'FEELS LIKE I'M IN SWEDEN'

The new guy required little reconnaissance.
Darryl Sutter couldn't escape it if he tried.
"His cousin and the goalie hit me over the head about it," the head coach said of Elias Lindholm and Jacob Markstrom beating his door down. "I told Lindy, if you think he's that good, he'll take your ice time away.
"You can value a guy right out of your role."
Fortunately (for him), it seems Lindholm's gig as the team's No. 1 centre is safe.
For now...
Forty-eight hours after being acquired by the club, Calle Jarnkrok will officially make his Flames debut tonight as the Buffalo Sabres pay a visit to the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Jarnkrok - who will be the first player in franchise history to don No. 91 - will line up at centre between Andrew Mangiapane and Tyler Toffoli.
"Pretty hectic," Jarnkrok said of the past few days. "Nice to be done with all the moving, to be here and ready to play.
"It feels like I'm in Sweden right now. Lots of Swedes here, which is nice."
For those keeping track, six of them are now in the fold. Rasmus Andersson even suggested the Flames add the Swedish flag to their sweaters, or play the national anthem prior to each game, instead of the American one.
We'll put that in the 'maybe' file.

Regardless of what his passport says, the Flames are excited to have Jarnkrok on board for the playoff push.
The 30-year-old adds versatility to the team's forward corps and touches all parts of the game. He's the prototypical Swiss Army Knife, who plays all three positions and makes others around him better.
Through 49 games with the Seattle Kraken this year, Jarnkrok played primarily on the wing. Tonight will be a good test as he returns to the middle between two sharp-shooters - but if the morning skate is any indication, he's raring to go.
At the tail end of the twirl, he went head-to-head with Lindholm in the faceoff circle, with assistant coach Cail MacLean working the drops.
Jarnkrok won six of eight on his strong side, before doing the same on the other. Lindholm got a kick out of that, flashing a smile and giving Jarnkrok a shot before skating off.
"Obviously, this team is in it to win it, which makes it so much fun to come here," Jarnkrok said. "In terms of systems, it doesn't take too much time to get into systems and stuff. I'll focus on working hard and try to do (my) best at the beginning, stick with it and it will come.
"They already they have a great team ... so I'm going to try and be me, work hard, and be smart out there."