Surrounded by some premium talent, Larsson has reaped the benefits of playing with the likes of future NHLers and skilled players, but also admits that, at least in the CHL, puck luck has also been on his side.

“I’ve been fortunate enough in the CHL to have some good bounces and been playing with some good players and been effective on the powerplay which allowed me to put up a lot of points in the beginning of the CHL.”

The centreman's excellent start is a result of what Larsson deems a good recipe for success: “a good team, good teammates, and some good chemistry and a good powerplay.” With Rögle housing each of these in spades, it’s no surprise they’ve been able to put together a solid 5-1 record in their inaugural CHL campaign.

Despite their terrific start, however, it hasn’t been completely paradise according to Larsson. For him, the hardest part about playing in the CHL is…the schedule.

“I think it’s been coping with the combined schedule. Both the SHL and the CHL. We get to play a lot more games than the other teams, so just to be able to cope with that, to stay fresh and stay ready for each game,” he admitted. Compared with some other teams in the SHL, Rögle have had to find ways to pace themselves, to “manage their energy and be able to cope with the more amount of games they have to play.”

Consequently, with so much playing time comes so much traveling. This is one thing his team has done a lot of, and will hopefully continue to do, and that’s just fine with him.

“We’re used to traveling a lot, Sweden is a pretty long country so it’s further to go up North than to go down to Europe. So we’re pretty used to the traveling.”

According to Larsson, “We’ve been very fortunate to charter planes when going down to EV Zug and Red Bull Munich as well as in Demark. So, we’ve been very fortunate to be able to have some kind of convenient traveling.”

With traveling part and parcel of the CHL, Rögle have been able to fully embrace and enjoy the offerings of each city and each arena. It also means that they’ve come across the different styles of hockey that the League serves up, and for Larsson this is pretty special.

Compared to the SHL, which Larsson observes is, “known for being very structured, very detailed. The Swedish League is very defensive, very structured, very hard to score,” the Swiss and German leagues are, “more offensive, more of an open kind of game. A little more scoring.”

He adds, “I would say the Swiss league is a very fast league, as well.” No matter the style, though, the forward is relishing the opportunity to play against teams from other countries, noting, “it’s fun to get a different experience and get to play these other leagues in different countries.”

One country he hasn’t played in yet that, pending Rögle’s performance in their upcoming match-up against ZSC Lions Zurich, Larsson hopes to travel to is the Czech Republic to battle the likes of Sparta Prague.

While the 26-year-old has been to the Czech capital before, there’s a special reason he’d like to face off against Sparta in particular: “My brother’s girlfriend has an apartment in the city so it’d be cool for him to watch us play in Prague.” A nice reunion in a nice city against one of the Czech Republic’s best clubs is certainly something to look forward to for the young centreman.

First, however, a tough test in ZSC is on tap for Rögle whose preparation for their upcoming Swiss opponents boils down to taking care of the fundamentals.

“Just touching up on some details we want to improve on. You know, just taking it one day at a time,” according to Larsson who also admitted, “We haven’t got into any details about the tactics. We’ve just been focusing on our Swedish Hockey League here where we’ve been doing pretty well.”

When it comes to scoring, Rögle have shown an aptitude for finding the net in all situations, be it 5v5 or on the man-advantage. In fact, special teams are an area the Swedish side have been very successful with so far this season converting on 50% of their chances.

As for the basic building blocks that constitute their man-advantage, according to Larsson, “We usually practice special teams once or twice a week, get the guys together. And then we do some pre-scouting on the team we’re playing against to see what kind of tendencies they have on the penalty kill.”

Practice notwithstanding, finding success and finding it often comes down to one word: chemistry.

“But then it’s a lot about just having chemistry and having a lot of confidence when you’re out there.” And with good chemistry comes good chances and, “I mean, if you take a lot of shots, you’re gonna have a bigger chance where eventually one is gonna go into the back of the net. So that’s what we focused on.”

Their focus has certainly had an impact as Rögle lead the entire CHL in powerplay percentage in large part thanks to their chemistry; a chemistry, the Swede admits, which took some time to develop.

“It takes a little while. I mean, it was a different league for me. It takes a while to adjust and get used to this structure and this type of play. So, took me a few games to get into it and create some chemistry with my linemates so that’s nothing that just kind of starts right away.”

Taking it one game at a time, progress eventually came, but in Larsson's case, “You kind of have to work yourself into it. I feel like it almost took like 5,6,7 games maybe until I felt very comfortable playing in the SHL.” After a while, though, things begin to fall into place and the tendencies of your teammates become almost second nature. “Now I feel very comfortable and I’m starting to play a lot better,” he concluded.

Fortunately, Rögle have found their chemistry quick and their CHL results reflect a team that is in a comfortable position to go the distance.

“I knew we were gonna have a good team, but really important to get the chemistry going and get the team going as one unit,” Larsson reiterated. Having found that chemistry, Rögle were able to secure their wins against tough opponents in Zug and Munich, both of whom impressed Larsson with how good they were.

“The quality, the skill level of those two teams, I was very impressed with their style of play and how they gave us a couple of good matches there.”

Being able to not only skate with, but surpass such talent is a testament to Rögle’s own pedigree and bodes well for the Swedish side moving forward.

“Obviously, it’s a sign that we’re doing something very well. Means we’re a top team in Sweden as well as Europe, so the organization is very happy, very proud. The fans are very happy and proud, as well. So, it seems like we’re a top team in Europe this year again. So, we’re happy and I’m very happy with our start.”