Rasmus Dahlin has been on the ice at the Frölunda campus or a while, but not practicing with his former team Frölunda HC. He’s been on the ice with a group of NHL and AHL players. However, when he is done with practice he goes back into the main hall to check on the Frölunda practice and you can tell he is ready to go.
Having spoken to Frölunda coach Roger Rönnberg the day before, I asked Dahlin if the way Frölunda practices in regards to one of their statements “We practice harder than a game is, because it makes a game easy” helped him transition in to the NHL with a little bit of ease.
“For sure, this is where I got the foundation, this is where I realised how much it took”, Dahlin answers with certainty.
I point out that Adam Pardy told me while in his short stint with Frölunda, before hanging up his skates, that he had never practiced harder than in Frölunda during his time in the North American leagues. Dahlin looks out on the ice where Frölunda is running some heavy skating drills and says, “and he wasn’t even here during the summer training.”
Dahlin hoped to make a practice or two with his former team, just like New York Rangers Lias Andersson has been doing the last couple of days, before leaving for Buffalo some time in the upcoming week.
Practice with the NHL players is good, it NHL players so the level of skill is still high even in the pre-season. Still mistakes happen as can bee seen on the video posted below.
Rasmus Dahlin in preseason training #Sabres pic.twitter.com/Lb73J360cB
— Patrik Bexell (@Zeb_Habs) August 1, 2019
One of the main things that Dahlin wants to improve upon this season compared to his rookie season is his offensive game. It was evident at Thursdays practice when other defenders lined up to do defensive drills but Dahlin went with the offensive players to try out moves on Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
While not successful at this time, Dahlin showcased his shot later at the opposing end when he wired a shot from the blue line into the top shelf.
Rasmus Dahlin can’t score on Henrik Lundqvist. The players sure enjoyed themselves on the ice today. #NYR #Sabres pic.twitter.com/rjODdDKNQt
— Patrik Bexell (@Zeb_Habs) August 1, 2019