Rasmus Dahlin

[WetcoastOrca]

Wow! Pretty impressive season for a kid who was just drafted. Defensemen who can play at that level right out of the draft are extremely rare. It’s hard to project but he looks to be developing just as most scouts predicted. Going to be a great one!

 

[Sensinitis]

Jay Bouwmeester 2.0. Solid, reliable guy who can play on the top pair and score ~40 points in a good season but absolutely not a "generational talent" or anywhere close to all time greats like Lidstrom, Bourque etc.

Hot take

 

[LongWayDown37]

He's on pace for 40 as an 18 year old.

45 actually... and his production appears to be curving northward at this point.

 

[PatrikBerglund]

If he has a point in his next game, he will officially eclipse Bobby Orr (as 18).

 

[Boxscore]

If Dahlin would have been given top PP time out of the gate, he would break 50 as a rookie. I know he saw some bursts of time on the main PP but I don't even know if he's still a fixture on PP1. Housley is weird.

 

[North Cole]

If you know anything about life you will know different people have different expectations.

Do we need to list all the All-Star defensemen we were told he was better than before ever playing a game?

Awesome player who could not possibly live up to the hype that this stupid "generational" tag placed on him. A tag no one has lived up to since Crosby.

I mean, McDavid? Or ...not?

Hmmm

 

[koyvoo]

Jay Bouwmeester 2.0. Solid, reliable guy who can play on the top pair and score ~40 points in a good season but absolutely not a "generational talent" or anywhere close to all time greats like Lidstrom, Bourque etc.

Haha. This is how you represent yourself in terms of understanding hockey. And you don’t seem embarrassed either.

 

[koyvoo]

I mean, McDavid? Or ...not?

Hmmm

I bet if Matthews was even half the talent that McDavid was, they’d be claiming Matthews generational. McDavid having 325 pts by his 22nd birthday, along with 2 Art Ross’ a Hart and a Lindsay don’t carry enough weight.

 

[sabremike]

He's on pace for 40 as an 18 year old.

Actually closer to 50 which makes the post you quoted even more hilariously awful.

 

[BlueBaron]

I mean, McDavid? Or ...not?

Hmmm

An extra assist every 12 games doesn't scream generational. He's the best but not by a ton.

 

[Panthaz89]

If Dahlin would have been given top PP time out of the gate, he would break 50 as a rookie. I know he saw some bursts of time on the main PP but I don't even know if he's still a fixture on PP1. Housley is weird.

if only the Sabres PP was actually good....

 

[BlueBaron]

Check the Sabres poll that predicted Dahlin's calibre of play this season. The strong majority said a 40+point is what they expected. Most reasonable fans dont expect a Norris trophy in his first year of play. You're just emotionally invested in this arguement since Rielly was mentioned, so you turn a small minority into a much bigger number.

And what would be considered generational when talking about a defenseman? Dahlin is having (possibly) the best season as an 18 year old defenseman in 40 years. The stats and eye test support this argument.

While I admire you're mind reading skills they leave a bit to be desired. Rielly has nothing to do with Dahlin not being generational.

He's going to be great but some are getting ahead of themselves.

 

[Snippit]

An extra assist every 12 games doesn't scream generational. He's the best but not by a ton.

Crosby rarely dominated the scoring leaders by "a ton".

 

[koyvoo]

An extra assist every 12 games doesn't scream generational. He's the best but not by a ton.

If you have an extra 12 assists over the pack every year, and more specifically if the 2nd place guy isn’t always the same, indeed that is a wide gap.

 

[psycat]

Crosby rarely dominated the scoring leaders by "a ton".

But Crosby is not generational so what's your point? He is a great hockey player though.

(Who knows if Dahlin is)

 

[sabremike]

But Crosby is not generational so what's your point? He is a great hockey player though.

(Who knows if Dahlin is)

The greatest player of the past quarter century isn't generational. Good lord.

 

[psycat]

The greatest player of the past quarter century isn't generational. Good lord.

For one he is firmly behind Jagr, and arguably Ovechkin, to me. Secondly to me a player who is generational is someone that transcends generations, meaning they would probably(arguably) be the greatest in any era- Ovechkin for example is a generational goalscorer but not player. Suppose it depends on how strict you are in your definition to me there are 4(arguably 5) generational players and I suppose you know who they are- Hasek is the arguable one and I might add that Jagr could very well be seen as one if didn't tail the two greatest offensive talents of all time, Crosby? Not so much.

If Crosby makes the generational cut off I see no reason to leave someone like, for example, Karlsson out of it. Crosby is simply not that rare breed of a player- Trottier, Forsberg, Sakic, Clarke, Miktia(and so on) all pretty much the same.

