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Sabres Turning Away Trade Interest In Mattias Samuelsson

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The Sabres have heard from teams looking to trade for shutdown defenseman Mattias Samuelsson following another injury-plagued season. However, The Fourth Period reports that general manager Kevyn Adams has been telling interested parties the team has no plans to move on from him.

Samuelsson’s 2023-24 season was the first of the seven-year, $30MM extension he signed in October 2022. Signed on the eve of the Sabres’ regular-season opener last season, it was a controversial buy-low move at the time – he only had 54 NHL games under his belt and hadn’t even scored his first goal.

Early on, Samuelsson, 24, seemed on track to give Buffalo $4.286MM worth of on-ice value yearly as soon as this season. 2022-23 was a solid sophomore campaign for the 2018 second-round pick, who settled into a top-pairing role alongside Rasmus Dahlin and put up 10 points and a +14 rating in 55 games.

All of his 27 absences were due to injuries. A knee injury kept him out of the lineup for most of the season’s first quarter, and an upper-body injury had him in and out of the lineup down the stretch as the Sabres finished one point out of a playoff spot. Juxtaposing their record with and without Samuelsson in the lineup (33-18-4 vs. 9-15-3 without) offered some anecdotal evidence that their decade-plus playoff drought may have ended in 2023 had he stayed healthy.

While the Sabres took a step back this season, mainly due to a lack of scoring, Samuelsson continued improving. He saw his average time on ice reduced from 22:11 to 20:30, no doubt influenced by multiple appearances stunted by injuries, but he posted the best even-strength possession results of his career with a 50.5 CF%. His pairing with Dahlin improved slightly at controlling shot quality, posting an xGF% of 50.0 compared to last season’s 49.4, per MoneyPuck.

Unfortunately, his campaign ended back in late January. After missing a few games with an upper-body injury, later revealed to be shoulder-related, he underwent surgery in early February. He was ruled out for the rest of the campaign.

Thankfully, his absence likely won’t stretch into training camp next fall. The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski reported last month during the Sabres’ end-of-season media availability that Samuelsson had been cleared to resume skating.

He finished the season with one goal, six assists, seven points and a +4 rating in 41 appearances. With his defensive improvements, he arguably provided his highest single-season value as an NHLer, even if their record with and without him this season didn’t have the same dramatic difference as last year.

Some had wondered whether the Sabres would make a corresponding move on defense after striking a deal with the Avalanche to swap Casey Mittelstadt for Bowen Byram before this year’s trade deadline. While most have experience playing both sides, the Sabres’ four highest-value defenders – Byram, Dahlin, Samuelsson and Owen Power – are now all left shots.

It does present a crowded picture, but it’s a cost-controlled one. All except Byram are locked in through at least 2030, and cap space isn’t yet a significant hurdle as the Sabres are tantalizingly close to exiting their years-long rebuild.

Despite his injuries and lengthy contract, Samuelsson’s steady improvements over the past few seasons likely give him some decent trade value. But having a 20-minute-plus defenseman on all three pairings has worked for other teams.

The Lightning had a stacked left side during their back-to-back Stanley Cup wins earlier in the decade, icing Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Mikhail Sergachev on different pairings. With Samuelsson likely sticking around next season, it’s up to incoming head coach Lindy Ruff to decide which of their four minute-munchers is best suited to play on their off side.

The Sabres still have a fair amount of cap space to burn next season – $23.219MM, per CapFriendly. Other offseason priorities will include adding a third-line center to complement Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson and a top-six winger, per The Fourth Period’s report last night. Still, they also have a few restricted free agents to get re-signed. None of them are more crucial than netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, whose .910 SV% in 51 starts this season was instrumental in helping the Sabres allow their fewest goals against per game (2.96) since 2017.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Evening Notes: Chytil, NHL Awards, Hakanpää

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New York Rangers center Filip Chytil isn’t in the lineup tonight and is now considered day-to-day (per Mollie Walker of The New York Post). The 24-year-old missed Saturday’s game with an unknown illness and now reportedly has an issue with soreness. The news led many to speculate that Chytil’s issues could be related to the concussions that limited him to ten regular season games, but Walker adds that the illness is unrelated to previous injuries.

Chytil has dealt with four documented concussions in his short career and will likely need to exercise caution anytime he has an upper-body injury going forward. A concussion sidelined him for over six months this season before he returned to the lineup for Game 3 on Thursday in Carolina. However, two days later he was not on the ice which brought about concern about his condition. Chytil skated with the team this morning and was reportedly a game-time decision tonight, but he was ultimately not included in the lineup.

