BUFFALO – Mattias Samuelsson acknowledged this latest one has been difficult to handle. The oft-injured Sabres defenseman worked during the offseason to help his body stay healthy.
Then 13 games into his season, he suffered a lower-body injury in his return after watching three contests as a healthy scratch.
Samuelsson, 24, has missed the last 10 games.
“It’s really hard mentally,” he said Thursday morning after joining his teammates on the ice in a non-contact role as they prepared for the Winnipeg Jets. “I can’t lie about that. I did a lot of things over the summer to help my body or put myself in the best situation to stay healthy.
“It’s deflating a bit, especially since I wasn’t too happy with my game at the start of the year and then injury on top of that. It’s hard.”
Samuelsson has missed a whopping 80 games since the start of 2022-23, including 41 last year, when he underwent season-ending shoulder surgery.
He sometimes struggled during his healthy stints last season, hardly looking like a shutdown defender who earned a seven-year, $30 million contract.
When he started slowly this season – “I was in my head a lot about stuff,” he said – new Sabres coach Lindy Ruff benched him.
In his return Nov. 11, Montreal Canadiens winger Juraj Slafkovsky knocked Samuelsson to the ice as he tried to enter a scrum. He said he did not think the injury was serious.
After undergoing an MRI and seeing a specialist in New York, it was decided he did not need surgery.
“That was a good sign,” he said in KeyBank Center. “Still, sitting out … feels like a year, especially when the team is out in Cali and stuff. When you don’t get to be around the group, it’s long days.”
Those long days should be ending soon.
“I gave it a good push and felt good, so … I would say a couple more skates like that, then if they want me in the lineup, that’s a decision for the coaches,” he said. “But I don’t think I’m too far off.”