Surprised Samuelsson Signs WIth The Bruins
The Boston Bruins have announced the signing of 2000 first round draft pick
Martin Samuelsson, who agreed to a three-year contract June 18.
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“This is a great chance for me,” said Samuelsson to Swedish hockey site
hockeymagasinet.com. “Sure, I’m a little bit surprised but it’s
nice to know that the Bruins believe in me.”
Picked 27th overall, Samuelsson measures a solid 6’2, 200 pounds and has
excellent speed for his size. Employed as a winger, he has honed his offensive
skills in Hammarby in Sweden’s second league, the Allsvenskan. Hammarby
is a club known in Sweden for its love of artistic bohemian
players. Florida Panthers rookie sensation Kristian Huselius took his first
strides in the Hammarby organization and he is a perfect example of the type
of player that the club likes to develop.
Samuelsson, however, is a different kind of player. He does not shy away from
physical play and he is a durable player. There have been questions about his
offensive upside, but if he could figure out to use his speed to his advantage
he could become a legitimate offensive threat.
The winger put up good numbers in his rookie season in the Allsvenskan when
he scored 15 goals and six assists in 38 games, but had a harder time this season
when he scored 13 goals in 44 games, a total that was lower than expected. Before
the season, Hammarby pinned its hopes for promotion to the Elitserien on youngsters
like Samuelsson and Lightning draft pick Andreas Holmqvist, but the plan failed
miserably as many of the youngsters seemed unable to handle the pressure. The
team was never close to challenging for a spot.
Samuelsson comes from Upplands-Väsby just north of Stockholm, a town that
has made its mark in hockey in a unusual way. It is the home of eighties heavy
metal band Europe whose one-hit wonder “The Final Countdown” is a
well-known hockey anthem and the small local club who came from nowhere and
earned promotion to the Elitserien in the mid-eighties and earned the nickname
“Wild Väsby”. The stories has been less rosy after that, the
club only won one game in the Elitserien and was relegated and has since disappeared
from top-level hockey and rock-act Europe disbanded a few years after their
big hit.
Samuelsson hopes to endure better than the above mentioned and he is prepared
to play in the American Hockey League.
“It will be hard for me to grab a spot right away,” said Samuelsson
to hockeymagasinet.com. “I’ll probably end up in the AHL, but it’s
a step up for me anyway, I’ve never played in the Elitserien.”
That last part makes Samuelsson an exception when it comes to Swedes and the
NHL. Very few cross the Atlantic without proving themselves in the Elitserien
first and the Swedish perception of the AHL is often like hearing cult-movie
“Slapshot” reiterated.
Peter Nordström, an Elitserien veteran, who ended up with the AHL-version of the Bruins following training camp could only stand the game there for a couple of months before returning home with
a lot of bitterness and resentment towards the Bruins. It is a well-documented
fact that not all Swedes handle the AHL well.
There are one notable exception however of a Swede who crossed the big sea
as an unknown and has developed well and made himself a name in the NHL. That
player is King’s defenseman Mattias Norström.
The Bruins brass will hope Samuelsson is a Norström and not a Nordström.