Sharks’ Dahlen proving that his time is now
KANATA, ONTARIO >> Sharks forward Jonathan Dahlen has been calling his father, Ulf, after almost every game he’s played away from home for over a decade.
Naturally, the call he made back to Sweden on Tuesday night after his record-setting performance was a bit more special than the others.
“My phone plan didn’t have Canada, so I had to find some Wi-Fi,” Dahlen said. “I’ve been calling him after almost every game since I was 10, so I gave him a call after this one too and it was pretty fun.”
Dahlen, 23, scored two goals in the first 3:36 of the first period to help lead the Sharks to a 5-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens. The two goals in the first 63:36 of his NHL career were the fastest first two for any Sharks player in team history.
Dahlen and linemates Logan Couture and Timo Meier combined for seven points in the win, and now the Sharks will try for their third straight victory tonight when they play the Ottawa Senators, the team that drafted Dahlen in the second round, 42nd overall, in 2016.
“It feels pretty unrealistic right now, so maybe I need some time to let it sink in,” Dahlen said of his two-goal game. “It was a pretty unreal three minutes.”
It was the type of performance that perhaps some followers of Dahlen’s career thought could happen a few years ago.
Dahlen was traded by the Senators to the Vancouver Canucks in February 2017 for veteran winger Alexandre Burrows.
Dahlen had scoring touch around the net and terrific hockey sense but needed to get stronger and improve his skating. When he came back to North America for the start of the 2017-18 season, he was already considered among the Canucks’ top prospects and was set to start his first season in the AHL.
But Dahlen came down with mononucleosis shortly before the Canucks’ rookie tournament, derailing the start of his North American pro career. Dahlen said the Canucks wanted him to stick around and play for their AHL affiliate in Utica, New York, “but I lost so much in those weeks when I wasn’t allowed to do anything, that I said I needed to reset back home.”
It was a blessing. Dahlen went back home and
helped his club Timra IK get promoted to the Swedish Hockey League.
“That was one of the most fun years I’ve had,” Dahlen said.
Dahlen came back to North America and played 52 games for the Canucksaffiliated Utica Comets of the AHL, collecting 31 points, before he was acquired by the Sharks in February 2019 for forward Linus Karlsson.
“I probably wasn’t really ready,” to come back, Dahlen said. “But I played pretty well in the American League that year. I don’t know. It’s hard to look back, but it was good for me to (return to Sweden) those two years.”
Canucks GM Jim Benning at the time of the trade said Dahlen had requested a change of scenery. Before the 2019-20 season, after a short stint with the Barracuda, Dahlen returned to Timra to help get his production back on track.
“Obviously there’s been a lot of question marks about my (decisions), about where I play,” Dahlen said. “I think I developed really well (with Timra). I think I made a smart choice for my career and I’m just happy to be here.”