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dankoa · 05-13-2021, 06:17 AM

Sven Karlsson, the out of work GM formerly at the helm of the Texas Renegades has been given a second chance to prove himself with the news that he's been hired to run one of the league's newest expansion teams; but what can be done differently this time around?

For those who were around the Texas Renegades team in the period between the late S30s and mid S50s, the team really was the kingdom of Sven Karlsson. Spending the twilight years of his SHL playing career with the team and then eventually stepping into a front office role which soon saw him hired as the team's general manager gave him the opportunity to forge a lot of strong relationships and empowered him to build a team as he saw fit. His tenure started strong, with his staff taking an out of shape Renegades team to within 2 points of a Presidents Trophy win, and seizing a playoff spot that before the beginning of the season, no one had seen coming; many within the organisation saw it as a revitalisation of the team toward its past success after a difficult period under the previous regime, and were hopeful that long term success was around the corner in Texas.

As often tends to happen, this did not turn out to be the case, and despite a handful of promising playoff runs that saw the Renegades lose out in the conference finals, the team that Karlsson had initially assembled, which included the likes of future Hall of Fame Louie Garrett, along with star players Noah Konn, Harvey Danger and Walter Hobbs was never able to get over the line and claim the Challenge Cup which they had believed was a realistic goal for the team. It was after it became clear that the team was not poised to win a cup any time soon that Karlsson was given the second chance that so many front offices are, a sign of ownership's continuing trust in his vision; being able to enter into a rebuild that saw the vast majority of older talent sold off and replaced with younger players and draft picks. The Renegades went from a team looking to break into the playoffs to one that featured an incredibly talented young roster, with the draft picks acquired in the moves Karlsson made being turned into some of the most valuable players that are in the league today.

Unfortunately for Karlsson, the charmed existence he had been living in the years since his first attempt at winning a cup had failed didn't last forever. After a few difficult seasons, the team's inability to return to the playoffs despite challenging ultimately led to a midseason firing that saw Karlsson removed from office and looking for employment. This was a little over 4 years ago, and since then Karlsson has largely retreated from the public eye, returning to his native Sweden in order to reflect and spend more time with his family. It looked as if it was set that his career in the front office of hockey organisations at the highest level had run its course, and he was set to join the ranks of the general managers in the league's history who came close but never touched the success that they believed themselves capable of.

This all changed a little under a year ago, when rumours started to spread that the SHL would be looking to expand by two teams in the offseason before its 60th season. As someone with the kind of experience of running a team that Sven had, he was intrigued by the news but assumed that neither of the ownership groups purchasing the team would be interested in hiring a general manager who had spent the length of time that he had away from the sport. That changed for Sven when out walking his dogs earlier this year, he received a phone call directly from the majority owner of one of the SHL's newest teams. While not public news, it had been confirmed to him by the league's commissioner that he would be given the opportunity to buy one of the two new expansion teams and bring the SHL back to the city of Montreal after an incredibly long and painful absence.

The new franchise's ownership group had engaged a search committee to find a suitable candidate for general manager, and Sven had been a surprise suggestion at first, but one who ultimately ended up on the top of their list. It's said that the team's main focus is on evaluating, acquiring and developing young talent, something that proved to be Sven's specialty, as can be seen in the current form of the Texas Renegades squad that was almost entirely put together by Sven's actions. Sven was offered the chance to fly to Montreal to meet with the new owners and discuss the role, and it soon became clear that both parties were on the same page and had an identical vision of how the team should be put together and what it hoped to achieve.

The expansion process is a demanding time for a general manager, and the initial expansion draft process, along with the necessity to draft the very first prospects in an organisation's history means that for the next few months, Sven's life is going to be dominated by the requirement to give the team that he's been handed the reins of the best possible start in the league. With the very heavy expectations of arguably the biggest hockey city in the world weighing on his shoulders, Sven's return to the world of team management will pose a set of challenges that even he never faced during his long tenure in Dallas, Texas. But while the new role provides a host of new challenges, it also provides an opportunity at redemption that Sven never saw in his future. The chance for him to win a Challenge Cup as a GM is something that he had closed the door to completely, but now he feels able to face the challenge of making Montreal a winning team head on and do everything in his power to return hockey in the city to its former glory.

It's going to be a long and challenging road for all involved, but one can only help that having a general manager who has spent the amount of time that Sven has in and around the league, both as a player and an executive will only help give the team the best possible start and set them on the road to making some history in the SHL.