Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson signs with Jokerit in the Finland hockey league
Erik Karlsson, a Swedish international and professional ice hockey player, who had earned fame by winning James Norris Trophy in the National Hockey League (NHL) as the best defenseman last season, has now moved to Finland hockey league’s side Jokerit.
22-year-old blue liner, who played for Ottawa Senators in the Northeast division of the Eastern Conference of NHL, would have surprised many people as he took this decision of moving to SM-liiga, when he could have moved to any team or any league in the
world.
It would not be wrong if Karlsson is called one of the best upcoming talents and most promising prospects. And being Swedish he was expected to move to his native country’s hockey league Elitserien Hockey League (SEL). But this decision has not come as a
surprise for Ottawa Senators’ General Manager.
The 69-year-old general manager, who would turn 70 in few months time on 5th December, is very relaxed and satisfied as he thinks that this time away from NHL would not harm and affect his player’s game as he said in a news conference on Thursday,
"Game competition certainly won't hurt them”.
Karlsson is not the first or only Senators player who has made a move to Europe after this lockout announcement as his fellow player Jason Spezza has also signed with a Switzerland ice hockey league Rapperswil-Jona.
The Landsbro, Sweden native showed an impressive and phenomenal performance in the last season, for which Ottawa Senators rewarded him by giving a seven year contract for $45.5 million.
After making his professional debut in 2006-2007 season in Sweden’s junior hockey league, the 6-foot-0, 180 pounder played in their senior league, SEL, before getting selected 15th overall in the first round of the 2008 NHL draft. After playing
one year at the American Hockey League (AHL) for Ottawa’s affiliates Binghamton Senators, Karlsson scored some good points by playing 12 games and scoring 11 assists for 11 points, a performance which earned him a call from NHL and then he made NHL debut in
the following season.
So far Karlsson has played 216 NHL games by scoring 37 goals and 112 assists for 149 total points.
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