Sabres Free Fallin For Dahlin (canadiens)

canadiens

Sabres Free Fallin For Dahlin

By GARTH'S CORNER

Apr 30, 2018 • 8:47 am

0comment-bubble

Update:

If ever a team’s needs were met, it’s the Buffalo Sabres.

The Sabres finished dead last in the NHL standings last season due in large part to their horrendous goals for/goals against differential. Phil Housley’s defense allowed 280 goals against while scoring only 191. That won’t cut it in today’s NHL.

Housley’s prayers have been answered by his team’s victory at the NHL Draft Lottery.

Dahlin is a heady, modern day, two-way defenseman who can dominate in all situations.

Dahlin plays both sides of the puck at world-class, elite levels. His hands, vision and skating are superior to his peers. Like Housley in his NHL playing days, Dahlin loves to jump in and join the rush. Like Erik Karlsson, Dahlin plays like the fourth forward in all three zones. He is a world class athlete with excellent mobility and agility which makes him a fantastic one-on-one defender. He wins wall battles, blocks shots and ties up the sticks of his opponents with great dexterity.

Dahlin give the Sabres D corps a needed infusion of skill and athleticism.

A triumphant Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill meets with media to answer questions related to winning the 2018 NHL Draft Lottery in Toronto in Saturday night.

I lost track of how many times the name Rasmus Dahlin was mentioned in the nine minute session.

**

For the first time since 1987, the Buffalo Sabres will be selecting first overall at the NHL Draft in Dallas in June.

In '87, the Sabres invested the first overall pick in QMJHL scoring phenom Pierre Turgeon.

Hall of Famer Gilbert Perreault was the first overall pick by Buffalo at the 1970 NHL Draft.

This time around, Sabres GM Jason Botterill will be selecting Frolunda D wizard Rasmus Dahlin with the #1 pick at the 2018 NHL Draft.

The Carolina Hurricanes will select second overall.

Montreal will select third overalll.

FIRST. OVERALL. PICK. #NHLDraft

A post shared by Buffalo Sabres (@buffalosabres) on

In hockey and in life, the waiting is the hardest part.

Suffice to say, with Dahlin in their lineup, the Sabres will not be a lottery time any time soon.

All things old are now again. Now, its time for the Sabres to take it back to the future.

Next stop for the Sabres: 2019 Stanley Cup Plyoffs

**

Fun fact:

The Sabres will have three players with the first name "Rasmus" in their lineup in the very near future:

1. Rasmus Ristolainen, D 2. Rasmus Asplund, F 3. Rasmus Dahlin, D

**

Well, we don't know yet exactly which NHL team Rasmus Dahlin will play for.

However, we do know that he will be playing in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

By virtue of the unveiling of numbers 15 through 4, we now know the Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes each have earned their ticket to ride the Rasmus Dahlin Rollercoaster. Buffalo, Montreal and Carolina are in the top three spots of the 2018 NHL Draft at Saturday night’s NHL Draft Lottery.

Buffalo entered the draft lottery with the best odds of earning the #1 seed with 18.5% due to their 31st overall record (62 total points) in 2017-18.

In 2014 and 2015, Buffalo earned the second overall pick at thee NHL Draft Lottery and selected forwards Samson Reinhart and Jack Eichel, respectively. Sabres GM Jason Botterill is in desperate need of a puck moving defenseman like Dahlin to distribute the puck to Eichel, Reinhart, Ryan O'Reilly, Casey Mittelstadt, Kyle Okposo, and the Buffalo forwards.

The Sabres, Canadiens and Hurricanes will have to wait until the second intermission of Game 2 of the San Jose Sharks and the Vegas Golden Knights to learn which of team wins Rasmus Dahlin as the gold medal, Andrei Svechnikov as the silver medal land Filip Zadina as the bronze medal.

Is it a coincidence that Dahlin's Team Sweden Tre Kronor sweater is Blue and Gold. Ahem, he's already rocking the Sabres paint scheme. It's a good omen for Buffalo.

Frankly, there are no losing teams in this NHL Draft Lottery. The Sabres, Habs and Canes will all be selecting superstar NHL prospects in Dahlin, Svechnikov and Zadina. Perhaps Brady Tkachuk can wiggle into the top three in place of Zadina. Now we wait and see.

Here is your NHL Draft Lottery, in order from numbers 15 to 4:

15: Florida 14: Philadelphia 13: Dallas 12: NY Islanders 11: NY Islanders 10: Edmonton 9: NY Rangers 8: Chicago 7: Vancouver 6: Detroit 5: Arizona 4: Ottawa

Carolina, Buffalo, Montreal battle for No. 1

Show Comments
Loading...
Loading...
Loading sidebar...
0
Show comments for this article