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Vol. 65, Issue 17 (King Karlsson) https://archive.thehockeynews.com/issue/585404/615400?t=KING%20KARLSSON
Everyone’s crazy ‘bout a sharp-dressed man, right? This cover takes us back to the early days of Erik Karlsson’s reign in Ottawa, with the dashing D-man amid a breakout season that – spoiler alert – ended with his first Norris Trophy at the tender age of 22. Senior writer Ken Campbell weaves a fascinating picture of how Karlsson represented a new face for Swedish hockey. While other Swedes tended to prefer not to stick out in life, Karlsson was swashbuckling his way all over the ice, and he wasn’t apologizing for it.
“I bet a lot of people I meet for the first time or second time might think I’m a pretty cocky guy,” Karlsson said. “I can say some stuff sometimes without thinking, and it’s no hard feelings from my way. The only reason I’m in this league is because of the way I play.”
That style helped the Senators clinch a playoff spot in a season where we tagged them for dead-last in the Eastern Conference. Karlsson went on to win a second Norris with the Sens in 2014-15 and nearly got them to the Stanley Cup final two years after that. In 2022-23 with the San Jose Sharks, he became the first defenseman to score 100 points in a season since Brian Leetch in 1991-92. Now, he’s took his talents to Pittsburgh.
The issue also included the top 10 AHL coaching wins, synergy in St. Louis, St. John’s rocking again with the IceCaps, an introduction to then-sophomore Jared Spurgeon on the Minnesota Wild and much more.
THN Archives is an exclusive vault of 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until today. Visit the archives at THN.com/archives and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com