from Bob McKenzie of TSN,

Let's call the 2018 NHL Draft the Year of the Defenceman; the Year of Swedish Defencemen, actually.

Two of the top four prospects on TSN's Preseason Top 20 2018 NHL Draft Rankings are Swedish blueliners, including the morning-line favourite to go No. 1 overall.

That would be Rasmus Dahlin, the 17-year-old, 6-foot-2, 181-pound left-shot defenceman who is playing his second season for Frolunda in Sweden's highest-level league, the SHL.

Nine of 10 NHL team scouts surveyed by TSN ranked the dynamic blueliner first overall. He first came to international prominence last year as a 16-year-old, playing against men in the SHL and putting together impressive YouTube and Twitter highlight reels of dazzling goals, creative playmaking and big hits.

If Dahlin were to go wire-to-wire as No. 1 and be taken first overall in 2018, it would be the first time a Swede has attained that honour since Mats Sundin, whom the Quebec Nordiques chose first overall in 1989.

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