« Come on! Come on! OK, well done! »
Svensson had just finished his last test at the NHL Draft Combines, the VO2MAX test, which was also the most feared one. With his feet taped to the pedals of a stationary bike, he had been told to pedal as hard as he could as a computer monitored the decline of speed during the thirty seconds period in order to measure his body’s ability to deliver oxygen to muscles. Svensson did pretty well and managed to avoid puking his breakfast in the bucket a trainer brought him after; unlike many of the other invited prospects at the annual event in Toronto.
Svensson had been pretty good in most tests in the first out of four days of evaluation. This first day was dedicated to physical testing while the three others would be more of mental tests with interviews and things like that. Hans was one of the 134 players present at the combines as the NHL had invited the top 120 Canadians and top 30 Euros as ranked by ISS.
Since the trip was all paid by the NHL, Svensson, with the advice of his agent, decided that it was a good way to raise his draft stock with a good showing. He had arrived the day before the tests and was going to fly back to Sweden the day after the end of the tests, meaning he was going to be in North-America for barely six days. He was not going to attend the NHL Entry Draft in Toronto as he wanted to watch it at home with his family and friends.
Svensson was rooming with Fredrik Lind, a defenseman from Färjestad, the only other Swede present in Toronto. Each of them was also assigned a translator; ex-Sens forward Magnus Arvedsson, who was now assistant coach with Färjestad in Sweden, was Fredrik Lind’s while the sixty-three years old Assistant GM of Frölunda, Freddy Lindfors, was with Hans.
On the second day, the interviews started. Lindfors announced Hans that there were four interviews scheduled in the day: the Florida Panthers at 10:15AM, the New York Islanders at noon, the Calgary Flames at 15:30PM and the Edmonton Oilers at 16:15PM.
Everything went well on that first day, Hans had been told by his agent that there were no good or bad answers, just answer what you feel. At Hans’ own choice, Lindfors was going to be present to help but he would answer the questions himself.
Hans was surprised to see how random the questions were:
«What’s your favourite meal? »
« What mom cook, I eat. I eat everything, mother is good at food cook. »
« Who’s your favourite player ?»
« Scott Stevens. Hitting, good player, I play him…? »
« You try to play like him ? »
« Yes. »
Svensson also noted that teams really seemed to like the fact that he tried to talk himself without the help of Lindfors, who could really have made it easier. He didn’t understand everything, but at least he made an effort.
On the second interviewing day, only three teams wanted to contact Hans: The Washington Capitals at 8AM, the Anaheim Ducks at 1:30PM and the Buffalo Sabres at 14:00PM.
On the third day, there were four teams who wanted to contact Hans: The Los Angeles Kings at 11:15AM, The San Jose Sharks at 1PM, the Vancouver Canucks at 2PM and the Philadelphia Flyers at 3PM
Overall, every interview had its ups and downs, but they all went pretty well. It was pretty rough to have an idea as to which of these teams really had him high or just interviewed him because they interviewed every player.
It’s now June 23rd and there are a lot of people in the Svensson’s small house in Karlstad. His parents, his younger sister, his grandparents, a few of his childhood friends and teammates Jonas Bäckman, Daniel Lindberg and Joakim Andersson had all accepted the invitation to be present in this special day in the life of Hans.
The draft’s first round started at 18:00, but they all knew that Svensson wouldn’t be drafted, if he was actually going to be, before 22:00. The first, second and third rounds passed. The family was waiting for updates on the NHL website. It was now 22:15 and the fourth round was about to start.
“I’ve got to eat something.”
“Don’t go now Hans, I think it’s coming soon.”
“Come on dad, the fourth round hasn’t even started and I’m not expected to be drafted until the latest ones.”
“I’m telling you, I’m feeling it. Sit down.”
Hans sat down while Jonas updated the NHL.com page to see the next few picks.
3 – 87. Washington Capitals – Scott Zacharias - G
3 – 88. Tampa Bay Lightning – Scott Brannon – RW
3 – 89. Ottawa Senators – Ben Leis – G
“We never know, the next picks are held by Florida, Long Island and LA. Anaheim, San Jose twice and Philadelphia are also coming soon. I think he’s right.”
3 – 90. Florida Panthers – Trea Higgins – D
“Look, he’s ranked even lower than you are.”
4 – 91. New York Islanders – Jan Herman – D
“That’s it, you guys are dreaming.”
Hans got up and as he was leaving the room:
“YEAH! Hans, the Kings have picked you!”
The next day, after getting a phone call from Dave Taylor of the LA Kings to congratulate and tell him that they hoped he could develop his physical and defensive side even more before joining the Manchester Monarchs in the AHL, Hans and his dad went to the mall and bought a Kings jersey.
Hans Svensson - 92nd overall pick in the 2007 NHL Draft by the Los Angeles Kings