Sweden celebrated 100 years of hockey with big televised event
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Other interviewed players:
Kent Nilsson
Niklas Kronwall
Bengt-Åke Gustafsson (several times, and also the coach of the 2006 Olympic team)
Ulf Sterner (he wished he had come over later and not during the O6 era, playing for one of the two worst teams, playing for a not very organized team. Had been easier for him if his prime had been a decade or so later instead)
The Kallur twin sisters presented one of the awards, both being born Feb 16, 1981 in New York as their father Anders Kallur was a player for the NY Islanders. The twins are very well known in Sweden, being former world class 100 meter runners, with Susanna once setting an indoor World record (I think it was 60 meters hurdles). Susanna was voted "sports person of the year" some years ago by the Swedish people. Very well liked.
Other top-6 moments was:
Forsberg penalty shot in 1994 followed by Salo's save.
Mika Zibanejad gold winning World juniors goal.
"Den glider in i mål", the empty netter from 1964 World Championships vs Canada.
The 1987 World Championship goal vs Soviet; scored by Tomas Sandström, elegantly set up.
Kent Nilsson
Niklas Kronwall
Bengt-Åke Gustafsson (several times, and also the coach of the 2006 Olympic team)
Ulf Sterner (he wished he had come over later and not during the O6 era, playing for one of the two worst teams, playing for a not very organized team. Had been easier for him if his prime had been a decade or so later instead)
The Kallur twin sisters presented one of the awards, both being born Feb 16, 1981 in New York as their father Anders Kallur was a player for the NY Islanders. The twins are very well known in Sweden, being former world class 100 meter runners, with Susanna once setting an indoor World record (I think it was 60 meters hurdles). Susanna was voted "sports person of the year" some years ago by the Swedish people. Very well liked.
Other top-6 moments was:
Forsberg penalty shot in 1994 followed by Salo's save.
Mika Zibanejad gold winning World juniors goal.
"Den glider in i mål", the empty netter from 1964 World Championships vs Canada.
The 1987 World Championship goal vs Soviet; scored by Tomas Sandström, elegantly set up.
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Staniowski
Registered User
Staniowski
Registered User
Re: Loob on the all-star team.....I always say that Loob could yet make the HHOF.....he's one of the very few of the '80s generation who could still make it (along with Krutov, Kasatonov, etc.). Loob's case depends on a combination of his NHL career, his multiple scoring titles in Sweden, and his play for Team Sweden.
Here's a clip with from an interview with Kenta Nilsson after the gala. It's in Swedish but i transcribed it myself and translated it. You are welcome!
Reporter: - Hello Kenta Nilsson!
Kenta: - Hey!
R: - What a wonderful hockey gala!
K: - Yes, I think it's fantastic, so many incredibly good hockey players who came.
R: - We start with perhaps one of the most important things tonight - did the right player win?
K: - Yes, I think so. I think so. Which category do you mean?
R: - We can start with "Lidas" (Nicklas Lidström) as "Player of the ages"?
K: - Yes, it's hard to beat his.. is it six Norris trophies? Had he been Canadian he would have won nine... So it's hard to beat. The merits are hard to beat, a great player. Forsberg was really good too, I think.
R: - When the TV images were cabled out here, when Börje was praised here at the gala, tears fell from many faces.
K: - Yes... that's.. what can I say. It's horrible. It really is. I think it's really horrible. I think about Börje every day. My legs are a little sore, but...
R: - What is your best memory with Kenta?
K: - With Börje?
R: - Yes, I mean with Börje.
K: - I played in the national team with him, I played against him in the NHL, and... fantastic person. So, my legs are a little sore here, but I think about Börje every day... my soreness is nothing compared to that. Damn it. Damn it to hell.
R: - When you saw him on stage now, how did it...
K: - Well, it's... it's hard to describe. That anyone should have to suffer from that. It's not just Börje, it's a lot of other people, 200 people in Sweden who get that every year. A horrible disease.
R: - Have you had the opportunity to hug him at all?
