No. 3 – Jonathan Dahlèn (Left Wing)
The hero of Timrå. Opting to stay with his team instead of facing the tougher competition of the SHL, Jonathan Dahlèn showed one of the rarer traits in hockey these days: loyalty. For the sake of his own development, he could have moved up. Instead, he worked hard to lead Timrå to the top of the Allsvenskan and enter the SHL Promotional series.
Dahlèn put the team on his back, leading the charge to a close victory and the sweet success of promotion to the SHL. His 44 points in as many games led the league, resulting in the MVP and Top Forward Award for the Allsvenskan. During the playoffs and qualifiers to the SHL, Dahlén led players with 14 points in 10 games.
And to think, mono hampered his training camp and start to the season. It’s truly incredible to know what he accomplished this year and nice to see that he admits his work is far from over. Son of former NHL player Ulf Dahlèn, Jonathan will have some notable shoes to fill. His father finished his career with 655 points in 966 games.
Dahlèn looks like a future middle six forward. Perhaps he will be the one to cement himself beside Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser. I know fans want to see him and Elias Pettersson be The Sedins 2.0, but there is a drastic talent gap between Dahlèn and him. Fingers crossed for a healthy camp to see what he can really do.