Dahlin cementing status as top pick
BUFFALO, N.Y.— This could end up being quite the year for Rasmus Dahlin.
Right now, he is the best defenceman on a Swedish team that looks geared up for a long run in the world junior hockey championship. With scouts elbow-to-elbow at every game watching his every move, his status as the consensus No. 1 overall pick in the June draft is not in doubt. Dahlin could end up being the first player born in 2000 to play in the NHL. And to top it all off, with NHL players not going to the 2018 Olympics, he has a decent chance at representing Sweden at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“That’s a long way away. We’ll see,” said Dahlin. “Of course I want to play in the Olympics.”
Dahlin is just 17. He’ll be 18 in April, making him draft eligible. This is his second world junior tournament.
“I feel comfortable,” he says. “I’m growing as a human. Feeling older.”
But this is also the first world juniors in which he is the focal point of the blue line.
“He’s a good skater, he can move the puck, he can shoot and he can work the blue line,” says Swedish coach Tomas Monten. “He plays regular minutes on the power play back home. He’s used to the situation.”
Last year, Monten seemed to only give Dahlin ice time when Sweden was in need of offence. Dahlin was benched for long periods, only, it was believed, because of his age. This year, he has led Sweden in ice time in each game he’s played.
“Last year, I played shift by shift and took what I got,” says Dahlin. “Now I play the whole game. But it means I have to take more responsibility in the defensive-zone.”
Dahlin’s shifts — certainly on the power play — are particularly long. They can go up to a minute and 20 seconds or even1:40. It helps that he’s a fluid skater and smart positionally.
If he’s feeling the pressure of his draft year, he’s not showing it. Through the first three games of the tournament, Dahlin led all defencemen with six points — all assists.
In a few months, Dahlin and all the other draft eligibles, will return to Buffalo for the NHL Combine, a time at which general managers are sure to ask why he thinks he should be the first overall pick in the draft.
“It doesn’t matter if I go 1 or 100,” said Dahlin. “I play hockey because I love it.”