VICTORIA — You can’t keep Niklas Edin away from the curling rink.
Edin ended his international career on top, capturing his record-extending eighth gold medal as a skip at the World Men’s Curling Championship last April. He also won every colour of medal at the Olympic Winter Games, four Grand Slams and eight European championships during his illustrious career.
Whether you consider him the G.O.A.T. or at least part of curling’s Mount Rushmore, there’s no doubt Edin is one of the sport’s best. Now for his next act: coaching Kayla MacMillan’s team.
Edin has actually coached MacMillan for several years — and also coached Sayaka Yoshimura's team — but when the 41-year-old from Sweden arrived at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre for the GSOC Co-op Invitational earlier this month, his spot was strictly on the bench, not in the house.
"It's definitely different," Edin said. "A lot more time at home and getting to see some friends and family I haven't seen much over the past two decades, kind of thing. Obviously playing, like seeing the other teams play and stuff, it's definitely going to feel a little weird for a while, but I definitely love the coaching, and a little bit of commentary hopefully to come, and then the Rock League. Lots of fun to come."
World Curling eased up on its coaching rules this season, allowing team officials to communicate with their players when they're not delivering a stone, instead of just between ends or during timeouts. During the Co-op Invitational, Edin could often be seen advising MacMillan, who throws last rocks, and the newest member of the team, skip/third Val Sweeting.
“Especially at the Slams, it's very open and even the coaches, if you want to, can call the timeout. I don't know if I necessarily like that, but it's very open,” Edin said. “You are one team, like the coach and the alternate are part of the same team. In most sports, you're working together. I think curling has kind of been on the other side of that, where your coach literally doesn't really do anything during a game. It's just between games and leading up to a game, but then during the game you feel like you're not doing much as a coach.
“I think it's good and bad, but it's good that coaches can be a little more involved at least. Where exactly should the line be drawn is for someone else to answer.”
The Co-op Invitational was a home event for the Victoria-based club of MacMillan, Sweeting, second Lindsay Dubue and lead Lauren Lenentine. MacMillan opened with a 6-5 shootout win over 20-time Grand Slam winner Rachel Homan, but lost 6-4 to new world No. 1 Eun-ji Gim and 5-4 to the event’s eventual champion Kerri Einarson. The team finished with a 7-5 victory over Miyu Ueno, as MacMillan was eliminated from contention and just missed the tiebreakers by a point.
Despite the early exit, Edin said it was a great week for the world No. 25 team at home and in its first Grand Slam together.
"Obviously, a really tough field coming in as one of the lower-ranked. You get to play Homan, Gim, Einarson first three games. I mean, really, really tough games to play and pretty close games, all four games actually," Edin said. "A little bit of luck, a little bit of making a few shots at the right time, kind of thing. Could have won all four, so 2-2, but not quite enough to make playoffs.
"It's still a good showing, for sure. Especially that win against Homan, really showing that if you can beat Homan, you can beat them all. So, good week, lots of positives. Obviously, the team wanted to make the playoffs, but that's always the case for competitive curlers."
While Edin writes a new chapter as coach, he hasn’t closed the book on his competitive career. Right after the men’s worlds, Edin joined Typhoon Curling Club for the inaugural season of Rock League, helping the franchise reach the championship match and finishing runner-up to Shield Curling Club in a nail-biting finale.
Edin said Rock League was awesome, comparing it to the Continental Cup, which was similar to the Ryder Cup in golf, with players part of a team within a larger team.
"You're fighting for more than just your usual little squad. I think it's great," said Edin, who is expected to return with Typhoon for Season 2 in 2027. "It's kind of in between where it's extremely competitive, but it's still a lot of camaraderie, and you meet some new friends. It's kind of fighting for a bigger team, if you will. You're not just out there alone performing for yourself.
"I love the concept. I hope it's going to thrive and the fans are loving it too. Obviously that's kind of the main thing if this is to continue down the road, but I think for the players it's awesome to have something like that where we can connect a little bit more. Again, after the Continental Cup, it kind of just turned into all teams to themselves. Everyone stays at Airbnbs. It's not really that social aspect anymore, so the Rock League is kind of bringing that back, I think."
