Vancouver Canucks Prospects Showdown highlights Pettersson, Gaudette
By David Joun
8. Quiet night for Dahlen no cause for concern
After coming to Vancouver at the trade deadline from the Ottawa Senators, Jonathan Dahlen was elated to find out that his best friend and linemate Elias Pettersson was going to be joining him as one of the best prospects in the Canucks organisation.
Despite speculation that the two Swede forwards could show glimpses of premature Sedin-esque chemistry, the two did not wow those gathered at Rogers Arena with offensive teamwork.
Many were disappointed, and understandably so. Team White’s top line of Boeser-Pettersson-Dahlen was a look into the future, a definite possibility for Vancouver’s top line in a few years’ time.
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But Boeser took the night off and simply enjoyed being on the ice, leaving Dahlen and Pettersson without a third forward to work with in many occasions in the offensive zone.
As for Dahlen’s individual performance, he seemed a lot more comfortable being involved in the thick the of play than Pettersson was. Dahlen drove to the net and drew a defender back with him, giving Pettersson a better shooting lane and more time to roof the puck past the Team Blue netminder.
Dahlen had a nice backhand opportunity against netminder Michael DiPietro on a partial breakaway. Otherwise, Dahlen was a quiet force on the ice the same way we know Juolevi to be.
Like Juolevi, Dahlen does many things well aside from scoring. He is very hungry for the puck in the offensive zone.
Had Dahlen’s night ended like that, I would have left room for slight concern. But I am not worried at all after seeing that move in the shootout that oozed with confidence and the aura of a goal scorer. Dahlen is a scorer and score he will.
Next: The Need to Exploit the Cap Space in a Rebuild
Now that the summer development camp is over, the next event on the Canucks agenda is the Young Stars Classic. This year’s Young Stars Classic will take place in Penticton, B.C., beginning September 8th.