After trading with the Florida Panthers and moving up on the draft board, the Buffalo Sabres have selected Rasmus Asplund with the 33rd overall selection.
From Sweden, Asplund was the 4th ranked European skater by Central Scouting. He’s a left-handed, two-way center with a nice-scoring touch.
A few notes, courtesy of NHL.com:
• Asplund, who spent the past two seasons with Farjestad in Sweden’s top professional league, collected 4-8—12 in 2015-16 to lead all junior-age players on his team in assists and finished second in both goals and points behind Joel Eriksson Ek (selected 20th overall by MIN in 2015).
• He recalls the 2016 World Junior Championship in Helsinki, Finland as his most memorable hockey moment. The youngest player on Team Sweden, Asplund collected 3-2—5 in seven games while centering a line between Alexander Nylander (No. 3 NA Skater) and Dmytro Timashov (selected 125th overall by TOR in 2015).
• He has served as captain of Team Sweden at a number of international events including the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial where he scored the tying goal with 90 seconds left in regulation of the bronze medal game in an eventual overtime loss to the U.S.