Arizona Coyotes Family Reunion: All The Samuelssons Under One Roof
Arizona Coyotes swap Rob Klinkhammer for Philip Samuelsson, via Pittsburgh Penguins presser
Welcome to the family, Philip Samuelsson!
Per the Pittsburgh Penguins press release:
"“The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired forward Rob Klinkhammer and a conditional 2016 draft pick from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Philip Samuelsson, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.”"
End scene.
The presser then goes on to describe the career highs that Klinkhammer has seen with the Coyotes; it’s really traumatic to let go of one of the more high-energy bottom six players, but let’s face it: the team needed to pick up some talent.
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For Klinkhammer (and the potential future draft pick that Pittsburgh may or may not ever actually end up getting, based on whether or not the Coyotes get to use Philip and how good he is), moving to Pittsburgh puts him on a team that needs a couple more players like him. He’ll head to the Penguins ranking third on his new team in hits per game; assuming he slots in as a fourth line player with the team, he might be met with the kind of stability he needs to elevate his play. He’s generally a ‘good when with good players’ kind of guy, so we obviously wish him the best of luck.
Enough about Rob Klinkhammer, though. Let’s talk about Philip Samuelsson.
If the name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s heading [back] to Arizona to hang with his little bro — or, to be more accurate, to Portland to hand with his little bro.
That’s right — Philip is none other than the older brother of Arizona’s own giant Swedish-American-offensive-Domi-loving Henrik Samuelsson. TWO SWEDES WITH SIZE AND SKILL. LET’S GO, ARIZONA.
This former second-round defenseman finished his last season with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins as a plus-17, recording three goals and nineteen assists in sixty-four games. He also spent two seasons playing for Boston College before heading to the pros, after playing in Henrik’s home state, Arizona.
Dec 21, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Philip Samuelsson (55) skates with the puck against the Calgary Flames during the third period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Seem like a weird trade?
It might not make much sense for Arizona to have unloaded a whole arsenal of blue-line prospects this past season, only to start picking them up again.
Except… can you think of a team that might be willing to make a trade with Arizona for the right blue line players?
Call me crazy, but Arizona might be stocking up for resale value. They could be planning to retain Samuelsson — a team with brothers on it can be absolutely lethal if they click enough on the ice — but regardless, they now have a surplus of NHL-ready defenseman big enough to make a trade with any number of teams that are struggling on the blue line. Toronto and Columbus (even arguably Dallas) could still be fiddling with their back end, but it’s no secret that teams like Edmonton and Philadelphia are becoming positively desperate. Can’t hurt to stock up on things that other people are desperate for.
Obviously today’s a day that quite a few NHL teams are mashing the panic switch with vigor, so let’s not be too hasty — but I think I speak for more than myself when I say that I’m pretty okay with this trade.
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