In other evening notes:

  • The NHL has announced a date and venue for the 2024 NHL Awards show. The show will take place on Thursday, June 27th at the brand-new Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. The show will begin at 7 pm and will be broadcast live on ESPN and Sportsnet. The NHL has been announcing nominees over the past few weeks and will now host the event in Las Vegas for the first time since 2019 and the 11th time overall.
  • Ryan Boulding of NHL.com is reporting that the Dallas Stars dressed the same lineup tonight that they did in Game 3 against the Colorado Avalanche. The news means that Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpää remains sidelined with a lower-body injury. The 32-year-old hasn’t dressed since March 16th and has missed 13 regular season games, and 11 playoff games after tonight. Hakanpää’s time frame to return remains a mystery as he comes up on two months since the last time he played. Hakanpää dressed in 64 games this season, posting two goals and ten assists. The 6’6″, 225lb defender has been durable during his brief NHL career, missing just a handful of games since breaking into the league during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.

Valeri Nichushkin Placed In Stage 3 Of Player Assistance Program

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The National Hockey League along with the National Hockey League Players’ Association have announced that Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin has been put into Stage 3 of the Player Assistance Program. The program is a joint effort between the NHL and NHLPA, and with Nichushkin in Stage 3, he will be suspended without pay for at least six months and will then need to apply to be reinstated once he is eligible.

The Avalanche are just hours away from taking to the ice for Game 4 of their second-round series against the Dallas Stars and trail 2-1. Nichushkin has been a big part of this year’s playoff push for Colorado, tallying nine goals and one assist in eight postseason games. The 29-year-old also had a strong regular season this year, dressing in 54 regular-season games and registering 28 goals and 25 assists.

Nichushkin spent time in the player assistance program earlier this year and also missed the final five playoff games last season against the Seattle Kraken for what the team called personal reasons. He has remained a solid on-ice contributor for the Avalanche posting 93 goals and 107 assists in 289 games, as well as 26 points in his last 30 playoff games. While he’s been very good for the Avalanche on the ice, his off-ice issues have limited his availability, particularly during the past two post-seasons when he’s left the team early.

Nichushkin was a feel-good story two seasons ago when he became a major contributor as the Avalanche marched to a Stanley Cup championship. He had nine goals and six assists in 20 playoff games during that run and it was a shocking turnaround after he was just three years removed from a season in which he had no goals and 10 assists in 57 games with Dallas.

Per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, “Entering Stage 3 of the Player Assistance Program means that there was a violation of the Stage 2 treatment plan and it requires a suspension without pay for at least six months and then the player is eligible to apply for reinstatement.”

East Notes: Sweeney, Marchand, Wheeler

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Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic is reporting that Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney had some harsh words today for the National Hockey League after the Bruins’ 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of their second-round series. Sweeney was upset that several Bruins players, as well as head coach Jim Montgomery, had to talk with the media about why the league overturned a goaltender interference challenge while none of the on-ice officials were made available.

Sweeney added to his comments saying that he felt it wasn’t right to have a head coach answer media inquiries about their feelings toward the officiating. Sweeney finished his point by saying if people want transparency, then the NHL should have the officials talk to the media to provide their interpretation of the goaltender interference rule.

While Sweeney isn’t the first person to say that the officials should be held to account by the media, he did say it is something that general managers have discussed. Sweeney is also the latest to voice his displeasure with the NHL’s handling of goaltender interference. The rule has become something that has confused fans and players alike and is surely going to be looked at by the league very soon.

In other Eastern Conference notes:

  • Bruins captain Brad Marchand remains day-to-day (according to Conor Ryan of Boston.com) but did skate with the team this morning and will travel to Florida for Game 5. Boston’s offense could certainly use Marchand after the Bruins’ scoring has disappeared since a 5-1 victory in Game 1. Boston has scored just five times in the past three games, playing the last game and a half without their playoff leader in scoring. Marchand has two assists in the series against the Panthers and has posted three goals and seven assists in ten playoff games this year.
  • ESPN’s Emily Kaplan is reporting that New York Rangers forward Blake Wheeler is roughly 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule as he recovers from a devastating leg injury he suffered back in February. Wheeler was expected to be able to play around June 1st, but with his recovery time being pushed up, he could become an option if the Rangers advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Wheeler has been pushing hard to return and was no longer wearing a red noncontact jersey when he practiced with the team today.

