The conversation may not be a popular one, but ranking a once-in-a-lifetime draft phenom like Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin behind anybody requires one heck of an in-depth analysis beyond what that ever-present “eye test” keeps telling us. Sure, Dahlin comes across as the Allen Iverson of NHL draft prospects — an ankle-breaking machine with the kind of devastating directional changes that are usually reserved for practice and pick-up games.

The thing is, when you watch Russian power winger Andrei Svechnikov, you see the exact same thing.

For whatever reason, the casual fan is far more familiar with Dahlin than Svechnikov. It makes sense, especially since it seems like every feat Svechnikov accomplished during his amateur career was either ignored or immediately drowned out by what felt like an endless loop of the seven or eight highlight clips of Dahlin dipsy-doodling his way toward the net. The truth is, Svechnikov’s NHL potential should be considered just as unlimited as his Swedish counterpart.

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League dominance

While Dahlin was being feted in the press, Svechnikov was scorching through a historic OHL season not seen in well over two decades and still flew under the radar. For starters, he was the first player in history to win the USHL and OHL rookie of the year awards in consecutive seasons. Granted, not many players jump from one league to the other, but an impressive feat nonetheless.

According to prospect-stats.com, Svechnikov also had the highest estimated goals-per-60 minutes of any Canadian Hockey League draft prospect between 1998 and 2018. Although these are estimates, as the leagues do not post official time-on-ice statistics, his numbers at even strength for a pre-draft power forward are impressive nonetheless.

With 30 even-strength goals in just 44 games (2.71 eG/60), Svechnikov in his draft year filled the net at a higher clip than Sidney Crosby (2.60), Patrick Kane (2.55) and Connor McDavid (2.34).

(Steve Kournianos) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/82/f7/dahlin-svechnikov-chart-050918jpg_vyxf3k9bnby71mcdf31115agb.jpg?t=1171600211&w=500&quality=80

Additionally, Svechnikov's 5v5 goals-per-game average of 0.68 was the highest in at least two decades of any Ontario Hockey League player in his first draft year. That means neither McDavid, nor Kane, nor Taylor Hall, nor Steven Stamkos, nor John Tavares buried the puck at a greater clip than Svechnikov.

Dahlin also had a historic season as a pre-draft teenager in Sweden’s top league, scoring 20 points in 41 games to surpass Tomas Jonsson’s 40-year mark among under-18 defensemen. He simply was too good for the junior level and by season’s end was one of Frolunda’s better defensemen. At his best, Dahlin is a minute-eating puck mover who works feverishly to keep the ice tilted toward the opposition. He does this with superior footspeed, puck control and vision, and all three allow him to exploit the tiniest of gaps in the other team’s coverage.

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Still, it’s unfair to compare him to Bobby Orr. Dahlin is a unique specimen who still needs to round out the defensive part of his game. The comparison to his fellow countryman (and NHL Hall of Famer) Nicklas Lidstrom may have more to do with the fact that they are both Swedish rather than one being a stylistic carbon copy of the other. True, they share similarities in terms of puck possession and decision making, but the significant gap in their defensive-zone play is just one example that renders the comparison baseless, especially when you consider how Lidstrom’s one-on-one defense as a teenager stood out more than his playmaking or speed.

Two examples where Dahlin’s struggles with pressure can be found in Sweden’s loss to Canada at the world juniors and Frolunda’s opening-round loss to Malmo in six games.

The biggest difference between Lidstrom and Dahlin is that, unlike Dahlin, Lidstrom mastered the art of avoiding physical contact by releasing the puck with accuracy at the exact moment a forechecker was committing toward him. Dahlin eventually should learn how to do this, but he’s proven to struggle under a physical forecheck, and turnovers and chances against were quite frequent during Dahlin’s sophomore SHL season.

There appears to be an opinion that Dahlin possibly was the best defensemen in Sweden’s SHL. Top rookie defenseman? Absolutely. But to say Dahlin had the best wire-to-wire season of any SHL rearguard requires an airtight case to back it up. For starters, Dahlin was not named a finalist for the league’s top defenseman award. Second, his participation in the under-20 world junior championship and the Olympics cost him 11 games, which is more than one-fifth of the SHL regular season.

MORE: Best No. 1 and 2 overall draft duos in NHL Draft history

International dominance

For whatever reason, critics of Svechnikov point to his production at this year's under-20 world junior championship as one of the reasons why he should be considered a notch below Dahlin. However, Svechnikov in limited minutes as a fourth liner for Russia managed five assists (four primary) in five games for a mind-numbing 5.40 points-per-60 minutes average. Considering he’s dominated older teenagers at half a dozen other tournaments, in addition to the 16-21 age brackets in both the USHL and OHL, there’s absolutely no reason to believe an increase in ice time would not have vaulted Svechnikov in the running for yet another international tournament scoring title.

