Sabres: Dahlin has had a rough start to the season
By Juliet Hull
The Buffalo Sabres defense was a concern going into the season. One of their top defenders is 20-year-old defenseman, Rasmus Dahlin. He has gotten off to a pretty rough start to the season so far. His low spot of the season so far came on Friday night when the young defenseman was benched for almost the entire second half and all of overtime of the Sabres game against the Capitals.
Dahlin only had a total time on ice (TOI) of 10:08 in this game. This was the second-lowest of his career, with the lowest being due to an injury. To compare, his TOI for the past four games was 18 plus minutes and last season he averaged 19 minutes and 18 seconds of ice time.
After making it easy for Nicklas Backstrom of the Capitals to score to tie the game up in the first period and Jakub Vrana of the Capitals scored in the second, we didn’t see much of Dahlin in the third. Given the opportunity at another shift at the beginning of the third on a power play, head coach Ralph Kreuger decided to pull Rasmus out of the game for the remaining 15 minutes of regulation and was not seen during overtime either.
It’s no secret that Dahlin is frustrated with himself, especially after seeing him slam his stick down on the ice after letting Jakub Vrana score. In his NHL career so far, he has racked up 13 goals with 71 assists in 146 games. Just last season, he had 40 points in 58 games. Coming into this season, he seemed to have matured a lot as an athlete being 6’3 and 207 lbs. However, he still has yet to get a point. Benching him could be a good wake-up call for the 20-year-old defenseman as he continues his career.
Although it is only the beginning of the season and he hasn’t competed competitively in almost a year, it’s important that he fixes these issues quickly as there are only 56 games this season. Buffalo fans expected a lot out of Dahlin this season, considering that he seemed to be one of the top defensemen on the team, next to Brandon Montour. However, after making many mistakes in the defensive zone, it might be time for a change.
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This being said, Rasmus Ristolainen and Jake McCabe look to be the most reliable duo this season so far. It could be a good idea to try pairing Ristolainen and Dahlin together. Pairing him with an experienced defenseman like Ristolainen could be what the Sabres need to succeed this season.