The Four Nations Tournament with NHL teams, a kind of mini-World Championship, is played in February.
But already in just over two weeks, the teams' squads will be nailed down for the tournament, which will be the first since 2016 with the best players from Sweden, Canada, USA, and Finland.
To meet the best players in the world and to be on the same team as all the big Swedish players had been a dream, says Karlstadsson, who broke through in SHL with Örebro and played the World Championship as an 18-year-old.
Youngest of all time
There, in Tampere last year, he became Sweden's youngest World Championship goal scorer of all time.
The Anaheim player emphasizes, however, that a spot on national team captain Sam Hallam's NHL team would be a bonus.
There are so many damn good Swedish forwards in the NHL, so it's nothing I expect, he says.
Dream line to play in?
It's clear that it would be fun to play with (William) Nylander and (Filip) Forsberg.
When Leo Carlsson earlier this week scored his fifth goal of the season in the win against Columbus, it was simultaneously his 17th NHL goal so far.
With that, Carlsson, who is in his second NHL season, passed Mats Sundin and Elias Lindholm on the list of Swedish teenagers who have scored the most goals in the NHL.
He is now third after Gabriel Landeskog (22 goals) and Lucas Raymond (20).
"I was lazy"
On Boxing Day, Leo Carlsson will turn 20 years old.
Will he take over the top spot before then?
If I play good hockey and get a little flow, there's a possibility.
Even though his NHL career has been longer as a teenager than Sundin's (a total of 564 goals over 18 seasons) it was, of course, a big moment.
I had no idea about that statistic. To pass a hockey legend like that, it's cool, he says during a digital interview with Swedish journalists.
Leo Carlsson thinks he has gotten better and better in NHL life both on and off the ice this season, his second in North America.
In contrast to last year, he now also has his girlfriend Daniella with him.
It gets easier at home, when you come home she has fixed food. Just a simple thing like that which you maybe didn't do last year. Then the kitchen wasn't used much. I was lazy. To get out also when you have a free day, before I was good at just staying at home. Now she gets me out.
Born: December 26, 2004, in Karlstad.
Club: Anaheim.
Drafted: As second in 2023.
Achievements: Tre Kronor's youngest player and goal scorer in World Championship context 2023, World Championship gold U18 2022, named junior of the year 2023.
