That all changed quickly. Tage Thompson, Buffalo's original representative at the All-Star Game, did not return for the third period of the team's game against Carolina on Wednesday due to an upper-body injury. Thompson was soon ruled out for All-Star Weekend, and Dahlin was offered to take his spot.
Dahlin pushed back his vacation plans, hopped on a flight to Fort Lauderdale and arrived Thursday afternoon.
The selection - his second in a row - was well deserved.
"I think he deserved to be here regardless," said Winnipeg's Josh Morrissey, whose 53 points rank third among defensemen behind Karlsson and Dahlin. "[It will be] cool to kind of maybe brush shoulders him a little bit."
Several of Dahlin's fellow All-Stars echoed that sentiment on Thursday. Here are thoughts on the Sabres defenseman from a selection of the NHL's best players.
Erik Karlsson - D, San Jose: "I think he moves really well. He's a big guy, he's a little bit bigger than me, even though I don't like that. For his size, to be able to move as well as he does on the ice, I think he has good flow to his game, and he understands timing.
"You can tell that he's been a very talented kid, ever since a young age. … I'm happy that you know he's having success now when the team is having success."
Josh Morrissey - D, Winnipeg: "He's an unbelievable player. I really enjoy watching them play. It's hard to believe that he's still as young as he is with the way that he's playing. We just played him twice this last month. He's a phenomenal player. [I] try to learn and watch what he does a little bit.
"… He's very sound defensively. He's actually got a kind of a mean streak to him as well, plays physical and certainly with the puck he's fantastic. So yeah, I think he's just getting started, you know, especially at his age, which is a scary thing for the league. He's having a great year, a great start to his career. At that age to do that, he's only going to keep getting better."
Cale Makar - D, Colorado:"He's paying absolutely incredible this year and it's fun to watch because he's so smart. He's obviously got a good shot and his playmaking abilities just adds to those guys, Thompson and Tuch and all those guys up top.
"… Anytime I see highlights and stuff like that I watch. He's put up enough against us this year that I probably don't need to go looking online to watch. But he's a special talent. It's awesome to see. It looks like he's fully got his confidence now and he's kind of rolling."
Nikita Kucherov - RW, Tampa Bay: "He's a special player with his skating ability and very high IQ. You can see he makes plays as a forward. He's going to be even better than he is now, and I knew it when he first came in the league that he had really good potential. I'm expecting him to be even better in a couple years. I don't think we've seen enough of him."
Andrei Svechnikov - RW, Carolina: "He's an unbelievable player. I played against him yesterday and there's so much skill, you know? There was a reason why he was first overall. He's just an unbelievable player and it's fun to play against him. … It's hard to beat him because he's got so much speed and in the corners he's pretty strong and he can hit you as well."
