Rasmus Dahlin

Sweden Rasmus Dahlin


Date of birth	April 13, 2000
place of birth	Trollhättan , Sweden
size	189 cm
Weight	83 kg

position	defender
number	# 26
Shot hand	Left

Draft

NHL Entry Draft	2018 , 1st round, 1st position Buffalo Sabers

Career stations

until 2015	HC Lidköping
2015-2018	Frölunda HC
since 2018	Buffalo Sabers

Rasmus Dahlin (born April 13, 2000 in Trollhättan ) is a Swedish ice hockey player who has been under contract with the Buffalo Sabers in the National Hockey League since July 2018 . The defender is considered one of the greatest talents in world ice hockey and was accordingly selected as the first overall draft pick by the Sabers in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft .

Career

youth

Rasmus Dahlin went through the youth departments of HC Lidköping from Lidköping , not far from his hometown Trollhättan. The defender played his first ten men's games for HC in the 2014/15 season at the age of 14 in fifth-class Division 3 . He then moved to Frölunda HC in Gothenburg for the 2015/16 season , where he was mainly used in the J18 Allsvenskan , the highest, and in the J18 Elit , the second highest Swedish division at U18 level.

Rasmus Dahlin in the Frölunda HC jersey

Back in October 2016, Dahlin made his debut for Frölunda in Svenska Hockeyligan (SHL), Sweden's highest professional league, and was the first player in the league to be born in the 2000s. He also promptly scored one goal and one assist , making him the second youngest goalscorer in SHL history (after Oliver Kylington , 2013). During the season, the defender completed 40 league games for Frölunda and also won the Champions Hockey League with the team . At the same time, the Swede was also on the ice in 25 games for the club's U20s in the J20 SuperElit , the country's highest junior league. At the beginning of the 2017/18 season he established himself in the professional team of Frölunda HC.

NHL

Dahlin is considered one of the greatest talents in world ice hockey and was traded early on as a likely first overall draft pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft . Above all, his technical and offensive qualities were emphasized, so he is considered an outstanding skater and passer. In this context, comparisons have already been made with Erik Karlsson , who also stands out as an offensive defender and was trained in Frölunda. In the actual draft he was, as expected, selected in first overall position by the Buffalo Sabers and thus became the second Swede after Mats Sundin ( 1989 ), who was considered first overall in the draft. The Sabers provided Dahlin with an entry-level contract in July 2018 .

In the pre-season that followed, Dahlin earned a place in the Sabers squad and made his debut in the NHL in early October 2018. In November 2018 he was named Rookie of the Month by the NHL . Overall, he got 44 points during the season, placing him third on the rookie scorer list . In addition, as an 18-year-old defender in NHL history, only his coach Phil Housley scored more points than Dahlin, who outperformed Bobby Orr in this regard . He finished his first NHL season with 44 points from 82 games and was included in the NHL All-Rookie Team . In the following year, he roughly confirmed these statistics, but required significantly fewer games in the shortened 2019/20 season (59).

International

Dahlin gained his first international experience at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament 2016 , in which he took fourth place with the Swedish U18 selection, as well as almost six months later at the U20 World Cup 2017 . In the latter, the defender became the youngest player of all time to wear the Tre Kronor jersey in a U20 World Cup. In April 2017, he made his debut a few days after his 17th birthday in a friendly against Belarus in Sweden's senior team , making him the third youngest player in history and the youngest player in almost 60 years to play for Tre Kronor . Two more missions followed at the Karjala Cup as part of the Euro Hockey Tour in November 2017.

Then Dahlin was again part of the Swedish squad at the U20 World Cup in 2018 , in which the team was only defeated in the final of the Canadian selection . Dahlin was named best defender with six assists in seven games and was voted into the tournament's all-star team. In May 2018, Dahlin was banned for his behavior during the medal ceremony - as were some of his teammates and coaches - for two games of the 2019 U20 World Cup .

In January 2018 it was announced that Dahlin had been appointed to the Swedish squad for the 2018 Winter Olympics . He benefited from the decision of the National Hockey League not to interrupt the season for this Olympiad and thus ban their players from participating. In Pyeongchang, the team finally finished fifth, although the defender only played two games.

Achievements and Awards

2017 Champions Hockey League win with Frölunda HC
2018 silver medal at the U20 World Cup
2018 best defender and election to the all-star team of the U20 World Cup
2018 NHL Rookie of the Month for November
2019 NHL All-Rookie Team

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2019/20 season

			Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league	Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM	Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2014/15	HC Lidköping	Division 3	10	1	5	6th		0	-	-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Frölunda HC J18	J18 Allsvenskan	17th	3	8th	11	+9	12	6th	0	3	3	+5	2
2015/16	Frölunda HC J20	J20 SuperElit	1	0	0	0	± 0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016/17	Frölunda HC J20	J20 SuperElit	24	9	13	22nd	+18	74	1	0	0	0	-1	0
2016/17	Frölunda HC	SHL	26th	1	2	3	+4	6th	14th	3	2	5	-2	2
2017/18	Frölunda HC J20	J20 SuperElit	1	1	1	2	+1	0	-	-	-	-	-	-
2017/18	Frölunda HC	SHL	41	7th	13	20th	+4	20th	6th	1	2	3	+3	2
2018/19	Buffalo Sabers	NHL	82	9	35	44	-13	34	-	-	-	-	-	-
2019/20	Buffalo Sabers	NHL	59	4th	36	40	–7	38	-	-	-	-	-	-
J20 SuperElit overall			26th	10	14th	24	+19	74	1	0	0	0	-1	0
SHL total			67	8th	15th	23	+8	26th	20th	4th	4th	8th	+1	4th
NHL overall			141	13	71	84	-20	72	-	-	-	-	-	-

International

Represented Sweden at:

year	team	event	result	Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2016	Sweden	Hlinka Memorial	4th Place	5	1	1	2	+2	2
2017	Sweden	U20 World Cup	4th Place	7th	1	1	2	± 0	4th
2018	Sweden	U20 World Cup		7th	0	6th	6th	+7	6th
2018	Sweden	Olympia	5th place	2	0	1	1	± 0	0
Juniors overall				19th	2	8th	10	+9	12
Juniors overall				2	0	1	1	± 0	0

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹ play-downs / relegation )