Dahlen, Lind wait for their AHL playoff debuts
TORONTO — A little over a week ago, Jonathan Dahlen and Carl Grundstrom finished their seasons in Sweden and were summoned to the American Hockey League affiliates of their respective NHL teams.
Grundstrom, a Maple Leafs second-round pick in 2016, immediately played two games with the Toronto Marlies, picking up a goal and two assists. When the Marlies opened their best-of-five first-round playoff series Saturday against the Utica Comets, he was in the lineup.
Dahlen, an elite Vancouver Canucks prospect taken in the second round of the 2016 draft by the Ottawa Senators, also suited up for two games with the Comets, picking up a goal and an assist. He wasn’t in the Comets’ lineup Saturday. “Anytime you’re in the American league and high-end prospects arrive on the scene, the expectation is you’re going to see them,” said Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe. “That’s part of the job in the American league. Grundstrom is an important player for the organization.” That’s one point of view. Here’s another: “I think everyone understands young players come into this environment and there are a lot of guys who’ve been here,” said Canucks president Trevor Linden, who’s in Toronto for the first two games of the series. “This group (in Utica) has been together and worked hard.”
The Comets lineup in Game 1 featured a number of names familiar to Canucks fans, including goalie Thatcher Demko, defenceman Ashton Sautner and forwards Nikolay Goldobin and Tyler Motte.
But Dahlen and Kole Lind, a Canucks second-rounder from last summer who’s coming off a 95-point season with the Kelowna Rockets, were healthy scratches for Saturday’s series opener.
Lind played six games with the Comets at the end of the regular season, recording one assist, and according to the team’s head coach Trent Cull, the 19-year-old’s first pro experience has been a “bit of an eye opener.”
But Dahlen opened some eyes when he recorded a goal and an assist in the Comets’ final regular-season game after joining the team three days earlier. Dahlen, who signed a three-year entry level deal with the Canucks a year ago, also turned down an invitation to Sweden’s world championship selection camp to play in Utica.
“This will be a very positive experience for Jonathan,” said Linden. “He’s getting a taste of what it’s all about.”
The extra bodies from Vancouver, meanwhile, give Cull some lineup options he hasn’t enjoyed for most of this injury plagued season in Utica.
“It’s great,” said Cull. “I haven’t had this problem all year.
“Right now (Dahlen and Lind) won’t start. But they’ve been good. I think it’s great that they’re here.”