'A guy you want to follow' | Teammates share memories ahead of Rasmus Dahlin's 500th game

Tage Thompson took his time and sorted through seven years’ worth of memories as he considered the question.

If you had to show someone one moment that illustrates Rasmus Dahlin as a player, which would it be?

“Where is he? I don’t know,” Thompson finally said.

Thompson leaned forward and looked toward Dahlin’s stall. Dahlin was still on the ice, well after practice had ended.

“One game? He’s got a lot of really good games.”

Thompson rattled off a few of Dahlin’s memorable plays and the qualities they exhibited. Finally, Dahlin entered the dressing room and recalled a play he made against Carolina.

“Oh, here at home!” Thompson said excitedly. “Yes. That play was so sick. Two years ago. The one where you walked a guy at the blue line and then backed up, backed up, backed up and then slid a backhand to Mittsy.”

“I should know this,” he continued. “My son’s got your highlights on every single day.”

Such is the magic of Rasmus Dahlin, who will become the third-youngest defenseman in NHL history to reach 500 career games: the ability to leave other players in awe with his skill and earn their respect with his commitment and competitiveness.

Sabres.com collected memories from Dahlin’s teammates, and three common themes arose.

“He controls the game"

Dahlin has already ascended the Sabres’ franchise record books, passing every defenseman not named Phil Housley in career goals, assists, and points.

His 349 points are the 10th-most by a defenseman through his age 24 season in NHL history, behind a who’s who list of mostly Hall-of-Fame blueliners: Orr, Coffey, Housley, Bourque, Potvin, Murphy, Babych and Leech.

Dahlin’s point total is the product of hundreds of ankle-breaking dekes along the blue line, no-look passes through traffic, and stretch passes lobbed through the air like a Josh Allen deep ball.

Jason Zucker: He has a different way of playing the game than I’ve seen from a defenseman, probably that I’ve ever played with.

Zucker’s career teammates include Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Roman Josi and two-time Cup champion Kris Letang.

Thompson: He controls the game. When the puck’s on his stick, he drives the play and everybody around him reads off of him, what he’s doing. He can slow it down, he can speed it up. It’s a unique ability that not a lot of people have.

Zucker: It’s just the way he skates. I mean, the flow that he has. There’s just a certain rhythm to his game and a flow to his game that makes him hard to stop. The deception and his skill level is just elite.

Alex Tuch: He moves like he’s 5-foot-10; he defends like he’s 6-foot-6. He’s constantly playing with his head up. His play with the puck is like no one else I’ve ever played with, that’s for sure. And just his ability to control all three zones whenever he wants to, just imposes his will. He controls momentum and pace of play.

Jacob Bryson: Didn’t he break an NHL record for most games with goals in a row to start a season?

Answer: Dahlin became the first defenseman in NHL history to open a season with goals in five straight games in 2022.

Jack Quinn: My second NHL game after I got called up from Rochester, I scored my first goal. If you watch the play, it’s on the power play, the puck comes up to him and he fakes a slap shot and one-touches it through his legs to me. I kind of have a little breakaway up the side and I’m able to bury it. No other guy is making that play.

Jiri Kulich: I watched him when he was 16 playing in Sweden. I would say he was my idol. It’s pretty funny because he’s a defenseman, but what he does at that age, it was incredible.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: I would go all the way back when he was playing with Frolunda. There’s the one clip where he just goes around everybody. That just shows how confident he is. And he’s still the same player.

Kulich: I still have the goal in my mind. He was going from the D-zone by himself. It was like a highlight video, like all of it. From the D-zone, to the neutral zone, then to the O-zone, get to the middle, score.

Mattias Samuelsson: He’s just so good on his edges. He floats on the ice.

Connor Clifton: Wingers, when they’re going to the point, you can’t sprint out to him, right? Otherwise, you’ll look silly and he’ll beat you. There’s a couple of those D-men in the league and Dahls is one of them. Quinn Hughes, Makar. You’ve just got to watch those guys.

Beck Malenstyn: We had a game last year where he walked me pretty good at the blue line and it ended up getting tipped in. You come out slow and he’s able to make a play around you. You try to close him down quickly and he can make you miss so fast.

Samuelsson: His move at the blue line that he always does, where he fakes inside, goes around the world with his stick, and then goes to the outside. I think that’s his patented move. I guess if you’ve never seen him play, I’d probably show that.

Owen Power: He comes in and then goes out. He gets guys with that all the time.”

Jacob Bryson: I think of his breakouts. He makes some really good stretch passes.”

Thompson: I don’t remember who we were playing, but it was my first season here. I think it was earlier in the year, so guys knew he was really good but didn’t really know to what extent.

I think it was a breakout play. He got the puck behind the net, started skating up the ice, got pressured, turned back and made like a backhand, five-foot sauce right on someone’s tape, over everybody. And then he got back to the bench and acted like everyone should be able to do that. Didn’t think anything of it.

Dahlin also turned heads on a January night in Edmonton during his rookie season, when he lofted a pass from deep in his own zone through the air and directly onto Thompson’s stick at the opposing blue line. The play has since become a part of his repertoire, having led to the overtime-winning goal on Ryan Miller Night in 2023 and a Thompson goal as recently as this past Thursday, Dahlin’s 499th game.

Thompson: The Ryan Miller Night goal, he sauced it over everybody’s head and it landed right on Cozey’s stick, right on the blue line.

