User:Krm500/Karlsson

Erik Karlsson (born May 31, 1990) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman, currently playing for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 15th overall by the Senators in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Karlsson has represented Sweden at two International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)-sanctioned events, being named best defenceman at both the 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships and the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships—where Sweden won a silver medal. He also represented Sweden at the 2007 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, winning a gold medal.

Early life
Karlsson was born on May 31, 1990 in Landsbro, Sweden, to Ulla-Karin and Jonas Karlsson. His maternal uncle, Tomas Nord, played for Leksands IF and AIK IF in Elitserien and won the Swedish Championship in 1984 with AIK.

Playing career
For the 2006–07 season Karlsson signed with Södertälje SK to attend the Vackstanäs hockeygymnasium. After getting in trouble at his school Karlsson felt discontent about his situation, and after only having played twelve games for Södertälje he decided to move back home to Landsbro. Karlsson wanted to join some other hockey program, but Södertälje SK refused to let him walk and demanded a reported sum of 150,000–200,000SEK to free him from his contract obligations. Not being allowed to play any games for other teams then Södertälje Karlsson spent the remainder of the season practicing with his youth team Boro/Vetlanda.

Signed with Frölunda. 

Karlsson made his Elitserien debut for Frölunda HC on March 1, 2008, recording 8:48 of ice time during a sold out home game in Scandinavium, against league leaders HV71. Karlsson scored the game winning goal, assisted by Tomi Kallio and Magnus Kahnberg, with a slapshot off a faceoff, in overtime during a man advantage. The win secured a playoff berth for Fröunda with three games remaining of the regular season.  Karlsson finished the season with Frölunda's J20 team playing in the J20 SuperElit playoffs, where Frölunda took home the Anton Cup when they won two to one in games against Brynäs IF in the Swedish Junior Ice Hockey Championship final.

Prior to the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Karlsson was ranked fourth among European skaters by the NHL's Central Scouting Service. He was drafted 15th overall by the Ottawa Senators, in front of their hometown fans at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario. The selection was made by Ottawa's captain Daniel Alfredsson, a native of Gothenburg, who played for Frölunda before entering the NHL. Ottawa's general manager, Bryan Murray, traded Ottawa's first round pick, 18th overall, and their third round pick in 2009 to the Nashville Predators for their first round pick, 15th overall, afraid that another team would pick Karlsson before them.

A few weeks before the 2008–09 Elitserien season premiere, Frölunda announced that Karlsson was brought up to the senior team as a regular roster player. In November Karlsson was loaned to Frölunda's HockeyAllsvenskan affiliate Borås HC for two weeks.

On September 29, 2009, the Ottawa Senators announced that Karlsson had made the team's roster and would start the 2009-10 season in Ottawa.

After nine games the Senators chose to assign Karlsson to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate the Binghamton Senators, for development and to avoid using up one year of his rookie contract. After spending one month in the AHL, having recorded eleven points in twelve games, the Senators recalled Karlsson to the NHL.

International play
Karlsson was selected as the tournament's best defenceman at the 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships. He was the tournament's plus/minus leader with a plus eight rating, and he led team Sweden in assists, finishing third overall in the tournament, with seven in six games, which also tied him for first place in defencemen scoring. At the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships Karlsson was selected to the all-star team, and as the tournament's best defenceman. With two goals and seven assists in six games he lead all Swedish players in points, and was tied for the lead among all defencemen.

Karlsson was named to Sweden's preliminary roster for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but did not get selected to the final roster. He made his debut for Tre Kronor on May 5, 2010, in an exhibition game against Denmark in preparation for the 2010 IIHF World Championship which Karlsson had been selected for.