It made me more of a competitor, a never-give-up mentality,” he added, referring to a Sabres team that finished with a sub-.500 record during his first four seasons, including a last-place overall finish in 2020-21. “I had one or two rough years there, but I learned a lot and it made me a better person. “First of all, I grew up here as a man,” the 23-year-old Dahlin said after practice. Some five years later, toughened by the adversity of spending his early years playing on a losing team that’s finally showing signs of contending, Dahlin can’t think of a better place to stay for the long-term future than Buffalo after signing an eight-year, $88 million contract extension on Monday.
(AP) - Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin arrived in Buffalo from his native Sweden as a raw 18-year-old who could barely speak English, had little experience living away from home, and unprepared for the growing pains he’d face in maturing into a full-rounded player.
