Official: 2018 2nd Round Pick Matthias Samuelsson Signs his ELC with the Sabres

[Brawndo]

per Joe Yerdon

Edited March 25, 2020 by Brawndo

[Brawndo]

 

[Brawndo]

 

[Zamboni]

Big boy and physical 

yes please!

Headed to Rochester?

 

[Zamboni]

1 minute ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

Yes, and likely not any further.

Really? No chance a 19 year old 2nd rounder will develop over the next 3 years to secure a spot on an NHL roster? Seems kinda definitive to me ?‍♂️

[LGR4GM]

2 minutes ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

Yes, and likely not any further.

He's got 3rd pairing potential but man, I worry about his agility and puck transition game. Maybe he will pop, we shall see. 

Just now, Zamboni said:

Really? No chance a 19 year old 2nd rounder will develop over the next 3 years to secure a spot on an NHL roster? Seems kinda definitive to me ?‍♂️

He's 20 but he has a long way to go to make the NHL. I would have liked him to stay in college another year. 

[dudacek]

Surprises me a bit.

Not because of his stage of development; he’s more than physically ready for the AHL.

Its because of the crowd on the blueline might limit his opportunities in Rochester, unless the Sabres back off on their tendency to have guys like Redmond, Gilmour and Nelson filling spots in the AHL.

I guess they figure he’s going to benefit more competing with those guys than playing in college.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

33 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

Really? No chance a 19 year old 2nd rounder will develop over the next 3 years to secure a spot on an NHL roster? Seems kinda definitive to me ?‍♂️

Well, I would say....almost definitely one way or the other. LOL

[shrader]

I'm a little surprised that any underclassmen would be signing right now.  Maybe they're hoping on actually getting some NHL playing time this year if they do manage to restart the season during the summer.  I guess this could be a rare opportunity to get more pro games than the typical year.  Then again, they're going to be out of game shape if that does happen.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Surprises me a bit.

Not because of his stage of development; he’s more than physically ready for the AHL.

Its because of the crowd on the blueline might limit his opportunities in Rochester, unless the Sabres back off on their tendency to have guys like Redmond, Gilmour and Nelson filling spots in the AHL.

I guess they figure he’s going to benefit more competing with those guys than playing in college.

Next year's AHL blueline isn't really that crowded.  Nelson and Gilmour are UFAs.  Spencer and Hickey are RFAs and unlikely to return.  Borgen, Bryson and Fitzgerald are under contract for next year, but leaves 3 slots for Samuelsson and others.  Redmond likely returns. I think Pilut is a Sabre full time next season.  

If I had to guess, another slot will go to Laaksonen  (I think his Euro contract is up) when they bring him over.

Starting 6 - Redmond, Borgen, Bryson, Fitzgerald, Samuelsson and Laaksonen. 

[dudacek]

58 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Next year's AHL blueline isn't really that crowded.  Nelson and Gilmour are UFAs.  Spencer and Hickey are RFAs and unlikely to return.  Borgen, Bryson and Fitzgerald are under contract for next year, but leaves 3 slots for Samuelsson and others.  Redmond likely returns. I think Pilut is a Sabre full time next season.  

If I had to guess, another slot will go to Laaksonen  (I think his Euro contract is up) when they bring him over.

Starting 6 - Redmond, Borgen, Bryson, Fitzgerald, Samuelsson and Laaksonen. 

That’s what I meant by backing off on tendencies.

It would be a marked departure for the Botterill Sabres to dress 5 of 6 starting defencemen who are prospects, four of them with less than 70 games pro experience.

Every year previously they’ve signed at least three savvy vets down there, sometimes more.

[inkman]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

That’s what I meant by backing off on tendencies.

It would be a marked departure for the Botterill Sabres to dress 5 of 6 starting defencemen who are prospects, four of them with less than 70 games pro experience.

Every year previously they’ve signed at least three savvy vets down there, sometimes more.

Maybe because they had to?  Unless they wanted ECHL stalwarts Justin Bisson or Toby Baudry in their AHL lineup.  

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Next year's AHL blueline isn't really that crowded.  Nelson and Gilmour are UFAs.  Spencer and Hickey are RFAs and unlikely to return.  Borgen, Bryson and Fitzgerald are under contract for next year, but leaves 3 slots for Samuelsson and others.  Redmond likely returns. I think Pilut is a Sabre full time next season.  

If I had to guess, another slot will go to Laaksonen  (I think his Euro contract is up) when they bring him over.

Starting 6 - Redmond, Borgen, Bryson, Fitzgerald, Samuelsson and Laaksonen. 

Everything I've seen tells me Laaks is under contract in Finland next year. 

He signed a 2yr extension in Dec of '18. If under contract at that time ('18-19 season) the extension would be for '19-'20 and '20-'21 seasons is my guess.

[bob_sauve28]

Must be getting too good for college so this is his next step. A year or more in Rochester will make him better still. Defenseman take so much time to develop. 

