Arizona Coyotes‘ 6th year Swedish-born defenseman prospect Klas Dahlbeck(34) starts the new season with the big club after being traded late last year from Chicago Blackhawks.
The former 3rd round pick in the 2011 draft (#79 overall) played his first three seasons in North America with affiliate Rockford IceHogs having his best season 2013/2014, where he skated a career high 75 AHL games and had all bests scoring 10 goals, 25 assists for 35 points with a +21 rating and a not so terrible 175 shots on net.
He plays in his first 4 big league games with the Blackhawks and got his first NHL goal before being dealt.
After the transaction he joined the Coyotes immediately playing another 19 games with three assists to add to his totals before being reassigned to Portland Pirates to help them with their playoff push.
The fairly big 6’3″ 207 lbs. blue liner played the final three games of the regular season registering an assist and then helped the team push their first round playoff series to a deciding fifth game with the eventual Calder Cup winner Manchester Monarchs.
Returning with a new one-year deal, the restricted free agent made sure he staked his claim to a full-time spot in the show as the 24-year old is ready to fill a bigger role.