Drawing skating comparisons to Brian Leetch with a projected long-term offensive impact of Erik Karlsson and two-way sense of Niklas Lidstrom, Rasmus Dahlin, a defenseman who enters the 2018 NHL Draft as the projected top prize, often approaches the game with a forward's mindset.
A player with very few, if any, weaknesses to his game, Dahlin is best described as the queen on the chess board - a piece that starts on the back line, can move up and down the board with ease, and can do everything that all the other pieces on the board can do.
The foundation of Dahlin's game is his world class skating skill. He has impeccable acceleration that allows him to get his to top-end speed quickly, and when mixed with supreme balance and edgework, Dahlin is slippery and elusive in the transition game, and especially dangerous given how his head is always up scanning his surroundings.
With the quick feet and the mind for the game to match, Dahlin also totes a very fast set of hands when over the puck that at times made grown men look rather silly this past season as he produced seven goals and 20 points in 41 games as a 17-year-old professional.
No one should expect Dahlin to immediately ring up 60 points in his first NHL season, but it won't be very long until he gets there. What he should do, though, is make an immediate impact on his team's possession and rate metrics. When he's on the ice, his team often has the puck. The offense flows through him, and thus he will drive the bus with controlled zone exits and entries.
What he'll also do is give his new club flexibility as he's a left-shot defenseman who can play both sides at even strength with equal aptitude.
Dahlin just might be the new prototype for the modern NHL defender. He's a puck-rusher and power-play quarterback who is not a defensive liability by any means. He hasn't been a penalty-killing maven at this point in his young professional career, but his functional intelligence suggests he's not too far off from earning those minutes as well, especially after he's given time to adjust to the angles and faster processing required on the smaller North American ice surface.
Hockey fans have already heard the stories about how Dahlin is committed to becoming a better player. That's great for his new team, and a very scary thing for the 30 others to think about.
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For more on all the youngsters in the Sabres pipeline, check out Kris Baker's website, SabresProspects.com. You can also follow him on Twitter (@SabresProspects).
