Rasmus Dahlin is the early favorite to go first-overall in the 2018 NHL Entry draft, and he’s about to skip another step in his outstanding young hockey career. According to Uffe Bodin of Hockeysverige, the 17-year old Swedish defenseman will skip the Ivan Hlinka U18 tournament and instead join team Sweden at the U20 tournament. Dahlin played last year in the Hlinka and the World Junior Championship, and will be all over the prospect circuit again this year as he tries to clinch that top spot.
A prototypical two-way defenseman, Dahlin has the size, physicality and offensive upside that makes him a dream for whichever team gets the chance to choose him next season. Likely battling with Andrei Svechnikov for the top spot, Dahlin should be seen with franchise-altering upside. He’ll be tracked carefully for the next year.
- The NWHL has reached a streaming agreement with Twitter to show select games next season, bringing the women’s league to the forefront for the first time. Their games have previously been available to stream on the internet, but they’ll obviously be on a much bigger platform with Twitter for the next season. Last year the Buffalo Beauts took home the Isobel Cup, and just re-signed Corinne Buie the only woman to have won the Cup both years of the league’s existence. She seems to bring victory with her wherever she goes, winning a Clarkson Cup in her last season in the CWHL as well.
- Tim Panaccio of CSN reports that agent J.P. Barry has spoken to Vegas about all the free agents he represents, mentioning Jordan Weal in particular. Weal is a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer, and though there have been contract talks between his camp and the Flyers to try and keep him around, he’s unprotected and could easily be a target of the Golden Knights in the free agency period. After playing well down the stretch with the Flyers and putting up another outstanding AHL season, Weal is determined to make an impact at the NHL level next season.