“I grew up watching a lot of soccer. They had a Swedish player, Freddie Ljungberg. That dyed his hair red in the middle and I think that's kind of when it started. Him and Thierry Henry and a couple of guys like that, they were my favorite players. I really like them because they're bringing up young guys from their Academy. Like 16-year olds all the time. I always felt that it was pretty cool being able to watch these 16 and 17 year old players play and make a lot of money. I watch the games as often as I can. From time to time, I wake up Sunday mornings at 7:00 AM and watch the games. I'm a pretty intense follower. I've never been to a game before at Emirates Stadium tho... I've always wanted to go. They play from August to April. So it's kind of tough to go with the hockey season. My plan is to go one of these years. My dad actually played professional soccer in Sweden growing up. So I played soccer until I was 15. I was choosing between either soccer or hockey and when I chose hockey, my dad told me: you would've been a better soccer player... He's eating that up right now. My brother Niklas, is playing back home in the Allsvenskan. And my youngest brother Ludvig is playing in Sweden too. My parents actually used to live in Maryland for a little bit for four years. But they moved back to Sweden this past summer. My dad works for Volvo and they had a factory in Maryland. So he worked there for a while.”
“The last few years, I've really gotten into the music more and more. Two of my friends are actually pretty good at it and they released a song. So they've shown me a little bit how to DJ this summer. For this year in Philadelphia, I bought a mixer. So I've been doing a little bit at home. It's so hard, but it's fun... It's good when you're home in the afternoon and you've a couple of hours. You just turn it on and you can just play with it. It's definitely a lot of fun and I listen to a lot of music too... I'm not great at it by any means... But it's just so much fun to try and do. Especially when you have friends over and they can teach you a little bit more. It's definitely a good hobby... Something else to do to kind of get your mind off hockey a little bit. But, I listen to a lot of house music, mostly. All the big names, Avicii and all those guys. I like all kinds of music. But house is the biggest one for me right now. I was at Tomorrowland a couple of years ago in Belgium. It was an unbelievable experience for four days... When I look back at it, it's something really cool that I've done. I kind of faded away from that kind of music. It was more back in the day when I was in Juniors and college... I tweeted at Taylor Swift once and I got a favorite. So that was pretty cool. I enjoyed it... When I first came over here, I was 18 and she was really big at the time. All the guys in the locker room would always play it. So I tagged along with that and became a fan... I've been to a couple of shows. I've been to one in Boston and one in Minneapolis.”
“I played with Matt Dumba for a couple of years in Minnesota and he was really into it. We went and got my first tattoo... It kind of spun off from there. This past summer, I got the bottom half of my arm done. We'll see if I'm going to get the other one done this coming summer. I'm still thinking about it... I started with a fish actually and I grew up fishing a lot in the summers. So it's basically an ocean theme. I grew up on the West Coast of Gothenburg. Every summer, I used to go out and fish with my dad and my grandparents. So it's in the back of my upbringing, being on the ocean. I wanted to pay a little tribute to that... There's also the compass and I've got two lighthouses on there. We used to fish around the lighthouses. So it's a good kind of light and I'm representing home a little bit.”
“I loved college. It was unbelievable... It was a great time... For me, playing back home in Sweden, we had just our parents in the stands basically. Then you go to college and there are five or six thousand people at the games cheering. It was perfect for me... I had those two years to train and play those games. It really helped me develop and take the next step for the next level.”
“I was really happy. It was a good opportunity for me to join a good team who were in the race for the PO. I was excited to play in front of the fans. I've already played in this arena so I knew it's gonna to be loud and a lot of fun. I've heard so many good things about the city. I used to like coming here to play when we were the visitors. So it's was fun to get out there and wear the red jersey.”
“There are a lot of good guys in this locker room. When I met them for the first time we laughed a lot. I wasn't shy about hitting them during practice and them neither. The guys were unbelievable. It's a tight group... Everyone really mixes well together. It's a lot of fun on the road, being on the bus and there are a lot of jokes. There's a lot of guys that bring different elements to the team that makes it a fun place to be every day and show up every day. We had some tough losses down the stretch. But guys just show up the next day with a smile on their face and get right back at it.”
“I just wanted to continue keeping things simple and always being on the puck. I think I did fairly well. I was in a tough situation in Philadelphia. I didn't play for quite a while before I got here. But, I thought I brought that physical element to the team. At the same time, I came in and I wanted to play my game. Move the puck quick and try to join the offense when there was a chance. As a defenseman in this League, you kind of need to start from your own end and build from that. That's something I take a lot of pride in.”
“The fans were singing: Ole (*3) when there was about a minute left and I actually got goosebumps on the bench. I was looking around and I was like: What's going here? Can it get any louder than this? Because it was so loud... It was a great experience for both me and my girlfriend, Hanna. I think we enjoyed every second of it. It's a nice city to be in.”
“I'd been here before... But for only like two days at a time, maximum like six or seven nights total. It felt like home right away. I think the guys on the team helped with that too. I felt like I was brought into the city and I loved it right away.”
“I know I've a few things to work on. But I'll come back ready to play in October and ready for a big season and to make the PO. We want to give the city what it deserves, a good PO run...”
