Karlsson snorted. “He’s an asshole.”
Looking at the man screaming on the ice, it wasn’t difficult to believe.
“I played for Dillion in Atlanta for two years,” Karlsson continued, “and I swear to God the guy never even learned my name. Always just called me the Swede.”
“Yikes,” Jay said.
“Yeah. I know every coach has his favorites, but this prick…” he trailed off before shaking his head. “Let’s just say that every guy he favored had a lot of similarities. They were all North American and they all played juniors in Canada before getting drafted.”
I locked eyes with Jay and he was frowning. You saw a few attitudes like that in this sport—the old school guys who weren’t big on change. They tended to look down on players who’d gone through the college system, favoring the junior hockey leagues of Canada for development. They thought the junior league’s game was rougher, producing players more capable of handling the NHL, while the college guys were softer.
I thought it was bullshit.
Even worse, though, there were still some guys in the league who weren’t too happy about the influx of European players in what they considered “their game.”
It was xenophobic garbage. Thirty percent of the league came out of Europe these days. Some of the best players in hockey were Swedish or Russian. Why did any of it matter if you could play the game?
“Sounds like a swell guy,” Jay muttered.
“Yeah, well that was nothing to the way he treated Dalton,” Karlsson said.
“The alternate captain?” I asked. I’d spent some time talking to the younger guy at the team lunch the other day. He was a quiet kid, seemed pretty serious, and I knew from the times I’d faced him in New York that he was a hell of a winger, one of the fastest guys in the league with a killer shot.
“Yeah. Dillionhatedplaying that guy. Any time he made the smallest mistake it’d be right down to the fourth line. Which was ridiculous, considering he had the highest pass-completion percentage on the team.”
I was getting a sick feeling in my stomach. Gabriel Dalton wasn’t just the best shooter on the Atlanta team—he was also their only Black player. It was pretty easy to read between the lines of what Karlsson was saying.
“I’m surprised he signed off on him being alternate captain,” Jay said, his narrowed eyes glued to the action on the ice.
“Oh, I heard he didn’t have a lot of say in that.” Karlsson turned his head in the direction of the management huddle on the other side of the arena. “He was bitching about it with Ryan Cane—now there’s a guy Dillion always loved. Anyhow, he was complaining, asking what kind of an organization let the GM and owner overrule the coach on captain assignments.”
“Seriously?” I asked. “So Olsen andKnightwere the ones behind that decision?”
Jay slapped my back. “Maybe the big boss man doesn’t hate you as much as you thought he did.”
My gaze slid back to Andrew. “That’s pretty hard to believe.”
“You know Knight?” Karlsson asked.
“Yeah, we played together when we were younger. Same youth league in Minnesota, same high school team.”
“Wow.” He shot me a grin. “No wonder he named you captain.”
I laughed. “Actually, I have no idea why he made me captain. The guy could never stand me back then. I think we still hold the record as the only two players on our high school team to ever get penalty minutes for fighting each other.” Coach Newton had told me once that Andy and I were responsible for him growing some grey hair prematurely.
Jay snorted. “Maybe he’s over it,” Karlsson suggested, then winced when one of the prospects on the ice took a crunching hit against the boards. We watched the play in silence for a few minutes. It was still looking pretty messy but a few guys werestanding out. There was talent there, for sure. Maybe they just needed a little more experience.
“Goalie’s looking pretty good at least,” Jay said.
“Yeah.” Enzo looked solid in the net, stopping most everything that came his way.
“There was some talk in Atlanta of bringing him up from the minors last season,” Karlsson said. “He had real good stats on the farm team.”
“Well, here’s to hoping he’ll bring those stats to our net. We’re gonna need it.”
“Hey,” Jay said suddenly. “Weren’t you supposed to take off already?”
I glanced down at my watch then immediately jumped to my feet. “Aw, hell. I’m going to be late.”