Maple Leafs Have Interviewed Craig Berube, Todd McLellan

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The Maple Leafs have interviewed former Blues coach Craig Berube and ex-Kings bench boss Todd McLellan, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed on Monday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast (audio link). Adding onto heavy speculation in recent days, it appears they’re the favorites to take over as head coach in Toronto after Sheldon Keefe was fired Thursday. Berube was interviewed when Toronto’s search began over the weekend, while McLellan’s interview was slated for today, per Friedman.

Berube has also been linked to the Devils’ and Senators’ coaching vacancies this summer, but New Jersey’s attention has ironically drifted toward Keefe, and Ottawa ended up hiring Travis Green on a four-year contract. He’d spent parts of the past six seasons coaching the Blues, including winning the 2019 Stanley Cup as their interim bench boss, before being fired after a 13-14-1 start to this season.

Outside of the 2019 run, Berube’s Blues only managed to win a playoff series on one other occasion, taking down the Wild in six games in the first round in 2022. The blame is far from being square on Berube for that, though. Their aging defense has lacked identity and consistent puck-moving prowess for the past couple of seasons, resulting in St. Louis missing the playoffs entirely in consecutive campaigns for the first time since 2010 and 2011. St. Louis ended up going with interim replacement Drew Bannister as Berube’s full-time replacement after he led them to a 30-19-5 record in the last few months of the season.

Berube has what few other available coaches on this market do – a Stanley Cup ring. Only Joel Quenneville carries that distinction among names that have been truly bandied about in this year’s carousel, and he’s still not eligible for work in the league due to his involvement in the Blackhawks’ organizational cover-up of a 2010 sexual assault incident involving former video coach Brad Aldrich. Claude Julien won with the Bruins in 2011 and isn’t technically retired, and Dan Bylsma (Penguins, 2009) is still going strong as the head coach of the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, but neither has truly had their name connected to any vacancies thus far.

He had a .597 points percentage in the regular season with St. Louis, north of McLellan’s .550 run with the Kings over the past five years. Like Berube, McLellan was sacked midseason with a 23-15-10 record, influenced by a 3-7-5 slide in January.

McLellan, despite boasting over twice as many games coached as Berube, has more muted playoff success, though. His teams haven’t advanced to a conference final since the Sharks in 2011, and he failed to get out of the first round in two playoff appearances with the Kings. He has a career 42-46 record in postseason play – perhaps his most disappointing discrepancy coming during his time in San Jose (.637 regular-season points percentage, .484 playoff win percentage).

Canucks’ Carson Soucy Suspended For Game 4

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After announcing a player safety hearing for Canucks defenseman Carson Soucy on Monday morning, the NHL was swift with its decision. The blue liner has been suspended one game for cross-checking Oilers star Connor McDavid, the league confirmed in a video release. As such, he’ll be unavailable as Vancouver tries to take a 3-1 series lead with a road win in Game 4 on Tuesday.

Soucy, 29, ended up in a shoving match with McDavid behind the Canucks net just after time expired in their Game 3 win last night. McDavid initiated extracurricular contact with a slash across Soucy’s hand, after which he retaliated in kind and then cross-checked McDavid in the face – only the last of which is being disciplined here. It’s worth noting that Soucy’s check hit McDavid’s face as the Oilers star was falling to the ice, as he’d been pushed by Vancouver defenseman Nikita Zadorov just prior to the point of contact.

Speaking to reporters earlier Monday after having his hearing, Soucy said there was no intent to cross-check McDavid in the face and believed he only did so because he was falling (via The Athletic’s Harman Dayal). Zadorov was fined for his involvement in a prior decision, and while the league acknowledged Soucy’s defense in their video statement, they didn’t view it as grounds for wiping supplemental discipline off the board entirely.

“This play happens well after the game has ended, and it is not a hockey play,” the league said. “In an altercation with an opponent, Soucy chooses to raise his stick to an unacceptably high level, draws the stick back, and delivers a two-handed blow which lands to his opponent’s head.”

Soucy has been fined and suspended once before in his NHL career, but neither influenced his suspension because they didn’t occur within the last 18 months. His prior suspension came as a member of the Wild in 2021, a one-game ban for charging then-Coyotes winger and current Canucks teammate Conor Garland.

