Kjell Samuelsson

[Eye of Ra]

What do you guys remember of this player? What did he bring to the ice?

Due to how big he is (2 m) i assume he was a physical player?

Was he not the coach for Flyers AHL-team for years?

Just asking out of curiosity.

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[dats81]

He was the Steady Eddie of the defense. And everyone around him seemed to love his personality.

 

[lancer247]

I believe they called him the human tripod.
Next to Brad Marsh, he was probably the king of clutch and grab.
Slow and frustrating to play against. Despite his size he was not overly physical. Not much of a fighter relative to the era he played in and the style of play he used.

He has pretty big factor especially on the PK in the Flyers cup run against Detroit.

Maybe the best description: You hated him when he was on the opposition but appreciated him when he was on your team.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

I have a terrible memory for specifics, but generally speaking, I remember him being steady and unspectacular (in a good way). We had a lot of good options back there at the time, and IIRC a lot of combinations that did and could work - Mark Howe, McCrimmon (RIP), Marsh, Crossman, Daigneault. I remember him being a player who took the body, but didn't necessarily go out of his way to kill guys - we had enough people to take care of that so he didn't have to - but he was more than capable of it when he had to be. He was enormous, especially for that time. He was someone you trusted to keep the puck out of the net when he was on the ice, that's the overwhelming memory I have of him.

 

[aborkie]

He looked awkward at times but he was excellent and could move the puck fairly well, especially for a big guy.

 

[hatcher]

I have a terrible memory for specifics, but generally speaking, I remember him being steady and unspectacular (in a good way). We had a lot of good options back there at the time, and IIRC a lot of combinations that did and could work - Mark Howe, McCrimmon (RIP), Marsh, Crossman, Daigneault. I remember him being a player who took the body, but didn't necessarily go out of his way to kill guys - we had enough people to take care of that so he didn't have to - but he was more than capable of it when he had to be. He was enormous, especially for that time. He was someone you trusted to keep the puck out of the net when he was on the ice, that's the overwhelming memory I have of him.

Remember sammy making anderson's life hell in the 87 finals. By the 3rd game Keenan relied on him heavy and he was great that yr and a solid dman for yrs.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Kjell Samuelsson was cannon

 

[Domino666]

I’m mean obvi he was special or G wouldn’t be wearing his #28

 

[pit]

Was he not the coach for Flyers AHL-team for years?

He was an assistant at the AHL level for over a decade and spent one year as the AHL head coach after Ken Hitchcock was fired and Craig Berube, the AHL coach at the time, was promoted to the Flyers to be an assistant.

Kjell's been in a player development role with us for the last five years.

 

[Rebels57]

My memory of Kjell starts around 95, but I do remember him being as others described; solid defensemen that was unspectacular. Very good on the PK.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

He had a good reputation for penalty killing and crease clearing. Certainly had great size & worked hard & used his reach to his advantage. Wasn’t a great skater with the puck. Got away with a lot more interference than you can in today’s game.

 

[Larry44]

Big Kjell was a towering stud of a defensive Dman.

 

[Tripod]

Back when everyone did not block shots because they were not wearing armour, he was fearless in doing so.

 

[Embiid]

I remember when we acquired him from the Rangers. I was like who is this gangly doofus with a Jofa helmet?? I even referred to one of my table hockey players as Kjell because it was defective. I think as a kid my initial assessment was ….well one of a kid who made fun of something that looked odd and different. In the beginning I do remember him being somewhat turnover prone but then he settled into being very steady. Definitely helped that it was clutch and grab and he had that reach and octopus arms. Gene Hart used to say he was like seaweed when he got his arms around you and neutralized players off the puck. He definitely played an important role in helping the Penguins win back to back cups when we traded him in 91-92. Too bad it wasn't with the Flyers...but nothing new there.

 

[Merchant]

There used to be a quote that Dorny likes to bring up abkut Kjell. Another player described playing against him like playing in seaweed. He was pretty old when they brought him back in the mid-90s, but even then he was a good 6-7 defenseman. Stayed until ‘98, which was probably a year too long.