Buffaloed
webmaster
How playing the Swedish way restored Rasmus Dahlin's confidence late in Sabres' season
Dahlin on Granato:
His way to play was how I learned to play hockey. But the thing I felt was that he trusted me as a player. He really saw what my potential was, and I felt comfortable playing out there. I wasn’t thinking too much.
Former Swedish National Team and current ZSC Lions head coach: Rikard Grönborg:
We work in a lot more of a flat organization, which means that we give the players a lot more leeway at making decisions on the ice. I think this is a huge thing. We want to be really good defensively, we need to make solid decisions on the ice. We don’t tell the player that, in every situation, 100% of the time, you’ve got to do this. That takes away the creative part of the game.
Swedish coaching is more like 'OK, well, this is a situation, how would you solve it? With your set of skills, how would you solve it?' And have a dialogue and that goes all the way up to the pro level in Sweden. That’s a good way to describe the Swedish defensemen. That obviously translates to the NHL well because they are making good decisions, sound decisions, smart decisions, on the ice. They are joining the rush. The risk/reward and everything else is something that they can get taught at an early age.
When it comes to offensive side, I want everyone involved The five guys on the ice need to be involved on offense. And again, my job is to give them the tools to solve different situations because it's not baseball, it's not football, is not a set play kind of a game. It's more of a free-flowing game. And then you have to solve situations. You have to allow them to play.
With Rasmus coming over at such an early age as well, I think he's going towards that path. I think Rasmus has a step on Victor when it comes to the offensive side of the game. So, I think it's a situation where he needs to get his bearings. He needs to mature a little bit mentally and physically in order to make the next step and then also get the repetitions that Victor went through as well, so I think it's a pretty good comparison in the sense of learning that risk versus reward.“I honestly only worked with Rasmus for one tournament at the Olympics and obviously he was very, very young at that time, but no one can refuse his offensive abilities. He has always been a guy that can join the rush, move the puck and everything else. But it's the package – putting everything together.
The article describes how concepts and principles stifled Dahlin. It's notes that Dahlin thrived under Steve Smith's coaching when he was with Housley. I take that to mean that Dahlin's nightmare was all on Freddy. Interesting that Rikard Meatballs was available and used the secret code phrase "flat organization" just as the Sabres coaching search is picking up steam.
Dahlin on Granato:
His way to play was how I learned to play hockey. But the thing I felt was that he trusted me as a player. He really saw what my potential was, and I felt comfortable playing out there. I wasn’t thinking too much.
Former Swedish National Team and current ZSC Lions head coach: Rikard Grönborg:
We work in a lot more of a flat organization, which means that we give the players a lot more leeway at making decisions on the ice. I think this is a huge thing. We want to be really good defensively, we need to make solid decisions on the ice. We don’t tell the player that, in every situation, 100% of the time, you’ve got to do this. That takes away the creative part of the game.
Swedish coaching is more like 'OK, well, this is a situation, how would you solve it? With your set of skills, how would you solve it?' And have a dialogue and that goes all the way up to the pro level in Sweden. That’s a good way to describe the Swedish defensemen. That obviously translates to the NHL well because they are making good decisions, sound decisions, smart decisions, on the ice. They are joining the rush. The risk/reward and everything else is something that they can get taught at an early age.
When it comes to offensive side, I want everyone involved The five guys on the ice need to be involved on offense. And again, my job is to give them the tools to solve different situations because it's not baseball, it's not football, is not a set play kind of a game. It's more of a free-flowing game. And then you have to solve situations. You have to allow them to play.
With Rasmus coming over at such an early age as well, I think he's going towards that path. I think Rasmus has a step on Victor when it comes to the offensive side of the game. So, I think it's a situation where he needs to get his bearings. He needs to mature a little bit mentally and physically in order to make the next step and then also get the repetitions that Victor went through as well, so I think it's a pretty good comparison in the sense of learning that risk versus reward.“I honestly only worked with Rasmus for one tournament at the Olympics and obviously he was very, very young at that time, but no one can refuse his offensive abilities. He has always been a guy that can join the rush, move the puck and everything else. But it's the package – putting everything together.
The article describes how concepts and principles stifled Dahlin. It's notes that Dahlin thrived under Steve Smith's coaching when he was with Housley. I take that to mean that Dahlin's nightmare was all on Freddy. Interesting that Rikard Meatballs was available and used the secret code phrase "flat organization" just as the Sabres coaching search is picking up steam.