After signing a three-year, $9.75MM contract with Vancouver last summer, Soucy had an injury-plagued regular season that kept him to two goals, six points and a +10 rating while averaging 17:29 over 40 appearances. He’s struggled in the postseason on a pairing with Tyler Myers, controlling a horrid 29.9% of expected goals through nearly 100 minutes together, per MoneyPuck. He has four assists in nine games, three of which came in Games 1 through 3 against the Oilers.

Flames CEO John Bean Stepping Down, Transitioning To Advisory Role

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Flames president and CEO John Bean is stepping down and transitioning into a senior advisory role, reports The Athletic’s Julian McKenzie. Bean will stay involved with the club, as well as the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers and WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, as they transition out of their collective home in the Scotiabank Saddledome to the Calgary Event Centre arena complex, with construction expected to begin later this year.

Bean, the father of Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Bean, technically holds the president and CEO role for the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC), which owns the Flames, Hitmen and Wranglers, as well as the Calgary Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League and the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. He had been with CSEC since 2010, first as their senior vice president of finance and administration as well as their CFO. He was promoted to COO in 2013 before assuming the president title in 2018 and being named CEO one year later.

According to an internal memo Bean sent announcing his decision obtained by The Athletic, he informed CSEC ownership of his intentions to step down last year. His replacement, Robert Hayes, will begin work next month, per McKenzie. CSEC is also hiring Lorenzo DeCicco as their COO – neither he nor Hayes has experience in hockey management.

Similarly, Bean’s tenure as Flames president was his first time being affiliated with the management group of an NHL club. His tenure has overseen some rather tumultuous on-ice results for the Flames. They peaked with a 111-point campaign in 2021-22 that immediately resulted in leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau leaving for the Blue Jackets in free agency and star winger Matthew Tkachuk being flipped to the Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar after he informed the team he wouldn’t sign long-term. Tkachuk’s eight-year, $76MM deal in Florida looks like a bargain early on, while Huberdeau has failed to eclipse 20 goals or 55 points in a season despite carrying a $10.5MM price tag annually.

CSEC’s big decision with Bean as CEO was parting ways with longtime Flames general manager Brad Treliving last summer, replacing him with internal promotion Craig Conroy at the helm of their hockey operations decisions along with Don Maloney. Under Bean, the organization also relocated its AHL affiliate from Stockton, California, back to Calgary in 2022.

Afternoon Notes: Devils Coaching, Drouin, Zadorov

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The New Jersey Devils have seemingly found their favorites on the coaching market, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reporting on the Jeff Marek Show that the team is currently favoring Sheldon Keefe and Jay Woodcroft (Twitter link). More specifically, Woodcroft was the favorite before Keefe’s firing. But the Devils were quick to interview Keefe when he became available, even going as far as requesting permission to interview him amidst his closing days in Toronto. The interview clearly went well, with Keefe now a favorite for what Elliotte Friedman described as the coaching role with the highest ceiling.

New Jersey would offer a similar backdrop for Keefe – boasting some of the strongest top-end forwards but struggling to find the same consistency in net. The Devils have the exciting advantage of a much, much deeper defense group than Toronto carried during Keefe’s tenure – with the core quartet of Dougie Hamilton, Simon Nemec, Luke Hughes, and Jonas Siegenthaler stronger than what most of the league offers. New Jersey’s season was marred by injuries, best exemplified by star centerman Jack Hughes missing 20 games and star defender Hamilton missing 62. The inconsistent lineup was too much for head coaches Lindy Ruff or Travis Green to handle, with the Devils ending the year with a 38-39-5 record.

But even after the slow season, the sky still seems to be the limit for the New Jersey Devils. A fully healthy season out of Jack Hughes, a full year of young defenders Hughes and Nemec, and a fruitful addition with the 2024 10th-overall pick should set the bar high for the skilled Devils lineup, giving them playoff aspirations under the right leader.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Colorado Avalanche could be set to add a top-six winger back to the lineup, with head coach Jared Bednar dubbing Jonathan Drouin as a game-time decision, per Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Drouin has so far missed every postseason game with a lower-body injury – but upgraded to a full-contact jersey, and top power-play unit reps, at the team’s Monday practice. Those are good signs of progress for Drouin, who recorded a career-high 56 points in 79 games this season. He’s seemingly found his footing in Colorado, and will now be set to add to his postseason career totals of 21 points in 33 games. His return should bump one of Joel Kiviranta or Brandon Duhaime out of the lineup, depending on if Colorado wants to prioritize skill or grit.
  • The NHL Department of Player Safety has fined Vancouver Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov for cross-checking Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid at the end of Game 3. Zadorov hit McDavid right into Carson Soucy, who landed a cross-check on McDavid’s face. Soucy will have a hearing sometime today for the incident. And while they’re certainly holding their breath in anticipation of a possible Soucy suspension, the Canucks are certainly relieved that Zadorov avoided harsher punishment. He has been one of Vancouver’s best defensemen this postseason, posting four goals and seven points through nine games, while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time each night. Zadorov has brought skill, finesse, and grit to the lineup – although maybe a bit too much of the latter, as he’s now facing DoPS punishment.

