Malmö is close to the playoffs and risks leaving the SHL.
Then the club’s manager Patrick Selfegaard ponders which promotion and relegation system is best for hockey in Sweden.
– I’m for the Swedish model, but it’s not sustainable for the Swedish hockey system over time. He says it causes the worst in many people.
The SHL is in the middle of the regular season and it’s a battle for the line in terms of both the streak that determines the top six and the one for passive qualification.
Malmö has had a bad season and has been stuck in the quagmire for a long time and is practically already ready to be forced into a negative qualification play. It would be the first time since 2007 that Skåne had played a negative qualification, unless they managed something miraculous in the next seven matches and remaining.
The pressure is great and club director Patrick Selfgaard is feeling it.
He wants to spark a debate about the validity or invalidity of today’s soap opera system.
– That’s as I said to SHL and I’m for the Swedish model with ups and downs – but it’s not sustainable. Now I’m of course a party to the target because we’re still where we are, but you’d obviously be affected if you knew that a large portion of your income would disappear in the event of a demotion. Then it doesn’t matter how strong my psyche is or my crew.
You don’t want to see systems like Finland
Sylvegård believes Malmö has done a lot right this season, and has the stats to prove it, but it’s still the last time in the series.
– In terms of hockey, we have good stats, the top five among the teams, the game looks good and we are more in the attack zone than many teams. There is one team more in attack than us and that is Skellefteå.
– We can throw numbers to hell, we got to hell, he says, and he uses it as proof of how bitter those numbers are on the table.
In Finland, the top league is closed, teams don’t have the same pressure to win all the time, and Sylvegård considers such a system, but at the same time has his firm opinions on what doesn’t work with such a system:
– I think the competitive moment is important and you have to compete to the end.
However, I think it would be wrong to see how teams in Finland start selling their players left and right. In our system, I’m more interested in how sustainable it is
Swedish hockey over time.
– People simply don’t dare to play small. Proof of this is that never before has the league had as few rookies on junior contracts as we have now. It can’t be good and we have to find something else. At the same time, salaries are rising and clubs are willing to pay any amount, he says.
Beck to other SHL clubs
Malmö intended to strengthen the squad before the transfer deadline of 15 February, but lost several players. Back Nuutti Viitasalo ended up being the only new acquisition and addition. Sylvegård believes the job market is unhealthy.
– Some clubs seem to have a money press in their garage and will pay almost anything to not get out. And this is not sustainable, he says and continues:
– I’m not just trying to speak for my sick mother and trying to see her a little older. You have to find transparency to go up, I get that. But this brings out the worst in many people and it’s exhausting. You are on the rulers and don’t you dare bet on the juniors.
