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“Well, I’m only 25, so I hope I have another 10, 15-plus years — if I want to play like Jagr, I’ll have another 20,” Karlsson joked. “But, yeah, it’s very frustrating not to be in the playoffs.”

Karlsson, who turns 26 on May 31, surely gave Sens Army a start when he gave this answer to the prospect of a “new voice” for the team (the question referred to a potential coaching change).

“I’ll have to leave, maybe, get someone new in there,” Karlsson said, with a wink of his eye. “That will change things up.”

He was kidding! And then he advised us to speak to new general manager Pierre Dorion about the coaching situation.

Here’s the party line about Karlsson and the competitive level of this team. He feels the talent in the room is such that they should have qualified for the playoffs this season, at a minimum.

Would he ever have a discussion with ownership/management if he felt they weren’t headed toward Cup contention?

“I always want to win,” Karlsson said. “That’s not something I need to talk to anyone about. As players you want to win. You want to be on a winning team and go far in the playoffs. And when the time comes to dealing with those issues, we’ll deal with it. And that time is not right now.”

Earlier, Karlsson had expressed some faith that the organization was heading in the right direction.

“I am fully satisfied with what we have here and I do believe before my deal is up, we’re going to be much further ahead than we are right now,” Karlsson said. “And that’s what I’m focusing on.”