2018 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Rasmus Dahlin

Let’s take a deep look at the crown jewel of the 2018 NHL Draft, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin

As the 2017-18 regular season comes to an end, fans of non-playoff teams start looking at the 2018 NHL Draft. This year, whoever wins the draft lottery will get a very nice prize. Unlike last year, when Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick fought it out, this year there’s a very clear consensus number one pick – defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.

He is one of the best teenage defensemen in recent history. Defensemen are rarely selected with the first overall pick. Aaron Ekblad of the Florida Panthers was drafted with the first overall pick of the 2014 NHL Draft. Erik Johnson (2006) is the only other one in the 21st century. Before him, the last defenseman to be the first overall pick was Chris Phillips in 1996.

Let’s take an extended look at the likely top pick of the 2018 draft.

Profile

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Height: 6’2″ (189 cm)
Weight: 183 pounds (83 kilograms)
Team: Frölunda HC (SHL)
Country: Sweden
Statistics*: 40 games, seven goals, 12 assists, 19 points, 20 penalty minutes. Seven games, two assists in Champions HL.

*as of March 9, 2018

All profile information courtesy of Elite Prospects.

As you can see, Dahlin has every physical tool you want to see in a top defenseman. He’s got great size and though he could stand to beef up a little bit, 183 pounds is perfectly reasonable. Dahlin is already playing and flourishing against grown men, which is very encouraging. He was a member of Sweden’s Olympic team, picking up an assist in two games.

Strengths

Dahlin is extremely well-rounded. He has been compared to numerous elite defensemen. You might remember TSN’s Ray Ferraro saying he defends like [Nicklas Lidstrom] and skates like Erik Karlsson. The former later responded by saying Dahlin is more like Brian Leetch.

This is putting some very lofty expectations on him, but they’re warranted. Dahlin has an excellent two-way game, which is rare to see in teenage defensemen. They usually need to develop their offense or defense. Dahlin’s defense could stand to be better, but he is far from a liability there.

His biggest strength is his skating. Dahlin is a better skater than most forwards, which is really saying something. Today’s NHL is designed for mobile defensemen to flourish and Dahlin fits this mold perfectly. He’s also a very impressive puck mover. Dahlin has been playing huge minutes for an extremely good team and is looking very good while doing so.

In his own zone, he is very calm under pressure. Some offensive defensemen don’t make the best decisions, but Dahlin makes great reads and is quick to get the puck out of bad situations. He’s very poised and has the hockey IQ you’d expect to see out of a veteran.

Weaknesses

As stated earlier, Dahlin has very nice size. But he’s surprisingly non-physical. It’ll be curious to see how this plays in the NHL. That said, Dahlin has already shown he has borderline elite skating ability and his positioning is extraordinary for his age. So it shouldn’t be a big issue.

Overall Outlook

I’m a huge fan of Andrei Svechnikov. He’s going to be one heck of a goal scorer. That said, Dahlin is on a completely different level than Svechnikov. There is no debate, whoever gets the top pick is drafting Dahlin. Even if, say, the Carolina Hurricanes win the draft lottery, they should trade a defenseman to make room for him.

Next: NHL Mock Draft Version 1.0

It’s hard to pick a comparable player to Dahlin because so few defensemen are this good at his age. But he reminds me a lot of Karlsson, though he’s not as impressive offensively as the two-time Norris Trophy winner.

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