The Buffalo Sabres have been a fun pick to make a run to the postseason this summer amongst NHL insiders. On Monday morning they made sure to wrap up a key piece of their roster for the foreseeable future.
Buffalo announced that they’ve signed blue liner Rasmus Dahlin to an 8yr/$88M extension, with an AAV of $11M per season. That figure makes him the 2nd highest paid defenseman in the NHL, trailing only reigning Norris trophy winner Erik Karlsson’s $11.5M per year salary.
The 23 year old defender posted career highs in virtually every offensive category in 2022-23. Dahlin potted 15 goals, and dished out 58 helpers to go along with 92 PIMs and a +12 rating while logging a career high 25:48 of ice time per night.
“I love the city. I love the team. I love everything,” Dahlin said at the start of training camp last month. Feelings that were evidently mutual from the front office which opted to make the 6’3” Swede one of their largest signings in franchise history.
“He’s so competitive,” Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said. “That’s probably his best leadership quality, how competitive he is. He just wants to win all the time. He wants to be the best. He wants to be on the ice in every situation. He’s been incredible.”
Originally selected 1st overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Dahlin has spent the entirety of his 355 NHL game career with the Sabres organization. The Lidkoping, Sweden native now joins Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens, and Mattias Samuelsson as members of the team that have inked 7+ year contracts since the start of last season.
Not only has Dahlin seen his offensive game grow since joining the league in 2018-19, but his defensive presence has taken huge strides as well. The former Frolunda HC standout led the Sabres in blocked shots, and finished second on the team in hits in 2022-23.
“I know I’m biased, but I look at him as one of the top in the world at what he does,” Sabres GM Kevyn Adams said to reporters last year. “He’s taken huge steps. I couldn’t be more proud of him but I also know how much work he’s put into this. I still think he’s going to get better. You hear me say that a lot. He’s a player I believe will keep getting better.”
Dahlin and the Sabres wrapped up their pre-season schedule on Friday, and will now begin preparing for their home opener on Thursday October 12th against the New York Rangers.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Colin Gallagher. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.