I guess I have to post this one, but as someone who bookmarks Swedish websites…It’s a chore. “Hat Trick Dick” Axelsson played in the SHL for a long time after leaving the Grand Rapids Griffins at Christmas of 2009, and…
He’s had some good results points-wise, but my goodness, is he ever a drama queen. Axelsson was constantly in the news for one grumble or another or one controversy or another. It got tiresome a long, long time ago, and I’d hoped that the Dick Axelsson Circus was reaching a conclusion when he retired a year ago.
As Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes this morning, that was a premature hope:
Eighteen years after he was a Detroit Red Wings hopeful, Dick Axelsson is making a pro hockey comeback. The 37-year-old left-winger will be playing this season with Djurgarden in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second division.
The veteran Swede was ending a two-season retirement last season to play for Brodernas/Vasby in the Swedish third division and Allsvenskan qualifiers. He was announcing his retirement a second time following the campaign. But Djurgarden, his club from 2007-09 and again from 2018-22, were luring Axelsson back to the ice.
“I am of the belief that a person deserves both one and two chances to show what one is fully up to,” Djurgarden sports director Niklas Wikegard said in a statement on the team’s website.
Axelsson is a two-time SHL champion and was an Elitserien All-Star selection in 2010-11. He also won a Swiss League title with Davos.
Wikegard happens to be an outspoken former hockey TV personality in Sweden, and he’s been tasked with returning Djurgarden to the SHL, so it’s not surprising that he’s made a “go back to the well” move in pulling Axelsson out of retirement.
Anyway, Duff notes that Axelsson did a lengthy interview with Expressen’s David Carlsson back in June, in which he discussed his ill-fated time trying to make the Red Wings, his time in Grand Rapids, and his decision to leave the Griffins for Sweden at Christmastime…
But I’d rather give Mr. Duff the click and suggest that you read about Axelsson’s short sojourn with Detroit and his decision to head back home (with the help of Mattias Ritola, who eventually packed his bags and moved home) over on Detroit Hockey Now.
It’s a story those of us who try to follow the Swedish Wings have become too familiar with, because “Hat Trick Dick” has no shortage of sympathy for himself, and his many trials and tribulations, when there’s a microphone around.
He’s still a drama queen, pure and simple, and while I appreciate Mr. Duff’s decision to fill you in on the latest twist in Axelsson’s weird and winding career…
I’ve had way too much of “Hat Trick Dick” over the years of surveying Expressen, Aftonbladet, Hockeysverige.se and Hockeynews.se.
He really gets on my nerves, because there was no doubt for a minute that Axelsson was a very talented player, but there’s no doubt for a minute that Axelsson also can’t stand to be out of the media spotlight for long. He always found a way to get back “in the papers” with an outspoken interview or some sort of on or off-ice calamity that perked up the ears of the Swedish sports tabloids, and it’s unbelievable how much I’ve read (and not read) about a has-been-that-never-was.
