It hasn’t been a terrible start to the season for the Buffalo Sabres, but it also hasn’t been particularly great. Oddly enough, the very same can be said for their cornerstone. Rasmus Dahlin has been inconsistent out of the gate and hasn’t resembled his true self to this point. And while there’s no reason for concern just yet, it’s safe to assume that more was expected.
Dahlin’s Team
Given how much talent they feature, there’s a few arguments to be had over whom the standard bearer of the Sabres is. There’s Tage Thompson, whose electrifying offensive abilities vaulted him from obscurity to stardom seemingly overnight. There’s Alex Tuch, whose ties to the Western New York region have made him a major fan favorite. To a slightly lesser extent, there’s also Owen Power, who attracts quite a bit of attention in his own right despite his lack of experience.
But even with all of them, Dahlin still stands the tallest and there’s truly no questioning that he is the face of this franchise. After being selected first overall by Buffalo in 2018, fans and the media alike knew that he could potentially be the heir to the throne, and when Jack Eichel was traded in 2021, he ascended. The Sabres recognized this by signing him to an 11-year, $88 million contract last fall, making him the highest-paid player in their history and the second-highest-paid defenseman in the NHL after fellow countryman Erik Karlsson, to whom he’s often compared.
If any doubt still somehow lingered after this, it was eradicated when head coach Lindy Ruff named the 24-year-old the 22nd full-time captain in team history before this season began, filling the void left after Kyle Okposo was traded in March. Even if the honor was awarded for more name value than for merit, the symbolism was obvious. The Sabres are Dahlin’s team and he is tasked with leading them into the future and beyond. However, the weight of such a responsibility is considerable and his tenure donning the “C” hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts.
Stumbling Out of the Gate
The Dahlin era has experienced turbulence in the early going, both for the team and the man himself. The Sabres are 4-5-1 through their first 10 games, hardly terrible but also not great. The improvements that they’ve so desperately sought are there for the most part but old habits are dying particularly hard and they’ve failed to achieve any sustained momentum.
For Dahlin, his first foray as captain has also seen mixed results and he sits at just one goal and six points through 10 games. Again, not bad by any means but less than normal for a player who has been no stranger to hot starts in the past. He hasn’t been the calm, smooth force that fans have become accustomed to and his play has been reckless and impatient despite a plus-2 rating. To be fair, there was more to it than we originally believed.
Dahlin suffered what he later confirmed was a back injury in training camp in September. The Sabres initially downplayed the severity but it’s since become clear that it was worse than they let on. He’s since admitted that it was hindering his performance both physically and mentally and it took him a while to regain himself fully. And as we’ve seen, the Sabres are considerably thinner at both ends of the ice when he’s off his game. It’s no coincidence that both have been rocky so far.
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Dahlin is at his best when he uses his skating and puck handling to open the ice and create opportunities. He’s always been oriented towards passing but he’s proven himself a very capable finisher as well, last season becoming the first Sabre defender since Phil Housley in 1989-90 to score 20 goals in a season. He uses the same skill set (combined with a surprising amount of physicality) to shut down opponents on the back end. Now that he seems to be back at 100%, Buffalo’s chances get even better, but if he continues to struggle, his team will as well.
The Weight of Responsibility?
Though Dahlin’s inconsistency on the ice has generated attention, an incident that occurred away from the television cameras also caused a stir. During a team practice on Oct. 14, raw footage showed the Swede and teammate Peyton Krebs exchanging punches after the former laid out the latter with a big open-ice hit during a drill. Fights between teammates are very common and aren’t always indicative of internal dissension, they just rarely get caught on video. But when exactly what happened in this case was put into context, it wasn’t the best look for the captain.
It was initially believed that Krebs had been the aggressor, something he frequently is during games. However, Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News witnessed it and offered a different account. Dahlin was reportedly unhappy after being inadvertently high-sticked by Krebs in an earlier drill, but rather than addressing the issue immediately, decided that revenge is best served cold. The hit appeared to catch Krebs off guard but he seemed fairly unbothered after teammates broke up the scrum.
Again, you can’t make too much of it because tensions between teammates aren’t at all uncommon, especially when times are as rough as they were for the Sabres in the early going. But it was nonetheless an unflattering portrait of Dahlin and the situation definitely could have been resolved differently. Captains are the ones who are supposed to set the example, so it’s not a great look when he carriers out a premeditated assault on a compatriot rather than confronting him on more level terms. The incident was quickly put to rest and didn’t seem to cause any issues afterwards, but if either player had been injured as a result, it would be viewed much differently.
To Dahlin’s credit, he took responsibility for it in the aftermath and stated he apologized to Krebs. Nothing further seems to have resulted from the scuffle, but let’s hope that he takes a more diplomatic approach next time.
What Does the Future Hold?
One month into the 2024-25 season, the Sabres are primed to move up. They’ve managed to stick within striking distance but haven’t been able to get on enough of a roll to recover significant ground. The Dahlin of old appears to have returned over the last few games and his team needs him to stick around if this season is to be the one that finally proves to be different after so many disappointments. Is he the man to lead the Sabres back to the postseason?