K: - No, I thought I would get to do that tonight, but he stayed away from everyone and I understand that... I love the guy and, I feel sorry for anyone who gets this disease. Damn it.
R: - Do you have any personal experience, someone in the family who had it before?
K: - No I have not. I actually don't have that. But I've read a lot about it... it's so horrible.
R: - What kind of greeting do you have for Börje if you don't run into him later tonight?
K: - I love you Börje! Fantastic player, thanks for everything you did for Swedish hockey, and in the NHL for us younger guys who came over.
R: - Thanks so much.
K: - Thanks.
Reporter: - Hello Kenta Nilsson!
Kenta: - Hey!
R: - What a wonderful hockey gala!
K: - Yes, I think it's fantastic, so many incredibly good hockey players who came.
R: - We start with perhaps one of the most important things tonight - did the right player win?
K: - Yes, I think so. I think so. Which category do you mean?
R: - We can start with "Lidas" (Nicklas Lidström) as "Player of the ages"?
K: - Yes, it's hard to beat his.. is it six Norris trophies? Had he been Canadian he would have won nine... So it's hard to beat. The merits are hard to beat, a great player. Forsberg was really good too, I think.
R: - When the TV images were cabled out here, when Börje was praised here at the gala, tears fell from many faces.
K: - Yes... that's.. what can I say. It's horrible. It really is. I think it's really horrible. I think about Börje every day. My legs are a little sore, but...
R: - What is your best memory with Kenta?
K: - With Börje?
R: - Yes, I mean with Börje.
K: - I played in the national team with him, I played against him in the NHL, and... fantastic person. So, my legs are a little sore here, but I think about Börje every day... my soreness is nothing compared to that. Damn it. Damn it to hell.
R: - When you saw him on stage now, how did it...
K: - Well, it's... it's hard to describe. That anyone should have to suffer from that. It's not just Börje, it's a lot of other people, 200 people in Sweden who get that every year. A horrible disease.
R: - Have you had the opportunity to hug him at all?
K: - No, I thought I would get to do that tonight, but he stayed away from everyone and I understand that... I love the guy and, I feel sorry for anyone who gets this disease. Damn it.
R: - Do you have any personal experience, someone in the family who had it before?
K: - No I have not. I actually don't have that. But I've read a lot about it... it's so horrible.
R: - What kind of greeting do you have for Börje if you don't run into him later tonight?
K: - I love you Börje! Fantastic player, thanks for everything you did for Swedish hockey, and in the NHL for us younger guys who came over.
R: - Thanks so much.
K: - Thanks.
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And here is a clip from when Börje first entered the stage on the gala. The standing ovation was eventually interrupted by the gala host, then followed a speech by Börjes wife Pia. I will upload the speech aswell if i find the time to transcribe and translate it.
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Not sure a sub PPG player in his very prime in a very high scoring era should be in the HHOF... I didn't get to watch him play so maybe I am missing something. On the other hand he is in the Triple Gold Club so that means something.
Staniowski
Registered User
Staniowski
Registered User
It's very likely Loob would've had over 1000 points if he played a full career in the NHL....and his short career includes lower totals from his rookie season and his 4th season, where he was playing injured, so the overall totals look worse than it was.
He was very skilled - great skater, stickhandler, shooter, passer...very slick with the puck, creative - and one of the most elegant players ever. He wasn't very gritty, though. He would do very well in the NHL today.
He was the most skilled Swedish player of that strong generation of forwards (not including Kent).
Pominville Knows
Registered User
He shuld have no case.
Big fish in a small pond in the SHL and post-soviet international hockey.
Underwhelming (As far as HOF-quality) short career in the NHL.
Did not dominate internationally to the same extent as some soviets mentioned.
sr edler
gold is not reality
- Mar 20, 2010
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The absolute predominant bulk of Loob's international career was certainly not "post-Soviet", so I don't understand what type of point you're trying to make there. I think he played 1 international tournament (1994 Olympics) that didn't include either the Soviets or the Soviets under a different name (Unified Team). It was also against the best Czechoslovak teams before their best players embarked for NA.
