In his first full season with the Canucks, after a remarkable Calder Cup championship win, Linus Karlsson shattered external expectations by scoring 15 goals and 35 points in 79 games in 2025–26. If you ask the forward, however, his ‘surprising’ break-out wasn't much of a surprise to him at all.
Last season, Linus Karlsson surprised everyone but himself.
In his first full season with the Vancouver Canucks, after a remarkable Calder Cup championship win, Karlsson shattered external expectations by scoring 15 goals and 35 points in 79 games with a dead-last Canucks team in 2025–26. Night-in and night-out, he was consistently one of the team’s hardest-working forwards. Whether he was racing up the ice to be the first one to the net, forcing pucks out from along the boards, or even tapping pucks in from his back-door spot, Karlsson made a big impact for Vancouver last year.
If you ask the forward, however, his ‘surprising’ break-out wasn’t much of a surprise to him at all.
“I’ve always had a high expectation of myself, so I wasn’t surprised that I had a good year last year. Maybe guys around were wondering if [I was] going to make it or not, and I think I showed last year I belong in the NHL,” Karlsson told The Hockey News after Day 2 of Vancouver’s 2026 training camp in Penticton.
While he did admit that with the external expectation comes a “little bit of a different position” heading into the start of the season, as a whole, he doesn’t see the need to change much about his game.
This mindset followed him into the off-season, with his approach to training staying true to what he’s done throughout the past couple of years — working on his foot speed and strength.
“I think I’ve taken good steps the last two or three years, so I was kind of working on the same things, which I think paid off the last couple years, so I didn’t really change much from years ago. But now I feel really good coming into this camp and ready to fight for some ice time.”
A Swede Spring And Summer
Karlsson may have kept his training regiment relatively similar to the past during the off-season, but there was one glaring change in this year’s spring and summer compared to his previous ones. In May, the Canucks forward suited up for Sweden at the 2026 IIHF World Championship, with this being his first time competing for his country at this competition.
“[It’s] something you dream of when you were a kid, saw Sweden play on the television, and you always want to be one of those guys. That’s something you always dream of. So that’s an honour, to put that jersey on, and something I’m really happy about.”
Karlsson scored two goals and three assists through Sweden’s eight games in the tournament, with his team falling by a score of 3–1 against Switzerland in the quarter-finals. He noted that adjusting to the size of the ice made it a bit tough for his game to transition right-away, but that he managed to find his footing towards the end of the competition.
“The last three or four games, I felt really good. It’s just different hockey, and takes the time to get used to it. Even if I played over there, my game’s changed a little bit. So it was just getting repetition and all that kind of thing. So the last games, I felt pretty good.”
Karlsson also noted that he hopes to represent Sweden again at the World Championships, but quickly emphasized that he wants to make the playoffs with Vancouver first and foremost.
On Malhotra Practices And What Makes Them Click
Part of what has made Karlsson so effective throughout the past couple of seasons is what he learned as a member of the Abbotsford Canucks. The forward spent three seasons with Vancouver’s AHL-affiliate, one under now-Canucks Head Coach Manny Malhotra.
His familiarity with Malhotra and how the coach runs his practices meant that Karlsson wasn’t surprised when the bench boss joined Vancouver during their end-of-practice skates throughout the first bits of training camp thus far.
“He did that all the time in [Abbotsford]. He’s in good shape.”
Karlsson also credits those practices as a whole with helping both himself, and Abbotsford’s Calder Cup-winning team, in improving their play come game-time. High-compete, high-tempo, and the never-ending grind are staples to what led Abbotsford to their successes in 2025. Karlsson believes that this can trickle up to Vancouver as well.
“Even in practice, you’re really competing for the puck, to win, and everything like that, and I think that’s gonna make us better,” he explained. “In Abbotsford, when we won that year, the practices were so good. We were really a good practice team when we took that to the games, and then suddenly we were the best team in the league. This kind of practice is what we need, and I think this kind of practice is good for everyone.”
Jan 3, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Linus Karlsson (94) skates in warm up prior to a game against the Boston Bruins at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn ImagesBoard-Battle Bread-And-Butter
One of the keystones to Karlsson’s game, made most noticeable last year with the more ice time he earned, was his ability to wrangle the puck along the boards.
That was something that remained present during Vancouver’s board-battle drills at training camp earlier this week. Squaring off with good pal Max Sasson, Karlsson continued to flex his prominent board work on Day 2 of camp.
For the duo, who found success on a line together alongside Arshdeep Bains during their time in Abbotsford, practicing against one-another just means receiving help from the other in perfecting their craft. “Iron sharpens iron,” as Sasson would say.
“I think before the practice we talked about it, and I like going against him,” Sasson said of Karlsson during a media availability after Day 2’s practice. “That’s definitely his best attribute, and probably, in my opinion, one of the best in the world at those 1-on-1 battles in the corner. [...] He’s elite at those things.”
“That’s probably my bread and butter, to win those board battles,” Karlsson noted. “Me and Sass, we’ll really go. We like to go against each other. I think we bring the best out of each other. We want to be better, both of us. That’s my kind of cup of tea, so he wants to go against me. So that makes him better, and it makes me better if he wants to compete. And that’s something I think everyone needs to do.”
But what is it about Karlsson’s board-work that stands out?
“His stick is extremely strong. When you think you got a step, he’ll take it, and when he takes it, it’s extremely hard with his big body. And I think he uses his IQ to kind of maneuver around, and he’s incredible at it,” Sasson added. “He’s always been incredible at it, and I try to learn from him.”
Keeping Things Karlsson In A Season Of Change
High-effort, board battling, strong forecheck — those are the qualities that make up Karlsson’s game. They’re things he’s planning on sticking to as he heads into a 2026–27 season that will undoubtedly place different expectations on him than what he’s been used to in the past.
New expectations won’t impact the way he plays. Changes that come to the team won’t impact the way he plays. A new(-ish) coaching staff won’t impact the way he plays. Malhotra knows Karlsson’s play and how effective it can be. Karlsson knows Malhotra’s familiarity with him won’t change a thing.
“I think every coach wants guys to go to the net, go hard, be good on the walls, and that’s the player I am, and that’s the player I want to be. [...] That’s what he knows about me too. I’m just gonna show him that I’m not gonna change anything — be the same guy, go to the net, go to hard areas. My work ethic is gonna be there too for him. That’s not gonna change.”
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