Peyton Krebs: To have the creativity to do that, just sauce it over everybody and send Cozey on a breakaway. That was a special moment.

Fire on ice

There were times early in Dahlin’s career when he was the target of attention from notorious Boston Bruins instigator Brad Marchand. Dahlin started returning the favor somewhere in the 2020-21 season, when a COVID-shortened schedule paired the Sabres and Bruins up frequently. On one May afternoon, he lit up Bruins star David Pastrnak and went after Marchand in the ensuing scrum.

Nowadays, Dahlin is like Buffalo’s own version of Marchand: skilled but also physical, with a knack for getting under opponents’ skin. He already ranks third in hits among Sabres defensemen since the stat started being kept in 2005-06.

Power: There’s got to be a game where he had, like, three points and then he started three scrums.

Bowen Byram: He always seems to have a scrum going at the end of the whistle. I think just how much teams hate playing against him, and I can speak to that.

Bryson: All I know is when teams want to play him, they want to go after him. Not totally Marchand-esque, but I feel like he does the same stuff just with his play.

Byram: I think the thing that I really respect about him the most is his competitive side. He’s not backing down to anybody. He’s always in the mix of things. He goes headfirst into every battle and a lot of times comes out with the puck.

Thompson: The one play that always stands out to me is the hit against San Jose, when he hit Matt Nieto.

Dahlin’s reverse hit on Nieto, which sent KeyBank Center into a frenzy during a 6-3 win in December 2022, stands as the most famous of his open-ice hits. He got Marchand with a similar hit last season and Nashville’s Cole Smith earlier this year.

Bryson: He’s a good hitter. Among the top skill guys in the league, he’s probably one of the best at throwing hits. It seems unexpected, but I think now everyone hates playing against him.

Clifton: How about the clip of him hitting Krebsy in practice and getting into a fight. Has anyone said that yet? That’s a good one because that’s him, right?

Those two going at it is the funniest story ever because they’re basically the same. In practice they go 100 miles an hour. They’re giving 100 percent every time they’re on the ice. And I think that kind of explains Dahls really well. When he gets pissed off in practice, he’s such a competitor that he goes and lights up his teammate.”

Krebs: He loves getting better. One of my best friends on the team.”

Tuch: He’s a guy who I would go to war with any day of the week. Someone who plays with a chip on their shoulder each and every night. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and it’s one of his best assets.

Zach Benson: I think about the game-tying goal he had a couple weeks ago against Vegas. Just a clutch player making a big-time play. And then obviously his celebration, how fiery he is and how much he cares and wants to win.

Everyone knows his skill, but I see him as a fiery guy who wants to win every night. That’s what really sticks out. Obviously you know his skill. He’s obviously an elite player. But his fire I think is what pushes him over the edge as an elite defenseman.

“He gives everything”

Dahlin was named captain of the Sabres prior to this season. One month later he founded the Rasmus Dahlin Foundation, dedicated to helping children in need in Western New York.

Asked about his leadership, teammates are effusive in their praise of his competitive drive and relentless work ethic.

Zucker: I think we’ve built a good friendship. We sit together on the plane and we’ve had a lot of good talks. About hockey, about life. It’s been fun to get to know him. He’s a great person.

Kulich: He helped me a lot. I learned from him how to be more of a pro.

Luukkonen: On the ice, off the ice, a great guy. Loves nothing more than winning.

Thompson: I think the biggest growth I’ve seen is him as a leader. Just his hunger for the game. I mean, it’s always been there – he’s always been a competitive guy. But I think the last two or three years, it’s been another level. He’s hungry to win and hungry to be the best on the ice every single time and feels like he has a lot to prove still. I think that’s a guy you want to follow.

Zucker: I think for him right now it’s mainly leading by example, doing the right things. He works hard. He’s in the gym, he’s on the ice, working hard and working on his game. He’s out there early, out there late working on his skills.

Thompson: His words hold a lot of weight when he says stuff in this room because he backs it up every single night.

Benson: If he’s not happy with something, you can see he’s going to make an impact the next shift because he’s that pissed off. And in the dressing room, same thing. I mean, we have a bad period, he comes in and he lets us know it. He’s not freaking out throwing s*, but just like a good captain would – he lets us know and tells us to be better.

Benson spent his rookie season living with Dahlin, getting a firsthand look at his daily habits.

Benson: Just the way he handles himself day in and day out. When he gets home, it’s a 24/7 job. Taking care of his body. He’s getting people over to work on his body. You see why he’s so elite when you live with him.

Byram: He’s got an unbelievable engine and I think that’s what those top-level, elite guys have. They seem to never get tired and he’s definitely a part of that. He can be battling in the D-zone for 45 seconds and still have the juice to get up the ice and make an unbelievable play.

Benson: I think his character, too. I mean, just going to restaurants with him, you see his mannerisms and stuff you wouldn’t really expect from a guy who makes that much money and is so elite. A fan will come up to him and he’s more than happy to take a picture, sign something. Always goes out of his way to do little things like that.

Thompson: Regardless of his skill and his talent, the work ethic always exceeds that skill, which I think is the most important thing. I think that’s what makes him such a good leader, such a great guy to play for. Everyone wants to battle and compete for him because he gives everything every single night.

It’s been a lot of fun playing with him as long as I have. I think he’s gonna go down as one of the greatest defensemen to ever play the game.