BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Rasmus Dahlin and Josh Allen arrived in Buffalo mere months apart in 2018 as foundational pieces for two franchises looking ahead to more prosperous futures.
The path to success proved far shorter for Allen and the Bills, with Dahlin — the Sabres’ captain — acknowledging feeling pangs of jealousy in seeing the out-pouring of love the quarterback and team enjoyed in becoming contenders.
And Dahlin is self-aware enough to understand why after spending his first seven seasons playing for a perennial disappointment before finally snapping an NHL-record 14-year postseason drought this year.
“I’ve gone to so many Bills games, and the whole city is just behind them. And then we just kept losing. It was a bit of jealousy in there for sure,” Dahlin told The Associated Press this week. “But I’ve always known that when we start having success, we’re going to have the same thing. So that’s what kind of drove me for sure.”
Welcome to the party, said Allen.
“I know what it’s like when we’ve got a packed stadium, and we’re rolling and that crowd gets buzzing. There is no other feeling,” the quarterback said. “They must be going out for their pregame skates and just be like, ‘Holy cow, this is freaking amazing.’”
Allen and Dahlin 1st-round picks in 2018
Allen arrived first when the Bills traded up five spots to draft him at No. 7 in April. The Sabres followed in June by selecting Dahlin first overall.
Though they have much in common in competitive drive, athletic ability and being unquestioned leaders, Dahlin and Allen know each other only in passing due in part because of how their seasons overlap.
What they lack in friendship they make up for in mutual admiration.
“To see Rasmus and the way he’s progressed since he got here, you can tell by how much his teammates love him by how much they have his back,” Allen said about Dahlin. “He plays with heart. And I like to think that I play with heart, too. So very similar styles.”
It’s no different for how Dahlin views Allen.
“He’s a big role model. I love what he’s doing,” Dahlin said.
“Everybody knows what he can do, but I would say leadership, the type of teammate he seems to be and how much he means to his teammates,” Dahlin added, noting he’d like to one day pick Allen’s brain on leading. “I want to hear his journey. I want to hear where he comes from and his career, his ups and downs.”
Differing backgrounds
And that’s where their paths differ, from age, culture and expectation.
Allen, 29, is from the central California farm town of Firebaugh, and was mostly ignored coming out of high school. After two years at Ridley Junior College, he finally landed a scholarship at Wyoming.
The doubts followed Allen into the draft, in which he was regarded as being a raw talent with accuracy issues.
Dahlin, 26, is from Lidkoping, Sweden, and pegged on the fast-track for greatness at an early age. By 16, he made his debut in the Swedish Elite League, and made his Olympic debut in South Korea before being drafted by Buffalo.
It was in Buffalo, where their trajectories diverged again. Allen, the NFL’s 2024 MVP, has essentially re-written the Bills passing and scoring records, while leading the team to seven-straight playoff appearances.
Dahlin has been exceptionally productive, ranking second on the team list in most defensive scoring categories behind Hall of Famer Phil Housley. But his personal production didn’t translate into team success until this year.
Allen is more outgoing by nature, while Dahlin comparatively reserved, in part because he needed time to adapt to living in North America and learning English.
“There’s a bunch of different styles of leading a team, and I’ve seen from watching as an outsider how Josh leads — gets the crowd into it, fires guys up,” Sabres forward Jordan Greenway said. “Ras maybe doesn’t talk as much, but when he does, you listen, and he definitely leads every time on the ice.”
Sabres, Bills both made playoffs 26 years ago
It hasn’t been since 1999-2000 when both teams made the playoffs in the same season. Allen’s arrival came a year after the Bills ended their own 17-season playoff drought.
“When the Bills are playing good, this city’s better. When the Sabres are playing good, this city is even better,” Allen said. “It feels good when you’re getting love for doing what you do at a high level. And that’s what they are getting right now.”
Dahlin is living it.
“I went to Wegman’s yesterday and I think I got 50 high-fives of people saying, ‘Let’s go, Buffalo,’” he said of a recent trip to the grocery store, finally getting a taste of what Allen has experienced.
“We come from two different places,” Dahlin said. “But it’s cool how it all came together.”
___
This story has been corrected to show that the Bills traded up five spots to draft Allen, not seven spots.
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl ___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl