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
