Kalle Larsson promoted to Fighting Saints’ GM position

DUBUQUE, Iowa (Courtesy Dubuque Fighting Saints) — The Dubuque Fighting Saints are proud to announce that Kalle Larsson has been promoted to General Manager. On top of his role as the Director of Player Personnel, Larsson will now coordinate the day-to-day personnel moves as GM of the organization.

“Over the past two seasons I have seen firsthand how passionate and loyal the fans here in Dubuque are to the Fighting Saints, and our new staff will strive to bring them another Clark Cup championship to be proud of,” Larsson said. “Everyone involved with the Fighting Saints, from owners and office staff, to volunteers, and fans, they are all so important to this franchise, and I’m just thrilled to continue to be one of the many gears that make this machine run.”

“I would like to sincerely thank Brad Kwong, Mark Falcone, Peter Chiarelli and the rest of Northern Lights Hockey for this great opportunity. The most exciting part about this new role is to continue being part of this great organization.”

Larsson, 35, joined the Fighting Saints organization during the 2015–16 season as the Director of Player Personnel on August 12, 2015. His oversight of the 2016 USHL Draft landed players such as Jacob Semik, Aidan Fulp, Patrick Kudla, Austin Rueschhoff, Brendan Bushy and Quinn Preston.

“Kalle has demonstrated a tireless work ethic since the day he was hired. He is a respected talent in the hockey community who has utilized his network and ability to evaluate players to become an invaluable asset to our hockey operations,” said Kwong, the Managing Partner of Northern Lights Hockey, LLC. “We are very pleased to have such a dedicated and talented hockey person as our GM.”

His work in the most recent 2017 USHL Draft garnered positive accolades from Jeff Cox and Chris Dilks of SB Nation, who claimed the Fighting Saints had the best draft class in the league. Larsson has a long track record of making strong player personnel decisions prior to Dubuque, as he was the Director of Scouting and Assistant GM of the Sioux City Musketeers for two seasons. In his final season there, the Musketeers finished with the best record in the Western Conference, and the second-best record in the league behind the Youngstown Phantoms.

Larsson played his college career at Lawrence University from 2003 to 2007, and he returned to the team in 2010 as an assistant coach, and was promoted to associate head coach in 2013.

“We’ve been contemplating this move for some time as we wanted to establish continuity in the ongoing business of our hockey operations. The byproduct of having extremely talented head coaches who were also our general manager is that those coaches graduate to greater things,” Kwong added. “Each time that occurred, we were left with somewhat of a void. By promoting Kalle to GM, we now have a consistency in our player evaluation, scouting, drafting and recruiting that will be extremely beneficial to the Fighting Saints in the future.”

The 2017–18 season will be Larsson’s third season with the Fighting Saints. His promotion to General Manager is effective immediately.