Steelheads add forward Samuelsson

Boise, Idaho – Idaho Steelheads Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Neil Graham announced that the team has agreed to terms with 2012 first-round NHL draft pick Henrik Samuelsson on a contract for the 2017-18 season. The forward is preparing for his fourth professional season, and first in the ECHL.

The Steelheads are the ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Dallas Stars and the American Hockey League's Texas Stars.

Samuelsson, 23, has played three professional seasons in the American Hockey League, spending the 2016-17 campaign with the Tucson Roadrunners and Bakersfield Condors. He was taken 27th overall by the Arizona Coyotes and played three NHL games for the Coyotes during the 2014-15 season.

The Pittsburgh, Pa. native recorded three points (2g-1a) in 25 AHL games last season with Tucson and Bakersfield. In 136 career AHL games with Bakersfield, Tucson, Springfield and Portland, Samuelsson has totaled 55 points (23g-32a) and 106 penalty minutes.

He enjoyed his best professional season with AHL Portland in 2014-15, notching 40 points (18g-22a) in 68 games. Samuelsson also recorded five points (2g-3a) in five playoff games that year.

Samuelsson won Western Hockey League championships with the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2012 and 2014, as well as the 2014 Memorial Cup. Samuelsson was named to the Memorial Cup All-Star Teams in 2012 and in 2014, and he was the leading scorer in the 2014 Memorial Cup Tournament. Samuelsson recorded 198 points (75g-123a) in 162 WHL games between 2011-14, and he also played for Modo of the second-tier Swedish professional league HockeyAllsvenskan at the start of the 2011-12 season.