The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Die By The Blade community. six writers and 718 readers ranked players under the age of 25 as of September 1, 2018 in the Buffalo Sabres organization. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production against future projection to rank each player. Now, we’ll count down each of the 25 players ranked.
We’re starting to get into the top players in the organization with the top 25 under 25 rankings. Coming in at 12 is Swedish center, Rasmus Asplund. The 20-year-old is tied to the infamous trade made by former general manager Tim Murray at the 2016 NHL Draft.
If you need a refresher, the Sabres traded defenseman Mark Pysyk, 38th, and 89th overall to the Florida Panthers in exchange for defenseman Dmitry Kulikov and 33rd overall. Asplund was selected at 33 and was a big reason why Murray went through with the trade.
We watched Kulikov flame out in one season with the Sabres. Thus Asplund is now the last hope for that trade to save face.
After four years playing in the SHL for Farjestad, the Swede will come over to North America this season to continue his professional career. He comes over with a reputation of being one of the best two-way centers in the SHL.
This one was a goalie show until Rasmus Asplund weaved through three defenders to set up this goal pic.twitter.com/GbJcyxJpC1
— Jourdon LaBarber (@JourdonLaBarber) June 30, 2018
Asplund projects out as a solid third-line center in the NHL. He’s a very intelligent player that can skate, kill penalties, flash some skill and hard to play against. While Asplund doesn’t have Victor Olofsson’s shot or Rasmus Dahlin’s skill. He’s solid in almost every area of his game.
Asplund is one of the more exciting players in the Sabres prospect system and will be interesting to watch continue his development next season in the AHL with the Rochester Americans.