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“We were talking about Elias in our mid-term meetings in January as a guy we liked and we wanted to continue to watch him.

“There’s no question they have the chance to be first-line players for this organization for a long time.”

Dahlen, of course, was the prospect the Canucks received from the Ottawa Senators in the Alex Burrows trade at the deadline.

At that point, the Canucks were far enough down the standings they would have had a strong indication they’d be in position to draft his best friend.

“It is unique the way it happened,” Linden said. “I’m not going to say this was the grand plan. We liked Jonathan in his draft year and didn’t have the opportunity to get him.

“The fact we did, is very important. Having these two guys who have that chemistry is going to be fun to see how that plays out.”

The pair, by the way, are set to be playing on the same line in the Canucks top prospect’s game on Thursday night.

Up to now, most have assumed that Dahlen would likely spend this season playing in the AHL, but he said Tuesday he has some options to play again in Sweden. One that may be too difficult to pass up.

Pettersson said he will be playing for Växjö in the Swedish Hockey League, universally known as the country’s elite league. Dahlen said there could be chance he’s moved to that same team.

It leads to a great question about what is worth more.

Is it better for Dahlen to learn the so-called North American game in Utica or should he be doing everything he can to play with Pettersson, continuing years of chemistry we haven’t seen the likes of which since, well, Henrik and Daniel Sedin.