Investigation launched after player reports Swedish hockey team for 'abusive treatment'
A strange situation is brewing in the Swedish Hockey League after a player reported his own club, Djurgardens, for alleged "abusive treatment." After playing in the KHL for 11 seasons, Linus Videll returned home to Sweden for 2021-22. He was supposed to be a star acquisition for Djurgardens and was named the team's new captain almost right away. Videll, a draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche who never played in the NHL, has now filed a complaint against his team after the captaincy was taken from him with the plan of rotating the C between multiple players.
"The complaint came in last Tuesday and has its basis in our entire communication in the process around the captaincy," said Djurgardens CEO Thomas Kraft.
While the complaint involved the entire team, reports say it is directed against sports director Joakim Eriksson and the former coach Barry Smith, who won several Stanley Cups in the NHL as an assistant coach with Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago.
"Videll was removed from the role of team captain on October 19th, which is said to have been the straw that broke the camel's back...he has also felt singled out for some time after statements made by Eriksson and Smith," said AftonBladet in its report on the situation.
Smith was fired a month ago after a poor start for Djurgardens. Asked why the complaint is just coming in now, Kraft said he's not sure.
"What exactly made the cup run over I don't know, but it's linked to the whole captaincy issue and the questions he had about it to Barry, Joakim (Eriksson) and the other managers. There are incidents that have affected him, Linus feels," said Kraft.
Filing a complaint against a team triggers an external investigation that is expected to be completed in a week or two. As of right now, Videll, 36, remains out and hasn't played for Djurgardens since October 16th.
Source: AftonBladet.se
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Logan Cooley | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| William Nylander | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack McBain | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Dylan Guenther | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Kesselring | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Fraser Minten | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mikhail Sergachev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Chris Tanev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| John Tavares | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Simon Benoit | - | - | - | |
| Nick Bjugstad | - | - | - | |
| Michael Carcone | - | - | - | |
| Ian Cole | - | - | - | |
| Lawson Crouse | - | - | - | |
| Connor Dewar | - | - | - | |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | - | - | - | |
| Barrett Hayton | - | - | - | |
| Pontus Holmberg | - | - | - | |
| Clayton Keller | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 21 | 17 | 4 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | |
Devils | 23 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 29 | |
Golden Knights | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Maple Leafs | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 27 | |
Flames | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 19 | 13 | 6 | - | 26 | |
Rangers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||