Buffalo Sabres: Rasmus Dahlin’s most mind-boggling stats from 2022-23

In 2022-23, Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin had the best season of his career, and he was also one of the NHL’s best players.

Rasmus Dahlin has joined the top echelon of NHL defensemen, and the Buffalo Sabres blueliner should be there for quite some time. Last season, Dahlin snagged 73 points, and while it was a career best, something tells me he will sail north of that number as he continues to inch into the prime of his career.

But he also had some remarkably advanced statistics this past season. Three of them stood out more than any other, and they all graced the Top 10 in the NHL among defensemen.

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin’s most mind-boggling stats

1 – 35 primary assists

Rasmus Dahlin finished second in the league among defensemen in primary assists with 35, tying Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks and Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets. This shows us just how much of a nose Dahlin had in finding an open teammate and allowing them to do the rest.

Last year, Dahlin only finished behind Erik Karlsson, who had 42 primary assists. But with a more talented Buffalo Sabres team lining up in front of him this season and Karlsson heading to the aging Pittsburgh Penguins, there is a chance Dahlin ends up leading the league’s defensemen in this category for the upcoming season.

2 – 2.18 points per 60

Dahlin finished the year with 2.18 points per 60 minutes, landing him the seventh overall spot among blueliners and just one spot behind former Sabre Brandon Montour. And you can only wonder if Dahlin would have fared even better had he been 100% during the final few weeks of the season. Perhaps he would have ended up with a Top 5 ranking.

Once again, with a more talented Sabres team and defensive rotation, Dahlin shouldn’t need to be the same kind of workhorse he was this past season – though he will likely lead the team in average time on ice. If Dahlin stays healthy this season, I can see him finishing with a higher points per 60 total in 2023-24.

3 – 42.5% share of possible ice time

As implied in the section above, Rasmus Dahlin had quite a share of possible ice time and he finished third in the league among defensemen, with 42.5%. Only the Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar and the Los Angeles Kings Drew Doughty logged more, at 43.3% and 43.1%, respectively.

Teammate Owen Power was also a league leader in the category, snagging 20th place at 39.2%, tying him with Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Overall, I can see this number decreasing for Dahlin to an extent for 2023-24, while it could remain rather even-keel for Power, but we’ll see how things play out.

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference and Money Puck)