun to see. He also has a heck of a snapshot too, as you can see. That post-and-in shot. He\u2019s got every tool. He\u2019s coming into his own and the sky\u2019s the limit for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ramus Dahlin memorably referred to Samuelsson\u2019s stick as \u201ca cobra\u201d back in 2022-23, referring to Samuelsson\u2019s ability to use his reach to close gaps and strip pucks. One play in Game 1 served as a perfect example of that skill. Defending David Pastrnak 1-on-1 on the rush, Samuelsson stayed in front of the Bruins superstar as he closed in on net and calmly poked the puck out of harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI thought Samuelsson was an absolute stud in the game,\u201d Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. \u201cRunning over people,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-597497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}