He was a key player on the 1987 Swedish gold medal winning Worlds team that broke the Soviet's dominance in that tourney. He was a PPG+ player in a best-on-best Canada Cup tournament, and he always made his teams better. He was not a flashy magician type of player like Kent Nilsson, but he was shifty and a more well-rounded player.
As for him looking underwhelming in comparison to some Soviet players, of course he looks underwhelming or beige if you compare him to say Makarov, most all players from that era does outside of a very few select Canadian players. I think Krutov is a more open comparison, Krutov's skills and strengths are undeniable but he also played in a very favorable situation on the Green Unit.
As for his NHL career, Calgary made 2 Stanley Cup Finals in 4 years with Loob as a core player, between 1986 and 1989. After he left the team they couldn't fight themselves out of the 1st round to save their lives. I think they had 6 straight years after 1989 where they either crashed and burned in the 1st round of the playoffs or missed the playoffs entirely, often in quite meltdown-ish fashion, with Loob's former sidekick (and HHOFer) Nieuwendyk leading the "charge".
All this said, as a Loob fan I don't really want him in the HHOF because there's really no mystique left in the HHOF. You have guys like Ciccarelli, Andreychuk and Nieuwendyk there, all these guys would have been skated circles around against the late 80s Soviets. You know who looked like a small fish in a big pond on international ice against the Soviets? Doug Gilmour. And I'm saying that as someone who likes Gilmour.
Yozhik v tumane
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2019
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First, thank you for translating and transcribing this.
This quote strikes me as the kind of pretty bullshit take common among Swedes (being Swedish myself) when discussing Lidstrom back when. I wonder about the original source of the idea that he’d have even more Norris wins as a Canadian, and I can’t take it seriously, but for one exception: Rob Blake’s 1998 Norris you can probably attribute at least in part to him being more of an archetypical two-way defenseman than Lidstrom was. As far as I’m concerned, this is the most arguable snub of Lidstrom’s career, but I also think that team situation should be taken into consideration when picking a Norris favorite. While the guy playing great D upwards of 30 minutes a game for a powerhouse is an obvious candidate, the one bringing spark to and lifting a lowly team shouldn’t be easily dismissed either.
I wonder if the semantics of Lidstrom during his three times a runner-up in the Norris race prior to winning was losing out to hard-hitting, hard-shooting Canadians Blake, MacInnis and Pronger isn’t a big part of what made the “Lidstrom would have won more Norris trophies had he been born in Canada” narrative so compelling, taking into account that we were aware that a lot of Canadians including Don Cherry looked down on “soft chicken Swedes”. In hindsight, I think there’s only really 1998 you can get too hung up on, and Lidstrom got his own reputation trophy at the end of his career.
The related take that’s quite common is that since Lidstrom didn’t fit the mold of the superstar #1D, he didn’t get his due recognition until his thirties despite being the same player and showing the same excellence for years prior. There’s something to this, and it seems to me the narrative of the softies Lidstrom and Murphy shutting down the Legion of Doom in 1997 was what propelled the former into becoming a mainstay in Norris conversations.
I think Loob was the only one on the All Star Team mentioned that is controversial.
Here are some arguments for (put in some context).
In Sweden, Loob being "the only Swedish player to score 50 goals in the NHL" is often mentioned. (This is usually just looking at the numbers, with no attention to era or "adjusted points" or so.)
He set a very impressive scoring record in Sweden, at age 22, scoring 76 pts in 36 gp.
Elite Prospects - Elitserien Stats 1982-1983
1982-1983 regular season player stats for Elitserien, including top goal scorers, most games played, PPG leaders and more.
www.eliteprospects.com
Goals: 42(!) (2nd was 23).
Assists: 34 (2nd was 27),
(Context: 99 av top 100 scorers were Swedes. NHL had 22 Swedes, including forwards Kent Nilsson, Mats Näslund, Bengt-Åke Gustafsson, Tomas Gradin, Jörgen Pettersson, Tomas Steen, Anders Hedberg, Patrik Sundström - who would all outscore Loob the following NHL season.)
