Samuelsson signs tryout agreement with AHL Rockford

Boise, ID (2/12/18) – Steelheads Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Neil Graham confirmed on Monday that forward Henrik Samuelsson has been signed to a professional tryout agreement (PTO) with the American Hockey League’s Rockford IceHogs.

The IceHogs are the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. Samuelsson becomes the fifth Steelhead this season under ECHL contract to sign a tryout agreement with an AHL club, with Brady Brassart (Utica), Tommy Thompson (Texas), Justin Parizek (San Jose), and Joe Faust (Utica) all playing AHL games on tryout agreements earlier this season.

Samuelsson, 24, ranks second on the Steelheads’ roster in scoring this season. The 2012 first-round draft pick of the Arizona Coyotes has 16 goals and 43 points in 49 games during his first ECHL season and first season with the Steelheads. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native has seven power play goals this season, and was riding a four-game points streak prior to his departure with a goal and six points in that span.

This is Samuelsson’s first AHL call-up this season. Samuelsson has appeared in 136 AHL games in his career, playing in 131 games in the Coyotes’ organization with Springfield, Portland, and Tucson from 2014 to 2017, and playing five more in Bakersfield last spring. He has totaled 23 goals, 55 points, and 106 penalty minutes in his AHL career.

Samuelsson also played in three NHL games with the Coyotes during the 2014-15 campaign.

In a separate roster move, the Steelheads traded forward Corey Durocher on Monday to the Kansas City Mavericks for future considerations. Durocher recorded two goals and eight points in 19 games with the Steelheads.