shl – CanucksBanter

Rasmus Kågström Editor | HOCKEYSVERIGE

August 16, 2023

After the breakthrough season in the SHL with Skellefteå AIK in the 2022/23 season, the sharpshooter had to spend the entire season last year in the farm league with the AHL club Abbotsford Canucks.

With his 24 goals, Karlsson became the team’s top scorer, and he finished in second place in the internal scoring league with his 49 points in 72 games. Karlsson opened the AHL season with eight points in his opening five games, but also had a stretch in the fall with just one point in nine games.

Overall, I’m very happy with how it went. In the beginning, it was a change, and there were quite a lot of ups and downs. You will always have bad matches, but I wish I could have shortened the periods where I played worse. It is something I will work on this season.

The transition from playing at home in Sweden, where he was used to carrying a lot of the puck and caring for the puck within the team, was a big one. It took him a while to get to grips with the ‘dump and chase’ style implemented in Abbotsford, but thanks to good support from the management staff, he finally found his way into the game.

Perhaps the biggest adjustment for Karlsson was instead beyond the ice’s three zones.

Off the ice, it was a huge adjustment. There were long road trips, and you were on the move for a long time. Then this whole thing with finding an apartment, finding a day job and all that. It was a challenge, but it worked out pretty well in the end. It took a while before I got everything in order and felt that everything was in its place. Now I have a little more control this time, so it will be nice.

Karlsson also does not hide that he suffered a bout of homesickness during his initial time in Canada. The forward was the only Swede in Abbotsford for a long time, before Nils Höglander and Nils Åman were sent down to the farm team from the Vancouver Canucks.

I was a lonely Swede almost until Christmas, so sometimes I was homesick. However, the guys in the team were very nice and helped me get into the group in a good way. Then I won’t pretend that it was easier when “Nisse” and “Nisse” (Höglander and Åman) came down to Abbotsford. It was nice to be able to speak a little Swedish. Then Filip (Johansson) also came there at the end of the season. In the end, it was a pretty fun year.

Karlsson impressed in the preseason with the Vancouver Canucks and also got the chance to play in four practice games, including the general rep against the Arizona Coyotes, before being sent down to Abbotsford for AHL play.

As is well known, the 23-year-old remained there for the rest of the season.

Was it disappointing that you didn’t get an NHL chance?

It is clear that it was a disappointment. I aspire to play in the NHL. I would have liked to get some NHL games, but it’s also up to me to get the chance. Now I get to give the iron this year and show that I deserved to be named.

Should the NHL chances fail to materialize in the coming season, it obviously doesn’t hurt for Karlsson to have a good relationship with his former SHL club Skellefteå. The forward has filled up training during the start of the pre-season and the club is looking for forward reinforcement.

Speculation about Karlsson’s future has circulated on social media, where Norran’s reporter Robin Lindgren reported that Karlsson may be eligible for a return to Skellefteå. However, there will not be a move home to Sweden, the 23-year-old asserts.

No, that won’t happen.

I have one year left on the contract over there and I don’t see myself coming home. Now I’ve signed this contract and then I’m also going to give it a chance. That is what I strive for. Since there are rumours… I’ve been training a bit with AIK (Skellefteå) and then it’s easy for rumors to start spreading, but it’s only been to fill up a vacant place. Then you don’t know what will happen in the future, but right now it won’t go away.

However, Karlsson admits that Skellefteå has a special place in his heart after the successful 2021/22 season, where the forward poured in 26 goals and a total of 40 points in the SHL’s regular season and was awarded the award as rookie of the year in the league.

I like Skellefteå very much. I got to know a lot of guys in the team and it’s pretty much the same team to this day. Then I also met the girl up here, so I’ve got a special connection to Skellefteå.

Then I like the training that is conducted here and the way the organization is managed. The club took good care of me during my year here, so I think it’s a lot of fun to be up here.

The 23-year-old will remain in Skellefteå for just over two more weeks and conduct his training there, before he goes home to Landsbro to spend the last days of his summer vacation in Sweden with his family.

At the beginning of September, Linus Karlsson is going back to Canada and Vancouver with a clear goal: To take a place in the Canucks’ NHL team.

That is what I strive for. I want to play in the NHL. Then I know it will be very tough, I noticed that if nothing else last year. The point is that I’m damn good and don’t dig myself if things get a little more difficult or if I don’t get an NHL chance, but the goal is obviously to play in the NHL this winter. Then the contract expires as well, so obviously I’m fighting to get a new contract over there.

Source: https://hockeysverige.se

Forward prospect ‘does some things in traffic that not a lot can’

by Kevin Woodley / NHL.com Independent Correspondent

VANCOUVER — Linus Karlsson surpassed the rookie goal scoring record set by Elias Pettersson in the Swedish Hockey League last season and the Vancouver Canucks forward prospect believes that success can translate in North America this season.

Karlsson (6-foot-1, 178 pounds) was named SHL rookie of the year after the 22-year-old had 46 points in 52 games for Skelleftea, including 26 goals, two more than Pettersson scored in 44 games in 2017-18.

“I scored some goals so of course I got some confidence, and I will try to bring it over,” Karlsson said during Canucks development camp, which was held July 10-15. It ended with him scoring two goals in a final-day scrimmage. “I will score goals and take the puck to the net, but it’s going to be hard. I will work on it every day and look at videos to improve my game and we’ll see, hopefully I score some goals over here too.”

Karlsson is used to things being hard since he was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the third round (No. 87) of the 2018 NHL Draft, then was traded to the Canucks on Feb. 25, 2019, for forward Jonathan Dahlen.

A switch from center to wing in 2020-21 played a role in Karlsson’s 51 points (20 goals, 31 assists) in 52 games with Karlskoga in Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second division, and his move to the SHL last season.

“It hasn’t been easy at all,” Karlsson said. “It’s been a tough way, but I’m proud of that way and I have still a bit to go. I want to play in the NHL so I’m going to work on the same things I’ve done up to now and try to do everything better.”

Karlsson is expected to start the season with Abbotsford of the American Hockey League, but the Canucks believe his strength around the net and willingness to go to those areas and battle for loose pucks should translate well to the smaller ice surface in North America, while also limiting some of the exposure created by questions about his skating.

“His skating has improved, and for some guys on the big ice vs. small ice, I think actually he will be better,” general manager Patrik Allvin said. “As a 22-year-old you are much more mature. And with his experience of playing pro hockey in Sweden last year, I definitely think he understands what his strengths and weaknesses are and how to be successful in this League.”

Allvin noted there will be spots at forward open with the Canucks. If Karlsson can adjust quickly and bring last season’s form, it’s not hard to envision him playing NHL games this season.

“He does some things in traffic that not a lot can,” Canucks assistant to the GM Ryan Johnson said. “He’s not afraid of the hard areas, and the way he can get the puck off his stick, he’s an exciting player for us. When he gets around better players it only elevates his game. He can find those areas, and when people get him the puck it’s usually in the back of the net.”

Source: nhl.com