 

I wonder if JBott is going to sign a college goalie to develop 

[shrader]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

That’s what I meant by backing off on tendencies.

It would be a marked departure for the Botterill Sabres to dress 5 of 6 starting defencemen who are prospects, four of them with less than 70 games pro experience.

Every year previously they’ve signed at least three savvy vets down there, sometimes more.

There's going to be a lot of movement this offseason.  With the turnover on the cap and with the team itself, some trades are coming.

[nfreeman]

3 hours ago, dudacek said:

That’s what I meant by backing off on tendencies.

It would be a marked departure for the Botterill Sabres to dress 5 of 6 starting defencemen who are prospects, four of them with less than 70 games pro experience.

Every year previously they’ve signed at least three savvy vets down there, sometimes more.

There's an assumption here that distresses me...

[Taro T]

5 hours ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

He's huge and slow - those two things seem very unlikely to change.  Stay at home shut down defenseman, Captain of the World Junior team. Key penalty killer.  Team USA had the worst PK in the tournament. Something like 64%.

Can he get better? Sure.  Are the things he needs to fix among the most difficult to change? Yup.  He might make the league but if he's in your top 6 you are probably a bad team because he's going to look like a road cone a lot.

Figure that he's projected to fill the LT McCabe role ~3 seasons from now.  The rest of the D has good speed.  Even in the '05-'06 season when obstruction was basically gone and speed was king, teams had room and a need for 1-2 big, strong D-men hanging out on the 3rd pairing.  

Don't know that he'll ever be good enough that we won't bemoan his being a Sabre, but am fairly certain he's getting that chance relatively soon.

As for other posts about why an underclassman might come out early, especially one coming from a smaller program; really have to believe that he'll have much better access to top end training facilities whenever the quarantine finally gets lifted in WNY (Buffalo over the summer, Ra-cha-cha after that) rather than on campus at W Michigan.

[Curt]

34 minutes ago, Taro T said:

As for other posts about why an underclassman might come out early, especially one coming from a smaller program; really have to believe that he'll have much better access to top end training facilities whenever the quarantine finally gets lifted in WNY (Buffalo over the summer, Ra-cha-cha after that) rather than on campus at W Michigan.

For those who don’t know.  Mattias Samuelsson is the son Kjell Samuelsson who spent 14 years in the NHL as a big bruising defenseman.  I’m sure that Mattias has had access to the very best training both on and off the ice for his entire life.

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, Curt said:

For those who don’t know.  Mattias Samuelsson is the son Kjell Samuelsson who spent 14 years in the NHL as a big bruising defenseman.  I’m sure that Mattias has had access to the very best training both on and off the ice for his entire life.

No doubt.  But, he's not going to have the same access to the same equipment and trainers towards the end of summer living on the big oven mitt that he'll have access to as a pro.

[dudacek]

Other than a handful of you who actually scout video on these guys, is the generally negative feeling toward Samuelsson mostly about his profile and the unfashionability of big, stay-at-home defencemen these days?

Is there no longer room for that type in the league? Cernak from Tampa seems to be doing pretty well. It certainly describes the current Chara. Brandon Carlo is effective. David Savard? Josh Manson?

The kid is a physical specimen, smart and he captained USDP team and the WJC team. Why do we think he's going to be Brad Miller?

[Zamboni]

We?

i don’t think that. Frankly like a lot of developing prospects, I like taking a wait n see approach instead of having a definitive opinion on young players. I’m hopeful he’ll develop into a slightly better Mike Weber type. And  that would mean he’ll have a long NHL career. Even if it’s as a #5/6.

[Carmel Corn]

Perhaps he might develop like Brayden McNabb???

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, Zamboni said:

We?

I personally don't think that either, but I think the collective summarily has more doubts about this prospect relatively to his draft position than most of our prospects.

1 minute ago, Carmel Corn said:

Perhaps he might develop like Brayden McNabb???

There's one I forgot. Samuelsson is a far better skater than McNabb.

[shrader]

14 hours ago, dudacek said:

Other than a handful of you who actually scout video on these guys, is the generally negative feeling toward Samuelsson mostly about his profile and the unfashionability of big, stay-at-home defencemen these days?

Is there no longer room for that type in the league? Cernak from Tampa seems to be doing pretty well. It certainly describes the current Chara. Brandon Carlo is effective. David Savard? Josh Manson?

The kid is a physical specimen, smart and he captained USDP team and the WJC team. Why do we think he's going to be Brad Miller?

Much of the negativity is due to the position he plays and the GM who drafted him.

[inkman]

14 hours ago, dudacek said:

I personally don't think that either, but I think the collective summarily has more doubts about this prospect relatively to his draft position than most of our prospects.

There's one I forgot. Samuelsson is a far better skater than McNabb.

I never thought Brayden was that poor of a skater