This is Kjell Samuelsson’s tenth season as a member of the Phantoms coaching staff. He joined the Phantoms as an assistant coach on July 8, 2000 and served in that role until he assumed the duties of head coach of the team on October 23, 2006. As head coach, he led the Phantoms to a 28-39-1-6 record. With the return of Craig Berube from the Flyers bench on June 6, 2007, Samuelsson was named associate coach, and continues in that role this year under new head coach John Paddock. Samuelsson began his coaching career as an assistant coach for the Trenton Titans of the ECHL in 1999-2000.

Samuelsson enjoyed a 14-year career in the National Hockey League. He played nine of those years (1986-92, 1995-98) with the Flyers, earning the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team’s most outstanding defenseman in 1989 and 1991 and representing the team at the 1988 NHL All-Star Game. Overall, Samuelsson recorded 48 goals and 138 assists for 186 points and 1,225 penalty minutes in 813 career games with the Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. He won a Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 1992 and also helped Sweden win the 1991 World Championships.

A native of Tyngsryd, Sweden, Samuelsson was a sixth-round selection (119th overall) of the New York Rangers in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, and appeared in 56 AHL games with the New Haven Nighthawks in 1985-86. He resides in Voorhees, NJ with his wife Vicki, daughters Alexandra and Gabriella, and sons Lukas and Mattias.