Dangerous play is considered a foul regardless of whether or when the disc arrives or contact occurs.
The vast majority of dangerous play will involve contact between players. However, contact is not required for a player to invoke this rule where there is reasonable certainty that contact would have occurred had the player not taken steps to avoid contact.
A player is not required to hold their position and receive contact in order to call "dangerous play," but the mere possibility of contact is insufficient to justify a call. Furthermore, if the offending player stops or changes their path such that contact would not have occurred, contact was not "reasonably certain."