4. The flip side of these lineup decisions is that Samuelsson, who is in the second season of a seven-year contract extension that pays him more than $4 million per year, has been a healthy scratch for two straight games.
“It’s basically just a kick in the butt,” Samuelsson said this week. “I mean, if you asked me before I got scratched, I would have told you that I needed to be better anyways. So, it’s not like it was a secret beforehand. You could say a little added motivation, but get back to work. I plan on playing in the NHL a long time. You’re going to have your ups and downs, so I’m not too worried about it.”
Samuelsson is also an alternate captain, so the move by Ruff was eye-opening. But it’s also working. Samuelsson said these are Ruff’s decisions to make and he obviously hasn’t been good enough if he’s even in the conversation to be out of the lineup. He knows he needs to make quicker decisions with the puck and be more physical.
For the last two years, Samuelsson often played on the top pair with Dahlin and got 20-plus minutes a night. This season, he’s been playing just 16:51 per game on the third pair. He’s been on the ice for eight of Buffalo’s 11 short-handed goals against. Now that Bryson and Gilbert have played well, Ruff has more means to create internal competition.
