SMJHL Draft Spotlight - Apple Falls Far From The Family Tree?


In the long history of the Simulation Hockey League, we've been able to witness not only the rise of great players, but great families too. Through the league's history, names like Winter, Onoprienko (Note - found out where this guy got his player name from after Googling it and that is not groovy) and Reay have stood above others, seeing multiple members of the same lineage represent their family at the highest level of the sport. But for every family that's achieved greatness, there are twice as many who've been pretty good. I'm referring to the likes of the Kekkonens, a family of solid players who have spanned the vast majority of the league's history but often have struggled to assert themselves among the league's greatest (Kaarlo Kekkonen being the obvious exception to this). The family that this particular piece will focus on could well be set to reach the same level of mediocrity, but has been given a chance at redemption through their latest member; I refer of course, to the Karlssons, and young Emil who carries so much on his shoulders.

The Karlsson history in the SHL stretches all the way back to S25. Sven Karlsson joined the Detroit Falcons 18 games into the S25 season and began a career that would see him play 750 games in the SHL and score nearly 600 points, in addition to seeing his name etched upon the Challenge Cup in S36 (the only member of the family to achieve this feat to date). After his retirement from the league, he stepped immediately into the role of General Manager of the Texas Renegades, where although he wouldn't go on to hoist the cup again, he is credited as being the main architect of the team that won the cup in S59 (all but 2 of the players on the cup winning roster were brought to the team during Sven's tenure). Although Sven arguably achieved a good level of success in the league and can look back fondly on what he achieved, the career of his son Daniel is less impressive. A first overall draft pick in the SMJHL, Daniel joined the St Louis Scarecrows before making his way to Dallas to join his father's team. Daniel was a part of a Renegades team in a difficult era, where an attempt at a rebuild on the fly saw them make a couple of runs at the playoffs but ultimately fall short of winning a cup, before which his father pulled the plug on that setup and entered a rebuild. Daniel was a tragedy of these circumstances, with his career having to be cut short in order to accommodate a new GM player in Texas who fit the timeline of the rest of the team.  Daniel was shipped to the San Francisco Pride as they attempted to make a run for the playoffs, but ultimately missed out and he finished his career short of silverware and anything too interesting to write home about.

So now we come to the latest iteration of the family, Emil. The son of Daniel and the grandson of Sven, Emil cuts a fairly menacing figure on the ice despite his young age. Known for strong 2-way play, a good hockey IQ and an ability to make tight passes, he's given a good account of himself to date playing age group hockey in Sweden and will join the SMJHL on a permanent basis very shortly. His family connections with the team enabled him to play a few games as a part of the Detroit Falcons roster toward the end of the last season, and it's possible that a reunion between the two parties could take place, but Emil is very much focused on working hard and being an important contributor to any team that decides to draft him. He carries the pressure of not only his own ambitions, but those of his family too, as he looks to re-establish the Karlsson name as one to be respected in the SHL and bring back the standards that they adhered to previously.

Who's to say that if Emil shows out and achieves everything that he hopes he will over his career, the Karlsson name won't one day sit alongside some of those listed above? Although perhaps a little quiet about his ambition, Emil has very a very clear idea of the level he wishes to reach in the league, and is more than aware of the work it will take to get him there. The SMJHL draft this week is only the first stage of many that he will come across, but it is incredibly significant only in terms of its geographical ramifications. Emil is determined that whichever team drafts him will be getting the very best version of him, regardless of which round of the draft he is taken in; 1st, 2nd 3rd, all the way down to the last pick of the last round, it doesn't matter the effort the team will be getting and the impact he hopes to translate it into on the ice. He's been well advised that ego at this point is only an obstacle, and taking umbrage at how he might be viewed at this stage is a fool's errand. Regardless of whatever happens in tomorrow's draft, the mood is one of determination and the main desire at this point is to enjoy the process and to have a little fun with it all. It's only once in a career that a player goes through this whole ordeal, and with the people that Emil has around him there's a deep well of good advice that he's able to draw on in terms of reaching the greatest heights possible. He will be watching tomorrow's draft alongside the rest of the league, with a clear and focused ambition on helping the team that he's lucky enough to become a part of go on to fulfil their potential in this season and the next, and looks forward to finding out exactly where it is he'll be beginning his long journey into the SHL.