Rasmus Dahlin is an 18 year old rookie 18 games into his NHL career while Rasmus Ristolainen is a six-year vet with 364 NHL games under his belt. It stands to reason that a coach would defer top minutes to a 24 year old with that kind of experience while sheltering an 18 year old’s minutes in order to get a feel for how he handles the game at the NHL level.
That should change going forward.
The Sabres have completed just under 22% of their season now and it’s time to begin transitioning Rasmus Dahlin from sheltered rookie to Sabres number one defensemen.