Robert Linus Alexander Klasen (born 19 February 1986) is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is currently playing for

EHC Visp EHC Visp is a Swiss professional ice hockey team based in Visp and competing in the Swiss League (SL). The club was founded in 1939 and became Swiss champion in 1962. Visp has also won the league title in NLB three times; 1960, 2011 and 2014. The ...

of the

Swiss League The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, th ...

(SL).

Playing career

Klasen started his career with

Huddinge IK Huddinge IK (or ''Huddinge Hockey''), is a Swedish ice hockey team from Huddinge, a southern suburb in Stockholm County. The team is currently playing in the third highest league in Sweden, Hockeyettan. In the middle of the 1990s, a women's flo ...

and has played with

Södertälje SK Södertälje Sportklubb, also known as Södertälje SK and often referred to as SSK, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club playing in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest level of pro hockey in Sweden. Södertälje were charter members of Eli ...

in the Swedish

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

. He played 3 games with team Sweden in the 2007–08 season. On 30 October 2010 Klassen made his NHL debut with the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

in an away game against the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. Klasen signed a three-year contract with the

Malmö Redhawks The IF Malmö Redhawks (colloquially referred to simply as Malmö or by past abbreviation MIF) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Malmö which plays in the SHL, with Malmö Arena as the venue for home games. The history of the ...

of the

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league, and the second-highest league in the Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system (after the Swedish Hockey League, SHL). Since the 2009–10 ...

on 17 May 2011. He was immediately appointed the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. The contract included an annual salary of 4 million SEK ($0.6 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

), making him the best paid ice hockey player in Sweden. He scored 50 points (20 goals, 30 assists) in 52 games and helped the team reach a playoff spot. However, due to economical crisis in the Redhawks club, Klasen was forced to leave the club after the 2011–12 season. His contract is being paid out by the Redhawks. Following the 2011–12 season, Klasen signed a two-year contract with

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening is an ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are the northernmost team in the league and h ...

of the Swedish top-tier league

(SEL) prior to the 2012–13 season. He will keep the same annual salary from Malmö Redhawks during these two years. After the final year of his contract with Luleå, in which Klasen compiled his most prolific SHL season with 28 goals and 57 points in just 54 games, he left as a free agent to sign a lucrative four-year contract with Swiss club, HC Lugano, of the NLA on 2 April 2014. In his debut season with Lugano in the NLA, Klasen finished second in team scoring with 55 points in 46 games to be selected in the 2014–15 NLA All-Star Team. After 6 seasons and 265 games with HC Lugano in the NL, Klasen was not offered a contract extension and decided to return to his native Sweden by signing a two-year deal with

of the SHL. On 10 May 2021 Klasen joined

of the second tier

(SL) on a two-year contract.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Inline Hockey

Linus has competed for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

at the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

IIHF Inline Hockey World Championships.

References

External links

* 1986 births Living people Huddinge IK players Lincoln Stars players HC Lugano players Luleå HF players Malmö Redhawks players Milwaukee Admirals players Nashville Predators players Södertälje SK players Ice hockey people from Stockholm Swedish ice hockey left wingers Undrafted National Hockey League players {{Sweden-icehockey-centre-stub