 

[sabremike]

For one he is firmly behind Jagr, and arguably Ovechkin, to me. Secondly to me a player who is generational is someone that transcends generations, meaning they would probably(arguably) be the greatest in any era- Ovechkin for example is a generational goalscorer but not player. Suppose it depends on how strict you are in your definition to me there are 4(arguably 5) generational players and I suppose you know who they are- Hasek is the arguable one and I might add that Jagr could very well be seen as one if didn't tail the two greatest offensive talents of all time, Crosby? Not so much.

If Crosby makes the generational cut off I see no reason to leave someone like, for example, Karlsson out of it. Crosby is simply not that rare breed of a player- Trottier, Forsberg, Sakic, Clarke, Miktia(and so on) all pretty much the same.

I am a 10 year Isles STH. I have also attended more NHL games (dating back to the mid 80's) than I can possibly recall. I have NEVER seen a better player live than Crosby. Watching him is like watching LeBron play basketball. Not only is he an incredible athlete but his hockey IQ is just insane with his ability to always make the correct play and always be in the correct spot. And keep in mind I always hated his diving and whining antics which thankfully have largely gone away in recent years but I have to recognize true greatness.

 

[psycat]

I am a 10 year Isles STH. I have also attended more NHL games (dating back to the mid 80's) than I can possibly recall. I have NEVER seen a better player live than Crosby. Watching him is like watching LeBron play basketball. Not only is he an incredible athlete but his hockey IQ is just insane with his ability to always make the correct play and always be in the correct spot. And keep in mind I always hated his diving and whining antics which thankfully have largely gone away in recent years but I have to recognize true greatness.

I never said that he isn't great I just said that I don't view him as generational as per the criteria I already stated in my previous post. Jagr, for example, at his peak was simply a tier above and even then I don't consider him generational(and Jagr had "quite" great longveity mind you).

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

Jay Bouwmeester 2.0. Solid, reliable guy who can play on the top pair and score ~40 points in a good season but absolutely not a "generational talent" or anywhere close to all time greats like Lidstrom, Bourque etc.

kay, bye

 

[blankall]

This just signals we are officially moving out of the obstruction era of NHL hockey. Prior to the mid-90s defencemen were mobile and regularly contributed to the offensive play. At the height of the clutch and grab era, defencemen essentially became linemen. There major job was to be a big body around their own net that could obstruct. They weren't really expected to pinch and skate all that much.

We're now finally seeing the product of the newer obstruction rules. Due to the development systems, it takes many years for players to adapt to new rules. You can't just have an entirely different, yet developed, player emerge overnight.

I'm all for this. The more skill on the ice, the better.

 

[Boxscore]

I am a 10 year Isles STH. I have also attended more NHL games (dating back to the mid 80's) than I can possibly recall. I have NEVER seen a better player live than Crosby. Watching him is like watching LeBron play basketball. Not only is he an incredible athlete but his hockey IQ is just insane with his ability to always make the correct play and always be in the correct spot. And keep in mind I always hated his diving and whining antics which thankfully have largely gone away in recent years but I have to recognize true greatness.

If you've watched the Isles back in the mid-80s and you're saying that Crosby is better than Lemieux or Gretzky, I don't know how to respond to that.

Anyway, back to Dahlin...

Great player, will be even greater. Wait until this kid is 22, has some experience, and is 6-4, 220 pounds.

 

[1972]

Jay Bouwmeester 2.0. Solid, reliable guy who can play on the top pair and score ~40 points in a good season but absolutely not a "generational talent" or anywhere close to all time greats like Lidstrom, Bourque etc.

So like a better version of Ivan Provorov

 

[Boxscore]

So like a better version of Ivan Provorov

Dahlin is going to be a level or two above Provorov, and I'm a Flyers fan who loves Provorov. He's already better than Provorov and he's 18 with half an NHL season under his belt. In 2-3 years, this won't even be a question IMO.

Dahlin will be a fixture in the elite class the way Lidstrom, Doughty, Hedman, Chelios, etc. were

Provorov will be at the top of a very good class the way Markov, Suter, Giordano, Gonchar, etc. were

 

[authentic]

If you've watched the Isles back in the mid-80s and you're saying that Crosby is better than Lemieux or Gretzky, I don't know how to respond to that.

Anyway, back to Dahlin...

Great player, will be even greater. Wait until this kid is 22, has some experience, and is 6-4, 220 pounds.

I hate it when people on here act like this is such an uncommon opinion. A lot of older adults in real life who are huge hockey fans think Crosby is the best ever. Hockey changed, it's debatable.