Avalanche’s Landeskog, Senators’ Karlsson to lead way for two games in Sweden.
Avs’ Landeskog, Sens’ Karlsson to lead way for 2 games
Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog was flat-out bubbly recently when talking about his return home to Stockholm for a twogame series against the Ottawa Senators on Friday and Saturday. Landeskog, who is being marketed with Senators captain and fellow Swede Erik Karlsson for the NHL Global Series event, purchased a combined 90 tickets for the games at the Ericsson Globe.
Landeskog yearns to be the hometown hero, given that he is from Stockholm, the country’s capital on the eastern side, and Karlsson grew up in the western part of the country, outside Gothenberg. The Avs are scheduled to fly from New York to Stockholm after Sunday’s game against the New York Islanders in Brooklyn.
“NHL hockey is NHL hockey, but anytime you can cheer for one of your own, one of your countryman — and in my case, somebody from the same town the game is being played in. I’m hoping — I’m not sure, but I’m hoping — they’ll be a lot of people cheering for the local kid rather than the guy from the other side of the country,” Landeskog said with a smile.
Landeskog and Karlsson are among seven Swedes on the rosters. Defensemen Patrik Nemeth of the Avs and Johnny Oduya and Fredrik Claesson of the Sens are each from Stockholm. Colorado forward Carl Soderberg is from Malmo, on the southern tip of the country, and Avs defenseman Anton Lindholm is from Skelleftea, on the northeast side.
Nemeth and Oduya were teammates with the Dallas Stars the last two seasons. Oduya signed with Ottawa as a free agent in July and Nemeth was claimed by Colorado off waivers in September. So Oduya knew he was signing up for a free trip home, and Nemeth was just fortunate.
“It’s pretty cool. I’m pretty good friends with Johnny Oduya, and he talked about that when he signed with Ottawa,” Nemeth said. “So I knew Colorado was going over there when they picked me up.”
Lindholm, a 22-year-old rookie, had extra motivation to make the Avs roster out of training camp. He was one of the final cuts for opening night but was soon recalled and has played in eight of 12 games.
“Obviously, there’s not an NHL game going on every year in Sweden, especially with a team that you’re signed with,” Lindholm said. “So maybe it was an extra motivator. But the main goal was obviously to make an impression in camp and make the team. Needless to say, I’m happy I’m going. My family will be there, for sure, and probably my financée’s family too.”
Landeskog, who is approaching his 25th birthday this month, fully intends to entertain his travel party in Stockholm.
“We’re not going to need a chauffeur. We’re not going to need a tour guide. Ah, it’s exciting,” he said. “Honestly, this is something I’ve been looking forward to ever since it became public, or since we found out about it. It’s coming up real quick, and I think for the most part I think everybody is excited to go. Not everybody has been to Sweden, or Europe, so it should be a fun trip.”
He added: “The NHL is a North American league. I’m so excited to bring these guys, my brothers from over here over there and show them where I’m from. I get to go to all their home cities here in North America, so I’m excited to bring them to my home.”
The Avs will have four days in Stockholm to adjust from the travel before Friday’s first game against Ottawa.
“We’ll have some down time there, where we can enjoy it,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “It will be nice. Change of scenery, change of pace. I know Landy and those guys are excited to show our team around a little bit. So I think it will be a good team building experience for our guys. And then we got to get down to business playing back-to-back against Ottawa, which is a real good team right now. But it’ll be fun.”