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PRAGUE — Rasmus Dahlin wants to step up as a leader and help the Buffalo Sabres turn themselves around, so the defenseman organized a weeklong training camp for a group of his teammates in late July in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The players would skate, work out and then play “some terrible golf,” goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen said with a laugh Wednesday during the European Player Media Tour, a day of interviews and video shoots here to promote the upcoming NHL season.

No, Switzerland is not exactly a tough place to be in the summer.

“Can’t complain,” forward JJ Peterka said with a smile.

However, this speaks volumes about Dahlin, the Sabres’ team dynamics, and their drive to get better.

Luukkonen expressed, “The most revealing thing about ‘Dahls’ is his strong desire to win, to do things correctly, and to ensure everyone on the team is well taken care of and prepared for the season. His efforts and proficiency in his tasks enable us, the players, to arrive where we need to be. I believe it’s largely due to him.”

This also highlights the quality of our team members. Everyone is eager to improve and they are always thrilled to reunite during the summer and travel to Switzerland for practice. On the whole, I believe there were numerous positive outcomes from this experience.

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Buffalo has missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for 13 seasons, the longest drought in the NHL. Dahlin, the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, has been part of the past six seasons. He has been an alternate captain the past two.

Now he is 24, and the Sabres don’t have a captain after the departure of forward Kyle Okposo, who was traded to the Florida Panthers on March 8 and won the Stanley Cup.

“Peterka explained that Dahlin had proposed the idea of organizing a small training camp in Europe for all the European athletes. The goal was for them to come together and work out. That was the plan,” he said.

“It was a lot of fun. A bunch of guys came. Even guys from North America flew over to come practice for that week. I think that also shows how tight the group is. We even want to work out together in the summers.”

The practices were overseen by Peterka’s skills coach and Dahlin’s father, who serves as a coach in Sweden.

“It was really good stuff,” Luukkonen said. “It was fun skating for the players, and I got a lot of shots, so it was good stuff for a week.”

The group included Dahlin, Luukkonen, Peterka, forwards Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen, and defensemen Henri Jokiharju, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson. Each is 25 or younger.

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Luukkonen stated, “This demonstrates the readiness of our younger players to take the lead at this time. Take Dahls, for instance, he no longer wants to be a background figure. His desire is to assume more responsibilities and ensure we perform optimally during summers. It’s a testament to the fact that we have a significant number of younger players prepared to take on a larger role and shoulder more responsibility now.”

The Sabres (39-37-6) finished seven points behind the Washington Capitals for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference last season.

Peterka stated that they can no longer attribute missing the playoffs to the team’s youth, as they have done in the past.

“It’s not an excuse anymore,” Peterka said. “We’re all a year older than we were last year, so I think for us it’s just time to take the next step right now.”

Luukkonen echoed that.

“You’re a young team, you’re an old team,” he said. “In the end it doesn’t matter. You’re in the League to win. You’re in the League to make the playoffs. You can’t hide behind it forever. It’s an easy way out from it.

“Even though we’re a young team, there’s a lot of players who have a lot of NHL games already, so it’s kind of now our time to prove everybody wrong and just make the playoffs.”

NHL.com independent correspondent Heather Engel contributed to this report