Erik Karlsson wins Golden Puck as best Swedish hockey player
It’s his second consecutive Golden Puck
For the second year in a row, Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators has won the Golden Puck as the best Swedish hockey player in the world, as determined by Expressen magazine. It marks the first time there was a repeat winner since Peter Forsberg won the honour twice back in 1992-93 and 1993-94. In addition to this honour, he also received the Viking Award for the best Swedish hockey player as voted by Swedish hockey players. Karlsson first won the Viking Award one other time, back in 2011-12.
Here are some quotes from Karlsson after hearing of the award:
On winning the award:
“Thank you so much! It’s very nice. I was incredibly proud last year when I won, and it’s the same this year. [...] It’s fun that you can get something from Sweden even though you don’t play there anymore.”
On being the first repeat winner since Forsberg:
“We hope it will take 20 years before someone does it again. [Laughs] No, it’s something very special, so I would like to thank you very much for it. I am really proud of this.”
On looking back on the season:
“For starters, I’m walking around on crutches. But no, it was a good year for all of us in the organization. That we got to the final game [Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals], we should be really pleased with that, we did so well. It was incredibly fun, and this was one of the funnest seasons I’ve played in my career.”
(As with all our Swedish articles, a big stick-tap to Patrik Bexell of Habs Eyes on the Prize for finding this article and sharing it with us.)
