Ulf Samuelsson

Ulf Samuelsson
Date of birth	March 26, 1964
place of birth	Fagersta , Sweden
size	185 cm
Weight	92 kg
position	defender
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1982 , 4th lap, 67th position Hartford Whalers
Career stations
1981-1984	Leksands IF
1984-1991	Hartford Whalers
1991-1995	Pittsburgh Penguins
1995-1999	New York Rangers
1999	Detroit Red Wings
1999-2000	Philadelphia Flyers

Ulf Samuelsson (born March 26, 1964 in Fagersta ) is a former Swedish ice hockey player and current coach with a US passport. The defender made over 1200 appearances in the National Hockey League for the Hartford Whalers , Pittsburgh Penguins , New York Rangers , Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers during his playing career . With the Penguins he won the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992 . He also represented the Swedish national team in a number of international tournaments, including the 1990 World Cup , where the team won the silver medal, and the 1998 Winter Olympics . After his active career, Samuelsson has worked as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes , New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks, among others .

Player career

The 1.85 m tall defender played at Leksands IF in the Swedish Elitserien , before he was selected ( drafted ) in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft as 67th in the fourth round of the Hartford Whalers .

The Whalers already used him in the 1984/85 season regularly in the NHL, in 1991 he was transferred to the Pittsburgh Penguins together with Ron Francis , with whom he won the Stanley Cup and the North American ice hockey championship in 1991 and 1992 . The lockout in the shortened season 1994/95 spent the left-handed shooter again at Leksands IF, after the season he was transferred from the Penguins to the New York Rangers . Samuelsson's last two career stations were the Detroit Red Wings in the 1998/99 season and the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1999/00 season .

During his time in North America, Samuelsson drew attention to himself mainly through his tough, sometimes even unfair style of play. He was also responsible for the premature retirement of Cam Neely and Pierre Mondou , who both announced their retirement from active ice hockey after serious injuries caused by Samuelsson. In a survey by the US TV broadcaster ESPN in 2002, the Swede was ranked fourth among the “dirtiest professional sports players of all time” .

International

With the Swedish national team , Ulf Samuelsson contested the Junior World Championships in 1982 , 1983 and 1984 . With the seniors he took part in the 1985 and 1990 World Championships , where the team won the silver medal, and in the 1991 Canada Cup . He was also part of the NHL All-Stars team at the Rendez-vous '87 against the Soviet national ice hockey team .

During the 1998 Olympic ice hockey tournament , the defender was removed from the Swedish national team after it was revealed that he had applied for and obtained US citizenship. He was then stripped of his Swedish citizenship, which he only regained when Sweden introduced dual citizenship in 2003.

Coaching career

Ulf Samuelsson as coach of MODO Hockey

Ulf Samuelsson began his coaching career in the 2003/04 season when he was the head coach of the US amateur team Phantoms Ice Hockey Club Squirt . This was followed by engagements as assistant coach with the Avon Old Farms School team in the 2004/05 season and with the Hartford Wolf Pack from the American Hockey League in the 2005/06 season . From the 2006/07 season he worked as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL. First he assisted Wayne Gretzky , from 2009 to 2011 he supported Dave Tippett on the gang. In May 2011, Samuelsson was introduced as the head coach of MODO Hockey from the Elitserien. In July 2013 he was hired in the position of assistant coach by the New York Rangers, with whom he worked for three years. After taking on the Charlotte Checkers as head coach in the 2016/17 season , he was hired by the Chicago Blackhawks as an assistant coach in June 2017 . There he was sacked along with head coach Joel Quenneville in November 2018 .

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1981/82	Leksands IF	SEL		31	3	1	4th	40		-	-	-	-	-
1982/83	Leksands IF	SEL		33	9	6th	15th	72		-	-	-	-	-
1983/84	Leksands IF	SEL		36	5	11	16	53		-	-	-	-	-
1984/85	Binghamton Whalers	AHL		36	5	11	16	92		-	-	-	-	-
1984/85	Hartford Whalers	NHL		41	2	6th	8th	83		-	-	-	-	-
1985/86	Hartford Whalers	NHL		80	5	19th	24	174		10	1	2	3	38
1986/87	Hartford Whalers	NHL		78	2	31	33	162		5	0	1	1	41
1987/88	Hartford Whalers	NHL		76	8th	33	41	159		5	0	0	0	8th
1988/89	Hartford Whalers	NHL		71	9	26th	35	181		4th	0	2	2	4th
1989/90	Hartford Whalers	NHL		55	2	11	13	177		7th	1	0	1	18th
1990/91	Hartford Whalers	NHL		62	3	18th	21st	174		-	-	-	-	-
1990/91	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		14th	1	4th	5	37		20th	3	2	5	34
1991/92	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		62	1	14th	15th	206		21st	0	2	2	39
1992/93	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		77	3	26th	29	249		12	1	5	6th	24
1993/94	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		80	5	24	29	199		6th	0	1	1	18th
1994/95	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		44	1	15th	16	113		7th	0	2	2	8th
1994/95	Leksands IF	SEL		2	0	0	0	8th		-	-	-	-	-
1995/96	New York Rangers	NHL		74	1	18th	19th	122		11	1	5	6th	16
1996/97	New York Rangers	NHL		73	6th	11	17th	138		15th	0	2	2	30th
1997/98	New York Rangers	NHL		73	3	9	12	122		-	-	-	-	-
1998/99	New York Rangers	NHL		67	4th	8th	12	93		-	-	-	-	-
1998/99	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		4th	0	0	0	6th		9	0	3	3	10
1999/00	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		49	1	2	3	58		-	-	-	-	-
Elitserien total				102	17th	18th	35	173		0	0	0	0	0
NHL overall				1080	57	275	332	2453		132	7th	27	34	288

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

family

Samuelsson's four children - three sons and a daughter - are all involved in ice hockey. His eldest son Philip Samuelsson (* 1991) was selected in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and won the gold medal at the U18 Junior World Championship that same year . In the 2013/14 season he made his debut in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Penguins . Henrik Samuelsson (* 1994) was selected in the first round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft . He was also world champion in the U18 junior division in 2011 , before making his debut in the NHL for the Arizona Coyotes in the 2014/15 season . The youngest son Adam (* 2000) is also considered a promising talent. The daughter Victoria Samuelsson (* 1996) has been the Swedish national player since 2013 .

Web links

• Ulf Samuelsson at eurohockey.com
• Ulf Samuelsson at hockeydb.com (English)
• Ulf Samuelsson at legendsofhockey.net (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ESPN, The Dirtiest Professional Athletes Ever