When it comes to polarizing seasons, the poster child for it on the Buffalo Sabres is probably defenseman Mattias Samuelsson for the 2024-25 season. Despite having good numbers, improvements in multiple categories, and being used in a role more suited to him, he still found a way to be on the wrong side of the opinions of fans. Whether it was his response during the Tage Thompson incident, or his departure from his usual style of play that made fans enjoy him up until this season, Samuelsson was one of the players on this roster that finished with some of the most mixed opinions of him by the season’s end.
Samuelsson’s Good Stats Were Tainted By Poor Choices
If I took Samuelsson’s stat block out of context, and had not watched a single game of his, I would have assumed that he improved and would be looking forward to seeing what he would be up to next in Buffalo the following season. He reached career highs in multiple categories: games played (62), goals (four), points (14), shooting percentage (7.7%), blocked shots (93), and then he tied his prior career best for assists with 10. On top of that, despite the Sabres’ defense being a below-average wreck most of the season, he still managed to be a plus-3 by the end of the season. All of his stat lines pointed towards a great uptrend for him, but it was the actual gameplay that ruined all of these great number improvements.
Mattias Samuelsson, Buffalo Sabres (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
After being named one of the alternate captains early on in the season, and being labeled as a leader on the team, he found himself benched, scratched, and being one of the least involved team players on the ice on a regular basis. The aforementioned incident where Thompson was cheap-shot elbowed in the face by New Jersey Devils forward Stefan Noesen on Feb. 2 was the biggest offense by far, as Samuelsson stood around like a deer in the headlights and did absolutely nothing when it happened. No, pushing, no shoving, no yelling, just standing. Then, as the season continued, it was more and more evident how Samuelsson was no longer physically involved in standing up for his teammates. As a 6-foot-4, 227-pound man, he does not need to be throwing punches to make an impact, but it would make more sense to see him be involved when teammates need him than it does 5-foot-10, Zach Benson (who had an amazing season).
Grading Samuelsson
Samuelsson came into the league touted as a physical defensive defender, and despite not being able to stay healthy early on in his career, up until this season, he had made great strides in being that steady stay-at-home defender. This season was more of a departure from that as he adapted to head coach Lindy Ruff’s style of play, and he was more of a two-way style defender. He stepped up a bit more, took some extra offensive chances, and it paid off for him on the scoresheet. Despite those improvements, his leadership abilities and team play were lacking at times, but he still is working through those growing pains as a “young” defender. With that being said, these would be his grades for this season:
Scoring – B+
Defense – B
Leadership – D
Playmaking – B
Teamwork – C
These grades reflect his abilities and performance relative to his position and what is expected out of a player of his caliber. So, as a less talented scoring player, four goals are great to see out of him. The poor leadership and teamwork scores are a reflection of his overall season and how he was never the guy to stand up for anyone, despite being an obvious choice. There are definitely parts of his game this season that were worth enjoying, and others that he needs to do some real soul-searching on if he plans on sticking around.
Samuelsson’s Future In Buffalo
Samuelsson is still under contract to play for the Sabres until the end of the 2029-30 NHL season, and holds a cap hit of $4.29-million, so he has a lot of time left to play for this team if Kevyn Adams, or whatever general manager hopefully gets hired decides to keep him around. His cap hit is not ridiculously high, but with other players like Bowen Byram needing to be paid, or even young prospect defenders in the Sabres’ system like Ryan Johnson being ready to take the next step, Samuelsson is a very expendable player right now. With Ruff trying to build out a new culture within this team, it would be wise to weed out and move out the ones that do not fit, and Samuelsson clearly does not want to be on board.
Related – Buffalo Sabres’ 2025 Offseason Checklist
With his improvements and fairly low cap hit, he definitely has some trade value that a playoff team would love to have, so moving him in the offseason should be a priority. The bottom line is that he no longer fits the role he used to play on this team, and it is time to move on. He may fit that somewhere else, but it is time to make another move and ship him out for a different asset that fits the roster that is on hand right now. Samuelsson played his part well for his first few seasons, but fizzled out at the end, and now it is time to part ways.
