After struggling and getting scratched, Sabres’ Mattias Samuelsson thrived late

BUFFALO – If Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson could do it over again, he would make New Jersey Devils winger Stefan Noesen pay for the suspect hit that concussed teammate Tage Thompson.

Four other Sabres skaters were on the ice Feb. 2 when Noesen thumped the Sabres’ leading scorer in the head. None of them went after him.

The 6-foot-4, 227-pound Samuelsson, however, bore the brunt of the criticism for the team’s inaction as a woozy Thompson struggled to get up from the ice.

“Not my proudest moment or anything like that,” Samuelsson said Saturday as the Sabres held end-of-season meetings in KeyBank Center. “Obviously, (I) would change a lot about how everything was handled.”

That moment probably ranks as Samuelsson’s lowest in a trying season in which he battled more injuries and ineffectiveness.

Still, he and the Sabres learned from the embarrassing incident. The following day, they canceled practice, had some discussions and vowed it would never happen again. They emerged from it as a tighter and tougher team.

Down the stretch, they took care of any notable incidents.

“I think you felt a little bit of a shift in the team toughness and attitude after that,” said Samuelsson, who served as an alternate captain for the first time this season. “So, yeah, obviously, it wasn’t a positive moment in the season, but I do think there was some positives to take in the aftermath of it.”

Over the final weeks of the season, Samuelsson, 25, rebuilt his game, finishing on what Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams called “a positive.”

Adams said in the beginning of the season, it looked like Samuelsson, who underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in 2023-24 and played just 41 games, lacked physicality and had lost his confidence.

“He wasn’t killing plays the way he can,” he said. “You guys know when he’s playing his best, he’s heavy and he’s hard to play against. That wasn’t what we were seeing early in the season.”

Samuelsson said in his first 15 to 20 outings, his “game definitely wasn’t up to standard.”

He struggled so badly that Sabres coach Lindy Ruff scratched him three times in early November. In his first contest back, he suffered a lower-body injury and missed 12 games.

Samuelsson improved following his return, although Ruff scratched him once in early March, saying at the time he wanted him to be harder to play against.

“Coming back maybe some of the injuries he’s had, it took him a little longer than he or any of us would have wanted or expected,” Adams said. “His season overall wasn’t where he needs to be. The positive of it is he looked like himself down the stretch.”

Samuelsson spent most of that time skating alongside ultra-talented captain Rasmus Dahlin on the Sabres’ top defense tandem.

“When he went back and played with Rasmus, he settled into the way he can play to be effective,” Adams said. “(It) also frees up Rasmus to be Rasmus.”

What changed for Samuelsson late in the season? He said he started moving his feet more often and finding himself up in the play.

“When you’re skating, I find myself just playing better, playing more free,” he said. “And I think I was trying to get involved a little more, trying to get up the ice, stuff like that. And just taking pride trying to be hard to play against every shift, whether in front of our guy or in the corners, try to make it miserable on the other team’s forwards every night.”

Adams said on Saturday he spoke at length with Samuelsson about his strong play in the final weeks.

“Now he can go into the offseason healthy and really attack the offseason to be ready on Day One next year,” he said.

But will Samuelsson, who just finished the second season of a seven-year, $30 million contract, be around next season?

He once seemed to be a major piece of the Sabres’ young core as their top shutdown defender. But at times in the past two seasons, he has often looked like someone who sorely needs a change of scenery.

After missing the playoffs for the 14th consecutive season, the Sabres could make some significant changes.

Given his play late in the season, Samuelsson might be an asset other teams are interested in acquiring.