1:07 p.m.: The Sabres have placed Samuelsson on injured reserve to create a roster spot for Reimer, who they reclaimed off waivers from the Ducks, Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reports.
10:55 a.m.: Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson will miss multiple weeks with a lower-body injury, the team announced Wednesday. Head coach Lindy Ruff said Samuelsson’s absence could stretch past the one-month mark but is unlikely to be season-ending and won’t require surgery, per Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550.
It’s much better news for star center Tage Thompson and starting netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who, like Samuelsson, left Monday’s loss to the Canadiens with injuries. Ruff said they’re both day-to-day and haven’t been ruled out for Thursday’s game against the Blues.
It’s unclear when exactly Samuelsson sustained the injury, but it took him out of action about midway through the game. The 24-year-old was making his first appearance since Nov. 2 after being a healthy scratch in three straight Sabres wins.
Very quickly, the seven-year, $30MM extension Samuelsson signed at the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign looks like an incredibly premature decision from general manager Kevyn Adams. Injuries have significantly hampered the 2018 second-round pick at every turn during his five-year NHL career, and he’s never played more than 55 games in a single season. Last year, shoulder surgery ended his season in January after 41 games. Knee and upper-body issues also kept him out for lengthy stretches of 2022-23.
In years past, Samuelsson was still an effective stay-at-home defender when healthy, often having a tangible impact on the Sabres’ record when in the lineup. It’s been almost the opposite this year, though. Samuelsson has one assist and a -2 rating while averaging a career-low 16:05 per game, and Buffalo is 4-8-1 with him in the lineup compared to 3-0-0 without him.
The Sabres still have Dennis Gilbert and Henri Jokiharju on hand as extra defenders to re-enter the lineup against the Blues tomorrow in place of Samuelsson. Still, expect the defenseman to land on IR at some point in the next 24 hours to give Buffalo roster flexibility to summon potential injury replacements from AHL Rochester for Thompson and Luukkonen.
Samuelsson still has five seasons left on his contract after this one at a $4.286MM cap hit. He doesn’t carry any trade protection.
Meanwhile, losing Thompson for any length of time, even for just a game, is tough news for the Sabres to swallow as they try to climb over .500 and put themselves back in the conversation for a wild-card spot in the East. His 18 points in 16 games lead the team, and his 10 even-strength goals are tied with Leon Draisaitl and Nikita Kucherov for the league lead.
Luukkonen has also been quite solid for the Sabres this season, taking over in the early going as their true starter instead of splitting duties with 23-year-old Devon Levi, as most expected. After signing a five-year, $23.75MM deal over the summer, he has a 6-4-1 record, .903 SV%, 2.83 GAA, and 1.2 GSAA in 12 starts. If he can’t go, perhaps James Reimer could back up Levi tomorrow if Buffalo re-claims him off waivers from the Ducks.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
adams is very good at signing people prematurely, just look at cozens and i would argue dahlin is overpaid as well
To early to write off Cozens. He has been better offensively the last week. Samuelson can still be moved & just a few months ago teams were inquiring about him. Take the Dahlin contracts as a example. Power is still young & that contract will age well. Samuelson is only making $4.28mil per.
I’ve been a Sabres fan for 35+ years, and to claim that they are anything other than a joke is just coping.
^ This is very self-reflective and honest. You are a good fan.
Huh? They had a bad start to the season. They have had 2 3 game winning streaks so far this season (first one last season happened in February). They are 7-8-1. Outside of the last game, they only allowed 4 total goals during their last 3 game winning streak. Still the youngest team in hockey with a HC that is making them play more accountable. There will be a few more “growing pain” games. Relax.
Nobody wants them to be a good team more than me, as they have dampened my love for the game with 13 years of futility. I just think the GM is in over his head and we have a core of mentally soft players that don’t know what it takes to achieve sustained success in this league. Kevyn Adams isn’t completely awful, but he thought the team was a signing of Taylor Hall away from winning the Cup, and they finished in dead last in the NHL that year.
Maybe getting a Patrick Kane at the TDL will pick up your spirits and reinvigorate your enthusiasm.