Swedish sensation Dahlin offers NHL fans a sneak peek
GANGNEUNG From fans here at the 2018 Olympics, to Team Sweden, to NHL teams in the running for last place, so much of the hockey world is fallin’ for Dahlin.
Just how much they get to see the 17-year-old phenom here rests in the hands of Swedish coach Rikard Gronborg, who mysteriously made future star Rasmus Dahlin a healthy scratch for his team’s opener on Thursday night.
His coach relented on Friday, however, as Dahlin made his much-anticipated Olympic debut in Sweden’s 1-0 win over Germany, helping his team improve to 2-0 in group play. Dahl in saw just four minutes and 36 seconds of ice time and none in the third period.
“He’s one of a kind,” said Swedish forward Joel Lundqvist, who at age 35 is twice as old as his celebrated teammate. “You go back and think about what I did when I was 17 and it’s not even close. He took a big step this year and now he’s here in the Olympics.”
A smooth-skating, puckmoving defenceman so suited to the uptempo game the NHL has become, Dahlin is a lock to go first overall in the 2018 NHL draft. When that happens, he’ll be the first Swede to go first overall since Mats Sundin was selected No. 1 by the Quebec Nordiques in 1989.
According to the International Ice Hockey Federation, Dahl in is the first minor to participate in an Olympic tournament since 1984 and is the youngest player in this event, one thick with hardened, older veterans.
Scouts from around the NHL have raved about Dahlin’s potential for months and management from those teams plummeting to the basement of the standings are salivating at the possibilities.
TS N analyst and former NHL executive Craig Button says Dahlin’s athletic gifts seemingly have no end. The player he’s most often compared to is fellow Swede Erik Karlsson, the Ottawa Senators’ superstar defenceman.
“What I call the holy trinity of excellence — brain, hands and feet — he has them,” Button said.
On one hand, when Dahlin gets the puck on his stick and heads up ice, he looks like he could jump into an NHL lineup as soon as this tournament is over.
On the other, when Sweden previously won Olympic gold in 2006, he was a five-year-old, a reminder of his youth.