Tie Domi knocked out Ulf Samuelsson over this 1 word
He earned an eight-game suspension for it
Ulf Samuelsson
Ulf Samuelsson is a Swedish former NHL defenceman who played 1,080 regular-season games and won the Stanley Cup twice with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Samuelsson is remembered as one of the most disliked opponents of a rough era, above all in Boston, where the 1991 knee-on-knee hit on Cam Neely still defines the Samuelsson name. Samuelsson later coached in the NHL, the AHL and Sweden, and Samuelsson's son Philip reached the NHL as a defenceman too.
| Position | Defenceman, shoots left |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 March 1964 in Fagersta, Sweden |
| Drafted | Hartford Whalers, fourth round, 67th overall, 1982 |
| Teams | Leksands IF, Hartford, Pittsburgh, New York Rangers, Detroit, Philadelphia |
| Career totals | 1,080 NHL games, 57 goals, 275 assists, 332 points, 2,453 penalty minutes |
| Honours | Stanley Cup 1991 and 1992; World Championship silver with Sweden 1990; Olympian in 1998 |
| Known for | The 1991 knee-on-knee hit on Cam Neely, and being booed in every visiting rink |
| After hockey | Coaching: head coach of Modo and Leksands IF, assistant with the Rangers, Coyotes, Blackhawks and Panthers |
Why did Tie Domi knock out Ulf Samuelsson in October 1995?
In October 1995, early in Samuelsson's first full season with the New York Rangers, Toronto's Tie Domi hit Samuelsson in the face with one unprovoked punch and left Samuelsson unconscious on the ice. Domi's account, repeated for decades since, is that Samuelsson called him a dummy, was warned once, and then said it again. The NHL suspended Domi for eight games. Domi has never offered regret for it either: in the interview where Domi names the hit he does regret, the answer is a 2001 elbow on Scott Niedermayer instead. The single word behind the punch is the detail Domi keeps returning to.
The 1991 hit on Cam Neely and what followed
Samuelsson's most consequential moment came in game three of the 1991 Prince of Wales Conference final, when Samuelsson met Boston winger Cam Neely knee on knee. Neely took a thigh injury that calcified, was held to 22 regular-season games across the following two seasons, and retired in 1996. Neely's doctors attributed the hip problem that finally forced that retirement to arthritis rather than to the hit, a distinction most Bruins supporters never accepted. Neely has said the episode is behind him and that there are too many good things to think about instead.
Two Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in 1991 and 1992
On 4 March 1991 Hartford sent Samuelsson, Ron Francis and Grant Jennings to Pittsburgh for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker, a deadline trade still argued about in Connecticut. Samuelsson arrived with weeks to spare and played on the blue line for the first two championships in Penguins history, in 1991 and 1992, in front of Mario Lemieux and a teenage Jaromir Jagr. Samuelsson stayed in Pittsburgh until a 1995 move to the Rangers, and finished with 132 playoff games and 34 playoff points.
Why was Ulf Samuelsson one of the most hated players in the NHL?
Samuelsson played a game built on cross-checks, knees and constant needling, and collected 2,453 penalty minutes doing it. Opponents accused Samuelsson of going low and of dodging the fights that normally settled such accounts, a combination that breeds lasting grudges. Boston was the worst of it after the Neely hit, but not the only place: Eric Lindros promised to handle Samuelsson before he had played an NHL game. Even accidents stuck to the name, as when a Samuelsson check shattered the glass into the seats where Janet Gretzky was sitting.
From Fagersta and Leksand to the Hartford Whalers
Samuelsson was born on 26 March 1964 in Fagersta and started out with Fagersta AIK before three seasons in the Swedish top flight with Leksands IF between 1981 and 1984. Hartford had already taken Samuelsson in the fourth round of the 1982 draft, 67th overall, and Samuelsson moved into the Whalers' defence from 1984-85. Samuelsson also played for Sweden, taking World Championship silver in 1990 and appearing at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. Leksand came back round much later, when Samuelsson returned to the club as head coach.
What did Ulf Samuelsson do after his playing career?
Samuelsson went into coaching and has worked on both sides of the Atlantic. Early stops included school and junior work and an assistant job with the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack, followed by five seasons as an assistant with the Phoenix Coyotes. Samuelsson then took over Modo Hockey as head coach in 2011 and joined the New York Rangers as an assistant coach in 2013. Head coaching jobs with the AHL's Charlotte Checkers and with Leksands IF followed, along with assistant roles in Chicago and in Florida.
Philip Samuelsson, Kjell Samuelsson and the family name
Philip Samuelsson, born in Leksand on 26 July 1991, was Pittsburgh's second-round pick in 2009 and played 13 NHL games for the Penguins and the Arizona Coyotes. Two more sons turned professional as well, and Henrik Samuelsson was a first-round pick in 2012. The other Samuelsson of the period causes more confusion: Kjell Samuelsson, the very tall Swedish defenceman who was briefly a Pittsburgh teammate, is not related to Ulf Samuelsson at all, despite the shared surname, the shared country and a shared reputation for playing heavy.
