The first hockey team in
Kristianstad was the hockey section of
association football club
Åsums BK. The team originally played
rink bandy from 1954 and started playing hockey in 1959. Its first game was against
Tyringe SoSS that year. It played its home matches in an outdoor venue in
Norra Åsum. In 1962, it defeated the
Danish national team by 7–3 in
Copenhagen as part of the opponent's preparations for
that year's World Championship. The team was dissolved in 1966 due to lack of funds from the main club and decreasing commitment from key people. Kristianstads IK was founded on July 22 of the same year. It played at an outdoor venue until 1969, when it moved into the newly completed
Kristianstads ishall. Current
Columbus Blue Jackets head coach
John Tortorella played for Kristianstad in the 1981–82 season. In 1996–97 Kristianstad played in the qualification (Kvalserien) to the second tier for the first time. It failed to achieve promotion after losing the decisive game away against
Rögle BK. In 2000, due to financial troubles, it became the first sports club in Sweden to undergo
debt restructuring. The club was relegated to the fourth level in 2003 but promoted back to the third level two years later. In 2006–07, Kristianstad reached the decisive playoffs for qualification to Kvalserien for
HockeyAllsvenskan, but was defeated by
Väsby IK. In March 2013, it underwent a second debt restructuring. In 2013–14 and 2015–16 the team reached the final playoff round for Kvalserien, but lost against
Piteå HC and
Södertälje SK, respectively. In 2016–17 it qualified for Kvalserien, but finished third and was not promoted to HockeyAllsvenskan. In the following season it was beaten by
VIK Västerås HK in the final playoff round. In early 2019, the
Swedish Tax Agency requested that the club be declared bankrupt due to unpaid debts. It paid the debts before the date of the bankruptcy hearing, and the request was withdrawn. In the same season the team reached Kvalserien again and was promoted to HockeyAllsvenskan for the first time after winning away against
Almtuna IS in
overtime in the decisive last-round game. In
the following season, Kristianstad finished 13th out of 14 teams in HockeyAllsvenskan, and were to play in Kvalserien to try to avoid relegation. However, Kvalserien was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic and there was no results-based promotion or relegation. In
2020–21, Kristianstad finished last in the league and had to play a play-out series against 13th-placed Väsby; it won the series by 3 games to 2 and avoided relegation. ==Colours and logo==