The upside of Rasmus Dahlin

How do you project the upside of the once generational talent labelled Rasmus Dahlin?

  • Generational player

    Votes: 16 11.5%
  • HOFer

    Votes: 63 45.3%
  • Perennial Norris contender

    Votes: 46 33.1%
  • Middle of the pack star D-man

    Votes: 13 9.4%
  • The huge talent who never really made it to stardom in the NHL

    Votes: 1 0.7%

  • Total voters
    139

Stealth JD

Don't condescend me, man.
Sponsor
Jan 16, 2006
16,737
8,040
Bonita Springs, FL
If the Sabres start rolling, he could be the best defenseman in the NHL for a decade-plus. Shades of the early 90's Wings going on in Buffalo.
 

enthusiast

cybersabre his prophet
Oct 20, 2009
18,671
5,993
My tongue in cheek avatar nonwithstanding, he’s been excellent since last season. It’ll just take a while for the narrative to catch up.
 
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NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
95,822
60,213
Ottawa, ON
Like many other observers, I considered the generational tag when a prospect.

Now I think a HHoF career is still very much in play as a ceiling.

It feels like he’s been around for ages but he’s still only 22 which is insanely young for a defenceman.

He’d have to rack up a lot of consecutive Norris trophies to regain that draft year hype and I think there is too much good competition in the league at this point.
 

Regal

Registered User
Mar 12, 2010
25,012
14,406
Vancouver
After McAvoy I don’t think there is another young D the media (who votes on the Norris) talk up more than Heiskanen.

He’s received all of 6 Norris votes in his career so far though. One of those things where everyone loves him, but he’s still not going to get significant award support until he puts up 50+ points. Could do it with Klingberg gone (like McAvoy once Krug left), but that’s still tbd. I imagine Dahlin will generally fare better in voting because he’s likely going to be near the top in defenseman scoring most years
 
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Panthaz89

Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Panthers fan
Dec 24, 2016
13,343
5,848
Buffalo,NY
After McAvoy I don’t think there is another young D the media (who votes on the Norris) talk up more than Heiskanen.
He's going to have to at least pass the 40point mark at some point before anyone thinks he's getting a Norris. Now that he's getting more PP time this season we will see if he can handle it. Even on a total utter garbage display by the Sabres in Seattle in their last outing he was the only plus player on the team and did pretty damn well on both sides of the ice. If Dahlin can keep that up for the full 82 he's no doubt going to be a finalist.

He's not only putting up the most shots on the team he's setting up more than anyone and defending incredibly well. Hopefully Samuelsson can comeback soon so he focus more on playing in the opposing zone than cover for his partners mistakes though Lyu held up ok in the outing that's not going to last for a guy that is normally a bottom pairing D. Doesn't help Dahlin that Power has been up and down so far this season and that we've dropped to 5 D 3x already due to injuries mid game.
 
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heretik27

Registered User
Apr 18, 2013
8,977
6,332
Winnipeg
lol what?

hot start, but I don't really see him ever winning a Norris over Makar or Heiskanen if healthy.

Hmm, Dahlin entered the league on a basement dweller at age 18 though. Makar came in at age 21 and put up 50 points and won the Calder. Dahlin at age 21 put up 53 points last season and placed third in Calder voting at age 18 vs Pettersson (20), and Binnington (25) as per hockey reference. I don't think it's too farfetched to think Dahlin could challenge Makar for the Norris. Especially if the team around him begins to improve.
 

Regal

Registered User
Mar 12, 2010
25,012
14,406
Vancouver
Hmm, Dahlin entered the league on a basement dweller at age 18 though. Makar came in at age 21 and put up 50 points and won the Calder. Dahlin at age 21 put up 53 points last season and placed third in Calder voting at age 18 vs Pettersson (20), and Binnington (25) as per hockey reference. I don't think it's too farfetched to think Dahlin could challenge Makar for the Norris. Especially if the team around him begins to improve.

I agree that Dahlin could challenge him for the Norris, but Makar put up that total in 23 fewer games. Makar’s production has been quite far ahead so far, even at the same age.
 

Sabres

Registered User
Jan 15, 2017
339
193
Buffalo, NY
His ceiling is best defenseman in the league. Now I don't know if he gets there, cause Makar is just so good, but it's entirely possible he's viewed as the #2 to Makar for the next decade. He would already be viewed as a top 5 defenseman if it wasn't for Ralph Krueger doing his best to sabotage Dahlin and the rest of the team
 

yzerman

Registered User
Apr 23, 2017
1,281
805
Sweden
He is going to be 4,3,3,1,1,2,1,5,7,8 in the next 10 years in Norris voting just saying what my cristalball is telling me.
 
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Buck Naked

Can't-Stand-Ya
Aug 18, 2016
3,785
5,737
As soon as we stopped making excuses for Dahlin he showed what he's capable of. Voted future HHoF since that pretty much goes with perennial Norris contender.
 

NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
95,822
60,213
Ottawa, ON
As soon as we stopped making excuses for Dahlin he showed what he's capable of. Voted future HHoF since that pretty much goes with perennial Norris contender.

LOL, yeah that’s what changed.

At least you’re owning up to your silly thread.
 

Buck Naked

Can't-Stand-Ya
Aug 18, 2016
3,785
5,737
LOL, yeah that’s what changed.

At least you’re owning up to your silly thread.

I stand by that thread still. He was playing like shit and didn't deserve more excuses, which even some Buffalo fans agreed with. Never ever said I didn't think he would turn it around though and was pretty clear with how excited I was when he finally got out of his slump. Many posters took that thread as a bust thread though, which it clearly wasn't if you actually took time to read. There were some other posters who expressed silly things like that, not me though.
 

NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
95,822
60,213
Ottawa, ON
I stand by that thread still. He was playing like shit and didn't deserve more excuses, which even some Buffalo fans agreed with. Never ever said I didn't think he would turn it around though and was pretty clear with how excited I was when he finally got out of his slump. Many posters took that thread as a bust thread though, which it clearly wasn't if you actually took time to read. There were some other posters who expressed silly things like that, not me though.

What changed is that he’s playing on a decent team for a change.

It’s amazing what that does for a defenceman who logs a lot of minutes.
 

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