Sportbladet can reveal that AIK Hockey has been paid SEK 40 million over three years to return to the SHL.
At the same time, Niklas “Bagen” Persson, the new sporting director, is introduced.
On the player front, the club is working to bring Philip Sandberg home.
AIK announces that it has signed a contract to make significant financial contributions.
The club wrote: “The majority of the capital is guaranteed to be invested in the SHL for the next three years.”
The club will release more details about this investment at a later date.
According to Sportbladet’s information, around SEK 40 million will be injected over the next three seasons.
– The grants will enable a stronger team which in turn will greatly increase interest among supporters and sponsors, says Chairman Johan Palmgren.
Topping the team’s wish list is striker Philip Sandberg, who has managed Skellefteå in the SHL this season.
The 28-year-old right-forward has an expired contract with Skellefteå and is the younger brother of long-time AIK captain Christian Sandberg.
The pie is ready
AIK finished 10th in Hockeyallsvenskan this season, then won 2-0 in their Round of 16 matches against Mtna and pushed series winner Modo into four semi-final matches.
Sporting director Christopher Malm, who replaced Anders Jose two seasons ago, has not been offered a continuation.
After three seasons, it was reported that coach Anders Blomqvist would complement coach Thomas Montaigne and assistant coach Per Gustafsson at HV71.
The new sports director at AIK will be Niklas “Pajen” Persson, who has had roughly the same role at Linköping for five seasons.
– After a long and vigorous recruitment process with many competent and interesting candidates, in which we carefully studied our situation as an organization and where we want to be in the coming years, the choice has now fallen on Niklas Persson. We are very pleased to be able to connect with us Niklas Persson, who brings the experience and leadership we need to push the activities of men, juniors and youth to new and higher levels, says CEO Anders Olsson.
“The target is SHL”
The contract with Niklas “Pajen” Persson is written for two seasons, with an option to extend.
– It feels incredibly fun, incredibly inspiring, and feels like a very exciting challenge to get to AIK. I have already noticed how strong the AIK brand is, and how much interest and commitment there is around the club. Which is a very inspiring feeling. I think, for example, it showed during the qualifiers that there is massive support for the team and we have to take advantage of that. The main and long-term goal is, of course, to return AIK to the SHL. To get there we first need to establish ourselves as a great team and do good things across the federation. It’s a tough goal, but if we’re there and fight continuously over time, we give ourselves a chance to succeed, says Niklas “Bagen” Persson.
In the 2018/2019 season, it was a victory in the Premier League against Hockeyallsvenskan, and then lost two opportunities to advance against Oskarshamn and Leksand.