Bruins Recall Brandon Bussi, Patrick Brown, Jayson Megna

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The Boston Bruins have recalled three players ahead of Game 5 against the Florida Panthers, including forwards Patrick Brown and Jayson Megna, and goaltender Brandon Bussi. The team has also assigned goaltender Michael DiPietro to the AHL. These moves follow the Providence Bruins’ elimination from the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs, losing the Atlantic Division Semifinals to the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Both Brown and Megna stepped into Boston’s lineup during the regular season, playing in 11 games and one game respectively. Brown was the only one to score, posting one assist in his bottom-of-the-lineup role. It’s the first year in the Boston organization for either player, with much of their season spent in the AHL. Megna made the most of the minutes, ranking second on Providence in scoring with 19 goals and 56 points in 69 games. Meanwhile, Brown posted a tamer 32 points in 42 AHL games. The pair will add stout depth to a Bruins team that played Game 4 without captain Brad Marchand. Justin Brazeau stepped in in relief, recording a +1 in 12:26 of ice time.

And while Brown and Megna will give the Bruins more options at forward, Bussi will serve as the team’s emergency third-string goaltender.The 25-year-old netminder is coming off a strong season with Providence, where he recorded 23 wins and a .913 save percentage in 41 games. It was another strong year for Bussi, who has now posted a save percentage above .910 in all three AHL seasons he’s taken part in. His career totals are up to 48 wins and a .918 across 78 AHL games, tying Bussi for the seventh-most wins and 14th-highest save percentage of any AHL goalie since 2021. He’s as strong of a third-string goalie that a team could ask for, though it’s very unlikely he’s able to crack the lineup ahead of superstar goaltender Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman.

Canucks’ Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Elias Pettersson To Stay In North America

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The Vancouver Canucks will be adding two top prospects to the fold next season, with forward Jonathan Lekkerimäki and defenseman Elias Pettersson both set to move to North America, shares their Swedish club, Örebro HK (Twitter link). The pair both joined the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks following the end of Örebro’s season, each recording two points through six and eight games respectively. They’re now set to stay in North America, providing a major boost to Vancouver’s depth chart.

It’s likely that both players report to Abbotsford for the start of next season, though Lekkerimäki could be poised to rival an NHL spot. The 19-year-old winger was prolific in the SHL this season, netting 19 goals and 31 points through 46 games. It was the most a U20 player has produced in the SHL since Emil Bemstrom put up 35 points in 2018-19 and Elias Pettersson (the forward) recorded 56 points in 2017-18. Lekkerimäki earned the SHL’s ’Rookie of the Year’ award with the performance, joining a talented list of winners including Nicklas Backstrom and William Eklund. Lekkerimäki maintained the strong production internationally as well, recording seven goals and 10 points in seven World Juniors games and five points in five friendly matches with Sweden’s U20 club. While his skillful, shoot-first style will need some refining before it’s fully NHL-ready, there’s no doubt that Vancouver is happy with the value they landed when they drafted Lekkerimäki 15th overall in 2022.

And while Pettersson – a third-round selection in 2022 – doesn’t offer the same ceiling as his Örebro teammate, his development has been just as worth following. Pettersson is an impressively fluid defender, keeping up with play well despite his 6-foot-4, 209-lbs frame. He’s aggressive in all aspects, using an active stick and physical presence to shut down opponents when defending the rush, and jumping at the bits to join the offensive rush whenever he can. Pettersson is reliable on the puck and finds teammates well, though he’s still refining his ability to be patient when creating scoring chances. He seemed to be adjusting to the AHL well at the end of the year, and could be poised for a big season next year should he add a bit more discipline.

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