Sabres reportedly turning down trade interest in intriguing defenseman

The Sabres have heard from teams looking to trade for shutdown defenseman Mattias Samuelsson following another injury-plagued season. However, The Fourth Period reports that general manager Kevyn Adams has been telling interested parties the team has no plans to move on from him.

Samuelsson’s 2023-24 season was the first of the seven-year, $30M extension he signed in October 2022. Signed on the eve of the Sabres’ regular-season opener last season, it was a controversial buy-low move at the time – he only had 54 NHL games under his belt and hadn’t even scored his first goal.

Early on, Samuelsson, 24, seemed on track to give Buffalo $4.286M worth of on-ice value yearly as soon as this season. 2022-23 was a solid sophomore campaign for the 2018 second-round pick, who settled into a top-pairing role alongside Rasmus Dahlin and put up 10 points and a +14 rating in 55 games.

All of his 27 absences were due to injuries. A knee injury kept him out of the lineup for most of the season’s first quarter, and an upper-body injury had him in and out of the lineup down the stretch as the Sabres finished one point out of a playoff spot. Juxtaposing their record with and without Samuelsson in the lineup (33-18-4 vs. 9-15-3 without) offered some anecdotal evidence that their decade-plus playoff drought may have ended in 2023 had he stayed healthy.

While the Sabres took a step back this season, mainly due to a lack of scoring, Samuelsson continued improving. He saw his average time on ice reduced from 22:11 to 20:30, no doubt influenced by multiple appearances stunted by injuries, but he posted the best even-strength possession results of his career with a 50.5 CF%. His pairing with Dahlin improved slightly at controlling shot quality, posting an xGF% of 50.0 compared to last season’s 49.4, per MoneyPuck.

Unfortunately, his campaign ended in late January. After missing a few games with an upper-body injury, later revealed to be shoulder-related, he underwent surgery in early February. He was ruled out for the rest of the campaign.

Thankfully, his absence likely won’t stretch into training camp next fall. The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski reported during the Sabres’ end-of-season media availability that Samuelsson had been cleared to resume skating.

He finished the season with one goal, six assists, seven points and a +4 rating in 41 appearances. With his defensive improvements, he arguably provided his highest single-season value as an NHLer, even if their record with and without him this season didn’t have the same dramatic difference as last year.

Some had wondered whether the Sabres would make a corresponding move on defense after striking a deal with the Avalanche to swap Casey Mittelstadt for Bowen Byram before this year’s trade deadline. While most have experience playing both sides, the Sabres’ four highest-value defenders – Byram, Dahlin, Samuelsson and Owen Power – are now all left shots.

It does present a crowded picture, but it’s a cost-controlled one. All except Byram are locked in through at least 2030, and cap space isn’t yet a significant hurdle as the Sabres are tantalizingly close to exiting their years-long rebuild.

Despite his injuries and lengthy contract, Samuelsson’s steady improvements over the past few seasons likely give him some decent trade value. But having a 20-minute-plus defenseman on all three pairings has worked for other teams.

The Lightning had a stacked left side during their back-to-back Stanley Cup wins earlier in the decade, icing Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Mikhail Sergachev on different pairings. With Samuelsson likely sticking around next season, it’s up to incoming head coach Lindy Ruff to decide which of their four minute-munchers is best suited to play on their off side.

The Sabres still have a fair amount of cap space to burn next season – $23.219M, per CapFriendly. Other offseason priorities will include adding a third-line center to complement Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson and a top-six winger, per The Fourth Period’s report. Still, they also have a few restricted free agents to get re-signed. None of them are more crucial than netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, whose .910 SV% in 51 starts this season was instrumental in helping the Sabres allow their fewest goals against per game (2.96) since 2017.