In the off-season, Samuelsson was re-signed by the Rangers and made the club's opening roster for the 2002–03 campaign. Late in the season, he was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in an eight-player trade on February 10, 2003. Along with Samuelsson, the Rangers sent Rico Fata, Joël Bouchard, Richard Lintner and cash to the Penguins in exchange for Alexei Kovalev, Dan LaCouture, Janne Laukkanen and Mike Wilson. Samuelsson scored two goals in 22 games with the Penguins to finish his second NHL season with a combined 10 goals and 24 points between Pittsburgh and New York. Looking to move up in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, the Penguins traded him on draft-day, along with their first- and second-round picks (used to select Nathan Horton and Stefan Meyer, respectively), to the Florida Panthers in exchange for the first overall selection that year (used to pick goaltender Marc-André Fleury) and a third-round pick (Daniel Carcillo) on June 21, 2003.