Mattias Samuelsson signed a seven-year, $30 million contract with the Buffalo Sabers on Wednesday. It has an average annual value of $4.29 million.
“I think it was easy because, I’ve said it before, I want to be a part of this for a long time,” Samuelsson said about negotiations. “That feeling was always there from my side. When they expressed that they were interested in the long term too, it wasn’t too long before something came together. It was a pretty easy process when both sides were pretty much on the same page. the whole time.”
The 22-year-old defenseman had 10 assists in 42 games for the Sabers last season. He averaged 20 minutes of ice time per game, fourth on the Sabers behind defensemen Rasmus Dahlin (24:01), Owen Power (22:05) and Henri Jokiharju (21:53).
“Mattias Samuelsson, in our mind, is exactly the type of person we want to be here long term,” general manager Kevyn Adams said. “He’s a great teammate, he’s a great hockey player who we believe has the work ethic and character to continue to get better. He plays a style that we don’t have as much as a 6-foot-4, 232-pound defender. that’s tough to play against and can also have the skill to move the puck. And he’ll continue to work on his game to get better. For us, I look at it more as an investment and you have to make these types of decisions as we build out our roster and obviously we were comfortable doing that.”
Video: The crew on Mattias Samuelsson‘s contract extension
Samuelsson is in the final season of a three-year, entry level contract he signed on March 25, 2020, and could have become a restricted free agent after the season.
A second-round pick (No. 32) by the Sabers in the 2018 NHL Draft, Samuelsson has 12 assists in 54 games with Buffalo.
“I’ve taken huge jumps,” Samuelsson said in May. “Personally, I think just being up here (with the Sabres) for however many games it was, the style of play, we play with no hesitation. I think it allows you to develop and just play on instincts rather than thinking so much of systems or details or anything like that. I think I’ve grown a lot as a player this year and can carry that over into next year’s training camp, and just keep going.”
The Sabers on Wednesday also signed coach Don Granato to a multiyear extension.
Buffalo opens the regular season against the Ottawa Senators at KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Thursday (7 pm ET; MSG-B, TSN5, RDS, ESPN+, SN NOW).
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