Revising my Rasmus Dahlin prediction for this season

[The Comish]

For the record, in the last 35 years there's been one defenseman who posted over 50 points in his age 18 season - Phil Housley 26 years ago. Of course there've only been nine 18 year olds who played 70+ games as a rookie since 1974-75, so the odds aren't as remote as it would seem. But I'll still take the under on this one.

This would be cool if Dahlin could pull off this feat with Phil Housley as his head coach!

I need to watch him some more! Thanks for posting fung!

[forumname]

He's been unanimously branded "generational" and the consensus is there hasn't been a defenseman this great in the draft since Potvin in 1973.

Not saying you're wrong with your projection, but this type of hype happens every single season. The media are never going to just come out and say "ya sorry folks, it's a bit of a slow year on the draft front". There are "generational" players in the draft every single year. Fail for Nail, Fallin for Dahlin, Screw-it for Hewitt...

[lukepicmo]

Keep 5 is tough - really depends on how patient you are willing to be. But, I see Dahlin ending up the full-meal deal like Hedman... it's just a matter of "when." I think he is going to soar out of the gate and, while not coming close to his peak for another few years, I don't think there's going to be a traditional 3, 4, 5 year window for this kid to boom.

Hedman was quite the wait. Never had as much hype surrounding him as this kid does, though. I'm considering a serious reach in my keep 5 league.

[fungchen3]

Hedman was quite the wait. Never had as much hype surrounding him as this kid does, though. I'm considering a serious reach in my keep 5 league.

Like I said, a keep 5 is tough. But I would value Dahlin today as I would Karlsson or Hedman the year before they broke out. I'm sure Karlsson was a reach after scoring 26 points in 60 games as a rookie? Or even 45 in 75 his 2nd year. Then boom. It also depends on the keeper choice. If my 5 keepers were...

Kucherov
Scheifele
Gaudreau
Gostisbehere
Vasilevskiy

... then, no, I wouldn't drop one of them for Dahlin right now. But, if my keepers were...

Kucherov
Scheifele
Nylander
Byfuglien
Vasilevskiy

... then I would consider keeping Dahlin over a Nylander and definitely over a Byfuglien. So the situation dictates.