Rasmus Dahlin taking leave from Sabres to be with fiancee in Sweden after her heart transplant
After having heart failure while on vacation in France, Carolina Matovac, fiancee of Rasmus Dahlin, spent weeks on life support and ultimately received the transplant, from which she has been undergoing rehab in Sweden.
Buffalo Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin is taking a temporary leave of absence from the team to return home to Sweden and further tend to his fiancée, Carolina Matovac, after she had a heart transplant over the summer.
“I will say this: He said everything is OK, and through this, he’s got full support by our team,” coach Lindy Ruff said in making the announcement after the team’s half-hour practice Friday in KeyBank Center.
Ruff said there is no timetable for Dahlin’s return. The Sabres open a four-game road trip Saturday night in Raleigh, North Carolina, against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin looks for a pass against the Mammoth during Tuesday’s game.
Harry Scull, Buffalo News
Matovac became ill over the summer while she and Dahlin were vacationing in France, and suffered what was termed “major heart failure” that was nearly fatal. She spent weeks on life support and ultimately received the transplant, from which she has been undergoing rehab in Sweden.
“I think it’s been incredibly hard. It’s not easy. I fully understand what this young man is going through,” Ruff said. “I don’t think you can describe it, and I don’t think you can feel what he’s feeling.”
In an open letter to fans at the start of training camp, Dahlin described the ordeal and thanked the Sabres’ hockey staff and ownership for their compassion the last few months.
“I’m pretty passionate about the fact that no one would want to walk in his shoes in having dealt with what he dealt with,” Ruff said. “He has undoubtedly got the support of everybody on this. This is larger than hockey. Family and the person come before hockey. Hockey is our job. Hockey is our lifeline, but family and personal trump anything.”
Dahlin, 25, has one goal, eight assists and a team-worst minus-11 rating in 14 games this season. He was on the ice for practice Friday, and Ruff then made the announcement of his captain’s departure during his daily media briefing after players had packed their equipment for the flight to Carolina.
Later in the day, the Sabres called up Zac Jones from Rochester so they can travel with seven defensemen.
Difficult road
The Dahlin news is another layer of difficulty added to a road trip that starts with the Sabres suddenly last in the Atlantic Division by points and list in the Eastern Conference by tiebreakers.Worse yet, their four opponents entered Friday 35-15-5, while the Sabres are the NHL’s only winless team on the road at 0-2-2 and are last in the league in road goals (9).
“It (stinks) that we’re at where we’re at in the standings with how hard we’ve been fighting to get points,” said winger Tage Thompson. “But every other team is doing the same thing. We just have to find ways to get points and climb our way up in the standings.”
Going to Carolina is about the worst-case scenario for the Sabres right now. Buffalo has dropped 11 straight games in the Hurricanes’ Lenovo Center (0-9-2) and hasn’t won there since March 22, 2016. The Sabres are averaging 4.45 goals against in those games and have given up five-plus six times.
The Sabres are 1-1-4 in their last six games and have scored just one goal in the last eight-plus periods at home, totaling 167 minutes, 2 seconds. They look like a team squeezing their sticks on offense.
“I think that’s where we’re at right now as a whole team, myself included,” said Thompson, with just one goal over the last five games. “You get those point-blank chances and maybe you’re thinking a little too much instead of just reacting. Just continue to do things that are getting you looks.”
Thompson practiced again with rookies Noah Ostlund and Isak Rosen and it would appear that line will stay together in Carolina.
“A ton of skill. They both see the ice really well, a lot of creativity,” Thompson said. “We just have to try to build chemistry. I thought today was a great practice. Had a lot of great looks (at the net) just talking with them, reading off each other.”
Defenseman Michael Kesselring missed practice Friday but Ruff didn’t expect that to be an issue for him to be on the ice Saturday. Ruff said Zach Benson, who skated in a tracksuit Friday morning, is a possibility to play Wednesday in Utah but that Jason Zucker and Jiri Kulich remain ill and aren’t likely to be on that stage of the trip, which moves on to Colorado and Detroit.