Eurolanche

Landy in Norway: Facts and fiction

Several European media including Eurolanche reported yesterday the speculation about the arrival of Gabriel Landeskog to Norway. According to reports Landeskog´s good friend and former teammate from junior years Jesper Eriksen is one of the main reasons why Landy could join the Rosenborg hockey team. They met last time only weeks ago at the golf tournament in the city of Trondheim where the team is based. The friendship from the childhood could result to the unexpected move: Landeskog in Norwegian league.

“Last 24 hours have been crazy interesting,” said exclusively for Eurolanche Daniel Andersen, the web administrator and profile manager of the team, on the activity in the local media. “Jesper talked with Gabriel. The latest news is that Gabriel does not exclude playing in Norway.”

Landeskog, Swedish native, cannot play in the top ranked league back at home. The league allows to NHL players play there only in the case if they will spend there the whole season. It is still uncertain how long lockout will last. Landeskog could play in the second tier league where are not such strictly rules.  From famous NHL faces Anze Kopitar has decided to do it.

If Gabriel would not want to come back home, he has still few options: Finland, Germany, Switzerland or KHL are good quality European leagues. Why would he want to play in Norway? Strong friendship? Calmer conditions? Not big pressure? It is hard to guess but there is one fact: Norwegian hockey has financial problems and without strong sponsorship it will not possible to have the NHL All-Star on the roster.

“In general, financial situation in Norwegian hockey is not too good, but our team was not close to the bankruptcy,” said Andersen about recent rumors. “We will not spend money we do not have. If Landy wants to play here, I guess that sponsors will eager to support it.” According to Eriksen, Landeskog does not care much about money. The main problem is the health insurance. All European teams have to pay monthly insurance for the NHL players. Norwegian media estimated the monthly fee for Landeskog at 35 000 USD.

Rosenborg Ishockeyklubb Elite was promoted from the second tier to the elite league two years ago. They finished on the 8^th place out of 10 in the both of the last two seasons. Two teams bellowed them were relegated back to the second tier league. Rosenborg lost both first rounds of playoffs just after four games in the best of seven series. Situation is not good, but the players and management believe Landeskog could help them much. “It is a long shot for our club of course, because we are not one of the top clubs in Norway, but with Gabriel on our team, we would surely have a shot at becoming on the upper half of the standings this year, even if he would be here only until New Year,” said Anderson for www.eurolanche.com.

Eurolanche will contact general manager of the team and also will try to get statement from Gabriel Landeskog and his friend Jesper Eriksen. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.