6 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT NEW OILERS DEVELOPMENT COACH ANDREAS KARLSSON
On Wednesday (Sept. 11), the Edmonton Oilers announced additions to their hockey operations staff for the 2024-25 season, including new player development coach Andreas Karlsson.
A native of Sweden, the 49-year-old Karlsson joins the Oilers after spending the last several seasons as an assistant coach in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), most recently with the Brantford Bulldogs.
Before he got into coaching, Karlsson had a lengthy career as a player, including six seasons in the NHL. Here are five things to know about Edmonton’s new player development coach.
Karlsson’s First Overseas Trip Was to Alberta
Karlsson was drafted in the sixth round, 148th overall, by the Calgary Flames in 1993, and his first games on North American soil took place in Alberta.
A year and a half after he was picked by the Flames, Karlsson represented Sweden at the 1995 World Junior Hockey Championships, which were hosted by Red Deer and featured competition at 13 different venues across the province. Team Sweden’s schedule included games just outside of Edmonton, in Leduc and Sherwood Park.
At World Juniors 1995, Karlsson, then 19, had two goals and two assists in seven games to help Sweden capture a bronze medal.
His Mentor Once Coached with the Oilers
Karlsson never suited up in a regular season game for the Flames, as he remained in his home country, playing for Leksands IF of the Swedish Elite League (SEL) until he was 24.
From 1992 to 1996, Leksands was coached by the late Wayne Fleming. With Fleming at the helm, Leksands finished with the SEL’s best regular season record in 1994.
Fleming’s arrival in Leksands “changed my life”, said Karlsson. “The professionalism he brought to the club and to the whole community was amazing. He raised me in many ways.”
A native of Manitoba, Fleming would go on to spend a dozen seasons in the NHL, including as an assistant coach with the Oilers in 2009-10 under Pat Quinn. Fleming passed away in 2013.
He Was an Inaugural Thrasher
On June 25, 1999, Calgary dealt Karlsson to the Atlanta Thrashers, who were embarking on their first NHL season in 1999-00. Karlsson made his NHL regular season debut on Nov. 22, 1999, when the Thrashers scored a then franchise-record six goals in a home victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
The center wound up playing 153 games over parts of three seasons for the Thrashers, scoring 11 goals and adding 27 assists. He played his last game for Atlanta in 2002 and didn’t return to the NHL until 2006 with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Karlsson’s Never Coached at the Pro Level
Karlsson has been coaching since 2011, but virtually all his experience in that capacity has come at the developmental levels of hockey.
He got his coaching start with Swedish club Frolunda, working as an assistant with its under-18 team, before serving as head coach of its under-20 team for three seasons from 2012-13 to 2014-15.
In 2015-16 and 2016-17, Karlsson was an assistant coach for York University’s men’s hockey team. He then moved to the OHL, working as assistant coach for the Kitchener Rangers from 2017-18 to 2019-20, followed by three seasons with the Bulldogs.
Karlsson Specializes in Special Teams
Karlsson was a regular on the penalty kill throughout his NHL career, especially in Atlanta. Over three seasons with the Thrashers, more than 15% of Karlsson’s total ice time came while his team was short-handed.
As Bulldogs assistant coach, Karlsson did a great deal of work with Brantford’s special teams alongside head coach Jay McKee. In 2021-22, the Bulldogs had the OHL’s second-ranked power-play and fifth-ranked penalty kill. Last season, Brantford scored the fifth most short-handed goals in the OHL.
Karlsson’s Won a Lot of Championships
Karlsson’s trophy case is loaded with medals and rings. As a player, he won the Calder Cup in 2002 as a member of the Chicago Wolves, an American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Thrashers. Four years later, he captured gold at the 2006 World Championships in Latvia, where he scored five goals to lead a Swedish team captained by Kenny Jonsson.
Since switching to coaching, he’s won the Queen’s Cup in 2017 with York and the J. Ross Robertson Cup in 2022 with the Bulldogs. Oilers fans hope that he’ll be adding a Stanley Cup ring to his collection next June.
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2024-09-14T15:52:05Z dg43tfdfdgfd