Olle Lycksell leaves the NHL for Switzerland, why?

Most 26-year-old hockey players who have scraped together 52 NHL games would want another shot in the big league or head home to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) to become a hometown hero. Not Olle Lycksell.

Lycksell has decided to play in Switzerland

The Swedish winger was drafted in the sixth round by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2017, bounced around in the American Hockey League (AHL) and signed with the Ottawa Senators last summer. He is now lighting it up in Belleville while he has a spot with the Senators. But he just dropped a bomb.

According to new messages from Sweden (Expressed via Pro Hockey Rumors), he is turning down offers from back home in the SHL and has zero interest in re-signing with Ottawa or pursuing a new NHL deal. Instead, he wants to move to the Swiss National League next season. He’s basically saying ‘thanks but no thanks’ to the North American hockey grind and heading for the Alps.

Why would Lycksell make that decision?

It’s not like he’s washed up. He is still putting up good numbers in the AHL and has shown flashes in the NHL. But right now, with less than 80 NHL games on his resume, he’ll reach Group VI UFA status again this summer and be able to go wherever he wants. And he wants Switzerland.

This is the part that actually makes sense. The Swiss NL is one of those leagues where hockey is still played well and seriously. It’s fast, skilled and physical. That said, the lifestyle feels like vacation mode compared to the NHL or even the SHL.

The Swiss league only has about 50 regular season games, not the endless 82 you get in the NHL. Most are on Tuesday, Friday or Saturday, so you really have a weekend to yourself. And travelling? The whole country is small, the same size as New Jersey, so you ride or hop on a fast train to the next arena and sleep in your own bed that night. No ten-day swings on the road, no crossing time zones and feeling tired all the time, no living out of a suitcase for weeks.

Switzerland is a beautiful place to live and work

And the cities? Small, beautiful, modest. Lugano (lake + mountains + atmosphere of Italian food), Lausanne, Davos, Ambri-Piotta. As a hockey player you become a local celebrity in a chill way. Fans love you, but you can have a cup of coffee or go to the slopes without being bothered.

Salaries for a player like Lycksell should comfortably earn him between 400,000 and 700,000 CHF (Swiss francs), plus housing and car benefits. That’s good money in Switzerland. You live extremely well, the taxes are not cruel in the right canton, and you can really enjoy it. If a player in Switzerland signs for 400,000 to 700,000 CHF, that is essentially the same as making $400,000 to $700,000 USD, because the Swiss franc is almost one to one with the US dollar. In Canadian dollars it’s even higher: about $540,000 – $945,000 CAD, depending on that week’s exchange rate.

Getting paid for fun: a pretty decent life

So when you hear numbers like that, you’re talking about earnings that are in the range of the higher AHL money or the lower tier of NHL salaries, but in a league with fewer games, lighter travel and a much simpler daily lifestyle. For many players, this combination makes Switzerland an attractive place to land.

Ex-NHL and SHL players who have made the jump say the same thing: You’re still playing at a high level, but you remember why you fell in love with the game. There’s no media circus, no win-now-or-else pressure every night, no fans dumping trash on your lawn (think Mitch Marner in Toronto). Just enjoy playing hockey in one of the most beautiful countries on earth.

So Lycksell may be missing his last chance in the NHL. But he deserves something that many players secretly dream of: playing professional hockey without it completely controlling your life. It seems like a pretty smart idea. Having worked in Switzerland, I would probably do the same.

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