During the Canucks / Kraken preseason slopfest in Seattle on Sunday evening, I had a chance to chat a few different times with Canucks development coach Mikael Samuelsson.
We talked just a smidge about the current Canucks club, more about him winning a Stanley Cup in Detroit in 2008 and an Olympic Gold Medal for Sweden while playing on an all-Red-Wings five-man unit in Torino in 2006. I was in the rink while working for NBC Sports and watched him win Gold.
At the end of the conversation, I presented Mikael with a challenge question: The top-3 all-time Swedish NHLer’s. Just for fun.
“Ooo, not easy,” he first uttered.
There may have been a Mats Sundin thrown out briefly, in reference to the former Nordiques, Maple Leafs and Canucks center, but Samuelsson quickly adjusted his response and efficiently found his answers. Here were the winners.
1) Peter Forsberg – “Foppa” was a legend. Probably the toughest Swedish forward in NHL history, he’d go anywhere and everywhere to score goals and inflict some physical punishment. He played with reckless abandon to say the least.
Besides being the ultimate competitor, Forsberg was a super star talent. He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1995, the scoring title and the MVP in 2003, and two Stanley Cups with the Avalanche. It should come as no surprise that his career ended prematurely due to injuries.
Forsberg tallied 885 points in 708 regular season games, 171 playoff points in 151 games, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.
2) Kent Nilsson – “The Magic Man” was a hero for a whole generation or two of young Swedish hockey players, Samuelsson among them.
He helped win two championships with the Winnipeg Jets in the old World Hockey Association before jumping to the NHL in 1979 when the older league absorbed four teams from the short-lived younger one. Nilsson posted consecutive 107 point seasons during his two years in the WHA.
His prolific scoring would continue: top-10 all-time in NHL history in points-per-game for players with more than 500 points. He had 686 in 553 games. Why such low overall numbers? He’d play professionally in Europe for three years before and many years after his North American career.
Nilsson’s first year in Sweden’s top league was the year Samuelsson was born. A childhood hero to say the least.
3) Nicklas Lidstrom – Last but not least, Sammy’s teammate in Detroit for that 2008 Cup season and many more. Known as “The Perfect Human”, a nickname he didn’t really enjoy, Lidstrom lived up to it on the ice.
Only Bobby Orr has more Norris Trophies as the NHL’s best defenceman, 8 to 7. The late Doug Harvey also had seven. Lidstrom reeled off six of them in an eight year period starting in 2001, a stretch that also saw the Red Wings win two Stanley Cups (2002, 2008). He won two Cups previously in 1997 and 1998. He won a Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in 2002.
Most astonishing, Lidstrom rarely made mistakes. He was unflappable, smooth, and succinct. He also just happens to be 6th all-time in NHL blueline scoring with 1,142 points.
An extremely nice gentleman, Lidstrom was Red Wings captain for six seasons leading to his retirement in 2012.
Earlier Canucks:
— Canucks: Lack Of Depth = More Pressure On Pettersson
— Ex-Canucks: Miller Named Captain Of Rangers
