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Player Discussion - Mattias Samuelsson, LHD, Hurt Again | Page 18 | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League
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Player Discussion Mattias Samuelsson, LHD, Hurt Again

They will send him down at least one more time so he can do AHL playoffs.

Miller and Hagg and Butcher may all be moved so he will be a roster player eventually this year. But I'd say he has earned it and he has definitely earned Granatos trust.

I've been wanting them to pair him Dahlin since the pre season and I hope they give that a try this year
 
ValJamesDuex said:
Mike Weber deserves some credit for helping with Samuelsson's development in Roch. Hopefully they can improve Laaksonnen's defensive game as well.
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That makes a ton of sense. Mike Weber's game was always defensive zone presence based. To his credit Mattias' game is built on stay at home strength and board play.
 
New Sabres Captain said:
I really, really wish Samuelsson was a righty. He'd be a good partner for Dahlin or Power.
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I wonder if the analytics nerds can convince them to let Dahlin shift to the right.

This gives you a top-4 you can run with for at least the next two, hopefully five, seasons (Sam/Dahl and Power/Joker) and eventually Ryan Johnson and an RHD we select in the 1st round this season as the 3rd pair.
 
elchud said:
I wonder if the analytics nerds can convince them to let Dahlin shift to the right.

This gives you a top-4 you can run with for at least the next two, hopefully five, seasons (Sam/Dahl and Power/Joker) and eventually Ryan Johnson and an RHD we select in the 1st round this season as the 3rd pair.
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Considering one of the analytics guys wrote the book on why appropriate forehand side defensemen are better as pairs... probably not.
 
elchud said:
I wonder if the analytics nerds can convince them to let Dahlin shift to the right.

This gives you a top-4 you can run with for at least the next two, hopefully five, seasons (Sam/Dahl and Power/Joker) and eventually Ryan Johnson and an RHD we select in the 1st round this season as the 3rd pair.
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Eh...Bryson is a staple in the top-4 until proven otherwise. Kid's been amazing this year. Samuelsson can work the 3rd pairing. Not sure what the hell we do when Power comes up.
 
Chainshot said:
Considering one of the analytics guys wrote the book on why appropriate forehand side defensemen are better as pairs... probably not.
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Fair but would they have been against Coffey or Bourque playing on their off hand?

If there is inflexibility and group think its just the other side of a two headed coin.
 
elchud said:
Fair but would they have been against Coffey or Bourque playing on their off hand?

If there is inflexibility and group think its just the other side of a two headed coin.
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Between now and the end of this season would be the time to try Dahlin on the right side. This is a building year.

Put Samuelsson with Dahlin for 20 games or so and see what happens. If Dahlin is a tire fire on the right side, then you know that you need to plan on him playing on the left side moving forward and they can approach the off season accordingly.

If they play well as a pair, then you have found something you can count on moving forward and you can approach the off season with a little less of a need to address the right side immediately beyond re-signing Pysyk or adding a guy via trade or FA.
 
Dubi Doo said:
Eh...Bryson is a staple in the top-4 until proven otherwise. Kid's been amazing this year. Samuelsson can work the 3rd pairing. Not sure what the hell we do when Power comes up.
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I'm all for Bryson on the 3rd pair but it seems like Dahlin/Power/Samuelsson on the left is what they're looking at long term
 
And other thought is to do what they did in some of the PK against the Sens... put Samuelsson out there as the right hand side guy with Dahlin. Dahlin's settled in over the last 6-7 weeks and looks good, even great, at his job. Dahlin gets someone who is responsible and physical on his pair. Not sure if he can do it, but it is time to find out.
 
Chainshot said:
And other thought is to do what they did in some of the PK against the Sens... put Samuelsson out there as the right hand side guy with Dahlin. Dahlin's settled in over the last 6-7 weeks and looks good, even great, at his job. Dahlin gets someone who is responsible and physical on his pair. Not sure if he can do it, but it is time to find out.
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I've been thinking about this scenario a lot, as I think the team really needs a steady defender in their top 4. I'd also like to see Samuelsson get more minutes than a 3rd pairing defender.

The only thing I'd be concerned about is hurting Samuelsson's development by taking him off the side he's been most comfortable before he's had a chance to fully adjust to the NHL level. But ultimately I think him or Bryson will need to play their off-hand side next year, so may as well start looking at it in a season where wins and losses and secondary goals to player development.
 
Fezzy126 said:
I've been thinking about this scenario a lot, as I think the team really needs a steady defender in their top 4. I'd also like to see Samuelsson get more minutes than a 3rd pairing defender.

The only thing I'd be concerned about is hurting Samuelsson's development by taking him off the side he's been most comfortable before he's had a chance to fully adjust to the NHL level. But ultimately I think him or Bryson will need to play their off-hand side next year, so may as well start looking at it in a season where wins and losses and secondary goals to player development.
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Yeah, that's a good point as well.

Luckily it seems they have some time to figure this out. Hopefully they start trying to see how to work this out instead of punting this down the road like they did with every other combo/use issue since... well... 2011.
 
We all kind of agree that this is the time to try things. Maybe my wanting Dahlin to be let loose to do Bobby Orr type things isn't relevant. Find out what pairs work and who can be effective in what situations. We have several talented D-men which is a good problem to have, one we are not used to.
 
elchud said:
We all kind of agree that this is the time to try things. Maybe my wanting Dahlin to be let loose to do Bobby Orr type things isn't relevant. Find out what pairs work and who can be effective in what situations. We have several talented D-men which is a good problem to have, one we are not used to.
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I'd love for them to just turn Dahlin loose with a stable, physical partner behind him too. Samuelsson as Lindgren to Dahlin's Fox would be an interesting pair. The other thought would be pairing Samuelsson up with Jokiharju and looking elsewhere for Dahlin's pair - it gives them the breakout/takeout pair balance too.
 
It's crazy to think that we had a glut of RHD, now it could be the opposite.

I wouldn't switch Samuelsson to the right.

I don't think the team should plan to have a LD on their off side heading into training camp. I think you acquire a balance of players. Through injury anyway you will have them switching sides.
 
Dahlin- Joker/XXX
Samuelsson/Power- Joker/XXX
Samuelsson/Power- Pysyk

Bryson

Let's go get a solid RD vet around 26-30 yrs old. Your 7 D plays 40-50 games on average. Remember how much jump Bryson had earlier in the year? Keep those legs fresh.
 
elchud said:
I'm all for Bryson on the 3rd pair but it seems like Dahlin/Power/Samuelsson on the left is what they're looking at long term
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Im a huge Samuelsson fan, but I have to disagree. I believe Bryson is showing himself to be a very good 2nd pairing guy. His skating and transition game are really strong. He's also been a gem defensively, and made Miller look serviceable in the d zone. I like Samuelsson, but not at the expense of Bryson. Bryson has shown more in the NHL, and it's not because Samuelsson has been bad in his showing. Samuelsson has also looked good in his showing, but Bryson has been on another level.
 
Next year:

Dahlin-Joker/****
Power-Joker/****
Bryson-Joker/****
Samuelsson-Joker/****

x Fitzgerald
x Johnson
 
Chainshot said:
On my phone and I first thought "they have to work out how to clone Henri".
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If we're being mad scientists, I'd prefer we use our evil genius to make a right-shot version of Samuelsson.
Dahlin-Joker
Power-Samuelsson
Bryson-OK we might need to also think about cloning someone
 
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