{"id":858321,"date":"2026-09-23T23:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T23:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/858321\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T23:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T23:44:10","slug":"atlantic-notes-samuelsson-zellweger-larkin-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/858321\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic Notes: Samuelsson, Zellweger, Larkin \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Ethan Hetu<\/a> |
\n at September 23, 2026 4:00 pm <\/p>\n

The Buffalo Sabres announced today that defenseman Mattias Samuelsson<\/a> has suffered a lower-body injury and will be out on a week-to-week basis. Samuelsson exited the team\u2019s 5-1 preseason victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets last night after blocking a shot. With the start of Buffalo\u2019s regular season just over a week away, the team is likely to begin preparing for the possibility that it must begin 2026-27 without a key top-four defenseman.<\/p>\n

Samuelsson, 26, is one of Buffalo\u2019s top blueliners and his loss is a big blow to the team\u2019s lineup. Samuelsson was expected to resume his role on the team\u2019s top pairing alongside franchise face Rasmus Dahlin<\/a>. Samuelsson had a career year in 2025-26, scoring 13 goals and 41 points while anchoring the team\u2019s penalty kill. Samuelsson\u2019s contributions on both ends of the ice helped power Buffalo to a massive second-half surge that saw the club not only end what was a league-leading playoff drought, but also go on an extended playoff run that saw them fall one overtime goal short of the Eastern Conference Final.<\/p>\n

Other notes from the Atlantic Division:<\/p>\n

The left side of the Sabres\u2019 defense was dealt another blow during yesterday\u2019s game as blueliner Olen Zellweger<\/a> left the game with an upper-body injury. The team announced today that he has entered concussion protocol. Head coach Lindy Ruff said Zellweger was already feeling better today compared to the night of the game, and called that development \u201cvery encouraging.\u201d While it\u2019s entirely possible Zellweger is ready to go in time for the start of the regular season, the injuries suffered by him and Samuelsson mean there could be an opportunity for depth Sabres defensemen such as Ryan Johnson<\/a> or Dennis Gilbert<\/a> to step into the lineup at the start of the campaign.
\nDetroit Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan told the media today, including Michael Whitaker of The Hockey News<\/a>, that star center Dylan Larkin<\/a> has made \u201cprogress\u201d in his recovery from an upper-body injury he suffered before the start of training camp, and added that while Larkin won\u2019t play in the preseason game against the Sabres tomorrow, there is a chance he hits the ice on Saturday for the club\u2019s preseason finale against the Blue Jackets. Larkin, 30, is Detroit\u2019s No. 1 center who has an outstanding request to be traded from the team that has not yet been fulfilled. A career Red Wing, Larkin previously served as the team\u2019s captain before losing the position in the aftermath of his trade request.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ethan Hetu | at September 23, 2026 4:00 pm The Buffalo Sabres announced today that defenseman Mattias…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1809,1786,80904,164357,385,312963,99],"class_list":["post-858321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-dylan-larkin","tag-mattias-samuelsson","tag-nhl","tag-olen-zellweger","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858321","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=858321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}