Sabres select Swedish defenceman Dahlin first in NHL draft

DALLAS — The Buffalo Sabres selected Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft on Friday night.

Considered far and away the class of the 2018 talent pool, the slick 18-year-old had seven goals and 13 assists in 41 games for Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League in 2017-18.

Dahlin is the second Swedishborn player selected first overall. Mats Sundin was the top choice of the Quebec Nordiques in 1989.

Dahlin also was named his country’s top junior hockey player last season.

The six-foot-three, 185-pound Dahlin was honoured as the top blue liner at the 2018 world junior championship in Buffalo, registering six assists in seven games. He also played twice for his country as a 17-year-old at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

The Carolina Hurricanes, selecting second, took Russianborn Barrie Colts winger Andrei Svechnikov.

The Montreal Canadiens selected Jesperi Kotkaniemi with the third pick.

The 17-year-old left-handed forward from Pori, Finland, produced 10 goals and 29 points in 57 regular-season games with Assat of the Finnish Elite League in 2017-18 while adding nine points in six games to lead his country to gold at the 2018 IIHF under-18 world championship.

Kotkaniemi was seen as a late first-round pick last summer but jumped to No. 6 on the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s list of European skaters after being listed at No. 9 at the midpoint of the season.

The six-foot-two, 181-pound centre believes he can play with a similar style to countryman Aleksander Barkov, who the Florida Panthers drafted second in 2013.

The Ottawa Senators selected Brady Tkachuk with the fourth overall pick.

The 18-year-old winger from Scottsdale, Ariz., had eight goals and 23 assists in 40 games during his freshman 2017-18 season at Boston University.

Tkachuk, the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s No. 2-ranked North American skater, added three goals and six assists to finish fifth in tournament scoring at the 2018 world junior hockey championship for the United States, which won bronze on home soil.

The six-foot-three, 192-pound forward is the son of former NHLer Keith Tkachuk and the brother of current Calgary Flames winger Matthew Tkachuk.