Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Buffalo Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin and his fiancée shared a very traumatic experience they had over the summer, which resulted in her receiving a heart transplant.
While vacationing in France, Carolina Matovac began to feel sick, and then suffered heart failure. The couple wrote that she received CPR several times, sometimes a couple of hours at a time to save her life.
Since her heart transplant, she's been in rehab in Sweden.
Understandably, Dahlin was not ready to talk publicly about the details of that ordeal, but feels he's in a good place right now.
"I see my fiancée work hard every day, and that makes me very motivated. I’m good right now," said Dahlin following Friday's practice in Buffalo.
This situation just illustrates that athletes are people too and have real life situations, just like we all do.
A team is a group of people, but they also become a family. Dahlin is so appreciative of the support he’s received from his teammates and the organization.
"It’s been unbelievable, very supportive," the 25-year-old said. "They've been there for me since Day 1, and I can’t be more thankful for all the support I’ve had, and for how hard she works every day.
"When this stuff happens, you don’t see yourself as a captain. You’re just a human with good people around you."
Dahlin also wanted to talk about hockey on Friday.
About 35% of the roster has been turned over since last season, and the captain feels the additions that were made will help the roster.
"They’re great additions," Dahlin said. "Everyone can play with the puck, everybody’s tall, tough to play against, hard. We’ve got the depth and skill, and we want to be a good defending team."
Dahlin also mentions the new additions are great guys that fit right into their locker room.
Dahlin was very happy that Bo Byram re-signed this offseason, because he feels the defenseman is such a big part of the team.
Byram is at his best when playing with Dahlin. Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff says last season got away from the 24-year-old, at times.
"When he was the guy trying to carry the mail for us, I thought his game got away from him," Ruff said on Friday. "I think in search of a little more offense, or a little more creativity, pucks started being turned over. That first play out of the zone wasn’t as crisp and clear.
"Because of where we were at, I think his game got to the point where he tried to do too much. When he was with 'Ras', he was back most of the time. But when he wasn’t with 'Ras', he was trying to be that guy that could get up ice and try to create offense, hang onto pucks more. I think that got him into more difficult situations on the ice."
Ruff seemed to have talked to many of the players quite a bit in the offseason.
"It’s something we talked about through the summer, about where his game started and where it finished by the end of the year. We both came to an agreement of what I just described to you," he said of Byram.
The captain is very clear about what needs to be done for this organization to start winning. Dahlin spoke several times about raising the standards in Buffalo.
"It’s good competition. No one is safe," Dahlin said. "You’ve got to work hard every day. You’ve got to raise your standards, which is going to make us better."
I asked Dahlin if his good friend Tage Thompson winning the gold medal with Team USA at the World Championship could help him as a leader with this team. Dahlin circled right back to raising the standards.
"I think we’ve had two really good days of setting the tone of what this year is going to be like," he said.
"Every day is going to be a grind in the gym. The small details have to get better, and that’s what the winning teams are doing. And on the ice, the little things have to be right every night.
In his second season as the head coach, Ruff seems to have a better handle on his players. Dahlin feels they know what’s expected out of them from their head coach.
"I think at the end of last season, we got better-and-better-and-better. We worked together as a team and we dialed it in, and we won a bunch of games. We can build off that and have a great start," Dahlin said.
In the first two days of training camp, Dahlin has been paired, once again, with Byram.
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