Samuelsson was selected 67th overall by the
Hartford Whalers in the
1982 NHL entry draft. In February 1987, Samuelsson played in the "
Rendez-vous '87" series as a member of the
NHL All-Stars. The two-game series between the NHL All-Stars and the
Soviet national team took place in Quebec City and replaced the NHL's mid-season
all-star game for the 1986–87 season. He was traded to the
Pittsburgh Penguins along with
Ron Francis in 1991 and was a member of Pittsburgh's
Stanley Cup winning team in 1991 and 1992. He scored the 1991 Stanley Cup-winning goal in game six of the
finals against the
Minnesota North Stars, at 2:00 of the first period in what became an 8–0
blowout victory for Pittsburgh. In game 3 versus the
Boston Bruins during the Prince of Wales Conference final of the
1991 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Samuelsson hit Bruins' star forward
Cam Neely with a knee-on-knee check that injured Neely and caused him to develop a condition called
myositis ossificans, which ultimately ended his career. As a member of the
New York Rangers in 1995, Samuelsson was knocked
unconscious by a punch to the face from
Tie Domi of the
Toronto Maple Leafs. Domi received an eight-game suspension and a fine for the incident. Domi insisted that Samuelsson provoked the punch by repeatedly calling him "dummy". Samuelsson played 1,080 career
NHL games, scoring 57 goals and 275 assists for 332 points. He accumulated 2,453 penalty minutes over the course of his career. During the
Nagano Olympics, he was ejected from the Swedish team when it was discovered that he had requested and received U.S. citizenship. His Swedish citizenship was revoked, and he was not allowed to play for his native country. Sweden appealed the ruling to the
CAS, but their appeal was rejected. The entire ordeal was listed as the seventy-second most important international story by the
IIHF in their centennial celebrations in 2008.
Transactions • March 4, 1991 – traded by the Hartford Whalers, along with Ron Francis and
Grant Jennings, to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for
John Cullen,
Jeff Parker, and
Zarley Zalapski • August 31, 1995 – traded by the Pittsburgh Penguins, along with
Luc Robitaille, to the New York Rangers in exchange for
Petr Nedvěd and
Sergei Zubov. • March 23, 1999 – traded by the New York Rangers to the
Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Detroit's 1999 second round draft choice and the Rangers' 1999 third round draft choice. • June 25, 1999 – traded by the Detroit Red Wings to the
Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for future considerations. • October 19, 1999 – signed as a free agent by the
Philadelphia Flyers. ==Personal life==