Svechnikov led two significant competitions in scoring in his 16-year-old season — the World under-17 Hockey Challenge and the under-19 World Junior “A” Challenge. He also led all non-draft eligibles in scoring as a 16-year-old at the IIHF under-18 World Championship in 2017.

The only other tournament in this pre-draft season that he appeared in besides the under-20 world juniors was the under-18 Five Nations Tournament, where he tied fellow 2018 draft prospect Oliver Wahlstrom for the most points with eight in four games.

Dominating the international circuit in front of the NHL’s scouting community is part of what makes a “generational” player earn their pre-draft praise, and Svechnikov’s play in these tournaments continue to get overlooked.

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Expected awards

Practically all elite NHL forwards can be found at the top of their draft class. This isn’t always the case with defensemen. There have been 13 defensemen out of the maximum 30 possible finalists for the last 10 Norris trophies (2008-2018). Of those 13, nine were drafted outside the top 10 of the first round and only two — Victor Hedman and Drew Doughty — were one of the first five picks in their respective draft.

Player Drafted Norris finalist (2008-18) Zdeno Chara third round (56th overall) 5 times Drew Doughty first round (2nd overall) 4 times Erik Karlsson first round (15th overall) 4 times Nicklas Lidstrom third round (53rd overall) 3 times P.K. Subban second round (43rd overall) 3 times Shea Weber second round (49th overall) 3 times Brent Burns first round (20th overall) 2 times Duncan Keith second round (54th overall) 2 times Mike Green first round (29th overall) 2 times Victor Hedman first round (2nd overall) 2 times Dion Phaneuf first round (9th overall) 1 time Kris Letang third round (62nd overall) 1 time Ryan Suter first round (7th overall) 1 time

Conversely, the significant majority of all of the top vote-getters for the last 10 years worth of Hart Trophy nominations were given to skaters drafted within the first three picks of their respective draft year.

Player Drafted Hart finalist (2008-18) Sidney Crosby first overall 5 times Alex Ovechkin first overall 5 times Evgeni Malkin first round (2nd overall) 3 times John Tavares first overall 2 times Connor McDavid first overall 1 time Nathan MacKinnon first overall 1 time Taylor Hall first overall 1 time Steven Stamkos first overall 1 time Patrick Kane first overall 1 time Daniel Sedin first round (2nd overall) 1 time Corey Perry first round (28th overall) 1 time Anze Kopitar first round (11th overall) 1 time Jamie Benn fifth round (129th overall) 1 time Ryan Getzlaf first round (19th overall) 1 time Claude Giroux first round (22nd overall) 1 time Martin St. Louis UDFA 1 time Henrik Sedin first round (3rd overall) 1 time Pavel Datsyuk sixth round (171st overall) 1 time Jarome Iginla first round (11th overall) 1 time

The same applies for the league’s top-10 goal scorers this season.

Rank Player Goals Drafted 1 Alex Ovechkin 49 first overall 2 Patrik Laine 44 first round (2nd overall) 3 William Karlsson 43 second round (53rd overall) t4 Evgeni Malkin 42 first round (2nd overall) t4 Eric Staal 42 first round (2nd overall) 6 Connor McDavid 41 first overall t7 Anders Lee 40 sixth round (152nd overall) t7 Tyler Seguin 40 first round (2nd overall) t9 Taylor Hall 39 first overall t9 Nikita Kucherov 39 second round (58th overall) t9 Nathan MacKinnon 39 first overall

As you can see, a strong case can be made that Svechnikov eventually will become one of league’s dominant forwards, especially when using postseason award recognition and placement among the top scorers as the two critical barometers. While Dahlin has done more than enough to earn the distinction as the best defenseman eligible for the draft since Denis Potvin over 40 years ago, the gap in talent between this year’s two best draft prospects does not exist.

We are witnessing the beginning of what should be star-studded NHL careers that will make their pre-draft rankings and eventual selections nothing more than formalities.

Steve Kournianos is the founder of TheDraftAnalyst.com, a blog dedicated to the NHL Draft. He is a former prospects writer for ESPN.com and worked briefly for the Associated Press and McKeen’s Hockey. He also covered the Boston Bruins, the AHL and Hockey East for SportsTicker, and was a minor league baseball editor for Howe SportsData.