Rasmus Dahlin is drawing comparisons to a pair of the best defenseman in the game today and to one of the best of all time.
No pressure.
The smooth-skating
Youth Pittsburgh Steelers Hats , play-making Swedish defenseman is expected to become just the third defenseman in the past 20 years to be picked No. 1 in the
NHL draft .
”He is so far ahead of anyone else available,” said Joe McDonnell, the Dallas Stars‘ director of amateur scouting. ”We didn’t pay much attention to him this
year because if we picked No. 1, we probably wouldn’t have jobs right now. And
if we didn’t have the No. 1 pick, we knew we wouldn’t be able to draft him.”
Buffalo is expected to take Dahlin first overall on Friday night and it will be no surprise to some of the best in hockey.
Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom , a seven-time Norris Trophy winner, is one of the people who think Dahlin does compare to him, and some other current star
defensemen who happen to be Swedes: Erik Karlsson and Victor Hedman.
”He has a lot of tools,” Lidstrom
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his development in the NHL where everyone is better/stronger/faster!”
Since St. Louis selected defenseman Erik Johnson first overall in 2006, the only blue-liner taken No. 1 was Aaron Ekblad in 2014. Ekblad started strong in
Florida, becoming an All-Star in his first two seasons and winning the Calder
Trophy as the league’s top rookie, but appeared to take a step back the last two
years. Johnson finished 12th in rookie of the year voting and has had a decent
career with the Blues and Colorado Avalanche.
”This is one of those years where there’s a generational-type defenseman available and that’s not always the case,” Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman
said. ”Everybody says this Dahlin is the best in a while on defense.”
The 18-year-old Dahlin has held his own against grown men over two seasons in a high-level European league. He had seven goals and 13 assists in 41 games this
past season with Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League and was the junior player
of the year. As the youngest player in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament, he
had an assist in two games while suiting up sparingly for Sweden.
”I think I’m ready right now to play in the NHL,” Dahlin said.
Dahlin is set to become the second Swede taken No. 1 overall, joining Hall of Famer Mats Sundin
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The Detroit Red Wings have leaned on scout Hakan Andersson for nearly three decades to decide who overseas has a chance to play in the world’s best hockey
league. Andersson, who knows the hockey landscape as well as anyone overseas,
said he has never seen a prospect quite like Dahlin.
”It’s not easy to put him in any category with anyone,” said Andersson, the director of European scouting for the Red Wings. ”It’s hard to say someone is
going to be better than Nicklas Lidstrom, but Dahlin has all the tools to be an
unbelievable defenseman. He has Lidstrom’s poise with the puck. He can rush the
puck up the ice like Karlsson. And, he’s big and aggressive enough to play the
physical game and take people out like Hedman can.”
Still, Dahlin knows he has to improve his play when the other team has the puck and perhaps when he has to push players away from the crease. He is 6-2 but
only 181 pounds.
”I need to get stronger,” Dahlin said.
Dahlin does have plenty of strengths on his side.
He can skate well
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head up. With a left-handed shot, he can send a blur of a one-timer to the back
of the net or snap off a wrist shot in a fraction of a second. He’s also a
gifted passer.
”I look at him obviously like a Karlsson,” former Buffalo Sabres defenseman Mike Weber, who played with Dahlin last season in Sweden. ”He’s got the same
type of skating ability, but I feel like he’s faster. He almost skates like a
(Pavel) Datysuk. When you go in and try to hit Datysuk, he would open up his
hips one way or the other and be able to spin off you and deke. .. I feel like
Ras has that same kind of ability.”
And despite the hype, the young phenom has appeared humble behind the scenes and in front of scores of reporters.
”He really was able to handle that well,” said Weber
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he’ll try in a game to do, is pretty unbelievable.”
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AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, contributed to this report.
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