There were high expectations for Oscar Dansk after he was selected in the second round by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2012 draft. However, Columbus let him walk this summer, and Vegas took a one-year flier on Dansk, probably with the idea that he would spend most of the season developing in the AHL.
But injuries to Marc-Andre Fleury and Subban have given the affable Swede an opportunity to prove the Blue Jackets wrong.
What a difference a year makes. Last season, Dansk was toiling for cellar-dwelling Rögle BK in the Swedish Hockey League. Tonight, the 23-year-old will be making his first career NHL start for the 6-1 Golden Knights, against the high-flying Blackhawks no less.
I caught up recently with Uffe Bodin, Editor-in-Chief of Hockeysverige.se, who shared his thoughts about Dansk's last two seasons in Sweden and the once-touted prospect's current ceiling.
HockeyBuzz: How much has Dansk's game grown over the last two seasons in Rogle?
Uffe Bodin: Oscar had a promising first season with Rogle, where he started poorly but grew as the season progressed.
Last year, however, he didn't really build on that success and it got to the point where Rogle brought in Anders Lindback (now in Nashville's organisation) to stabilize the goalie situation.
In Dansk's defense, the team defense was horrible, but he didn't make things easier on himself either. Lindback did an excellent job after he arrived, he managed to save Rogle from getting demoted.
HB: Dansk has talked about needed to find more consistency in his game. Did he find it in Sweden?
UB: In my opinion, no.
I think he has all the talent in the world, but for reasons unknown to me hasn't been able to put it all together yet. He can play great for extended periods of time, but then have these mental lapses where he'll give up a few easy goals.
He's still young though, so I think this is something that he's still working on and hopefully something that he can develop over time.
HB: What is Dansk's ceiling at this point and what's holding him back from his potential? Can he still be the bona fide number-one that he was projected to be in 2012 or should expectations be tempered now?
UB: From what he's shown this far, I have a hard time seeing him as an NHL goalie.
At the same time, this glorious opportunity can obviously change that in a hurry. We've seen goalies before, like Andrew Hammond in Ottawa, coming out of "nowhere", being forced into a role that you wouldn't expect them to handle and exceed expectations. This will be his big shot at doing that.
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Dansk's ascension wasn't the only big story at skatearound today. The impending returns of Jonathan Marchessault and Erik Haula will necessitate a roster move or two, which might mean the demotions of Alex Tuch and/or Vadim Shipachyov. All of the aforementioned forwards participated on the ice this morning.
Gallant wouldn't (or couldn't) sort it out for us, saying, "Check the warm-ups, then you'll know." So hold onto your butts until tonight's 7 pm start.
I did to manage to snag Tuch for a chat about the intricacies of net-front play and forechecking. It's not just about being big and fast! Look for that in this space shortly.
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(Update: The Tuch quotes will come out in a couple days. The big news pre-game, of course, is Vadim Shipachyov's demotion. I'll have some thoughts about that tomorrow, but if you didn't see it, a KHL insider who I spoke with a couple weeks called it.)
Not surprising news re: Shipachyov. Superb talent, but maybe not right fit? @makinenantti called it two weeks ago: https://t.co/k1FstoXRJC pic.twitter.com/FJ70GNPrZm
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 24, 2017
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