He won Stanley Cups with Calgary. From the games I've watched he really contributed on those teams, including strong play on the penalty killing. (This wasn't super noticed here in Sweden, but anyway.)
He went back to Sweden and won a few more scoring titles. (Not that we Swedes did pay much attention to who scored most points, but anyway he was noticed in media here in Sweden.)
Playing in Sweden made him being able to represent Sweden, for example being part of the 1994 Olympic gold winning team, as well as a World Championship team, thus the "triple gold club".
--
I don't know which forward from that generation I would pick instead. Maybe Mats Näslund, a very smart player. In the NHL, he was the leading scorer on an MTL Stanley Cup winning team. Like Loob, he too chose to play outside of the NHL, including in Sweden, not due to lack of skill or ability but because there is a hockey world outside of the NHL with good salaries, excellent welfare, passionate hockey fans and so on. Näslund also eventually got a job at a high position of the Swedish hockey government.
I think Kent Nilsson is a bit overrated. He could be great when he was at his best, but overall and over time not super great.
Earlier generations, Sven Tumba for being the "Mr Hockey" of Sweden, but... skill wise not at the mentioned guys level.
Of later generations, guys like Alfredsson could have a chance. Zetterberg. I may be forgetting someone. The Sedins. If these guys had returned back to Sweden playing some more years there, and playing on our national team, I think it would have helped their also. Same if they got to play more in Canada Cup-like tournaments, even though they got some Olympics.
Sundin and Forsberg are locks though, for everything they've accomplished. Sundin being the great leader, multiple best-on-best tournaments All Star Team player, scoring big goals and winning tournaments. While Forsberg got to play on a stacked Stanley Cup contender (and winner), Sundin got stuck in TOR. Switch them and maybe Sundin would get some Stanley Cup, scoring big goals and possibly be a Conn Smythe contender, while Forsberg might not get his scoring title or Stanley Cup. I do however rate Forsberg slightly higher.
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Former NHL player Jonas Andersson, now an expert commentator on Swedish TV, recently revealed his All Star Team. Loob was not included (Sven Tumba was instead).
Here is a funny clip on Loob commenting on it.
I hope you can watch it (Facebook was the only link I found, apart from SVT which I don't think is watchable in North America):
Here is a funny clip on Loob commenting on it.
I hope you can watch it (Facebook was the only link I found, apart from SVT which I don't think is watchable in North America):
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And here is a commercial (unfortunately low quality) with Salming in it.
Mikael Renberg and Tomas Sandström are in an elevator bragging about their careers and the injuries they got.
Mikael Renberg and Tomas Sandström are in an elevator bragging about their careers and the injuries they got.
Yozhik v tumane
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2019
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I think Loob was the only one on the All Star Team mentioned that is controversial.
Here are some arguments for (put in some context).
In Sweden, Loob being "the only Swedish player to score 50 goals in the NHL" is often mentioned. (This is usually just looking at the numbers, with no attention to era or "adjusted points" or so.)
He set a very impressive scoring record in Sweden, at age 22, scoring 76 pts in 36 gp.
Pts: 76 (2nd was 47).Elite Prospects - Elitserien Stats 1982-1983
1982-1983 regular season player stats for Elitserien, including top goal scorers, most games played, PPG leaders and more.
Goals: 42(!) (2nd was 23).
Assists: 34 (2nd was 27),
(Context: 99 av top 100 scorers were Swedes. NHL had 22 Swedes, including forwards Kent Nilsson, Mats Näslund, Bengt-Åke Gustafsson, Tomas Gradin, Jörgen Pettersson, Tomas Steen, Anders Hedberg, Patrik Sundström - who would all outscore Loob the following NHL season.)
He won Stanley Cups with Calgary. From the games I've watched he really contributed on those teams, including strong play on the penalty killing. (This wasn't super noticed here in Sweden, but anyway.)
He went back to Sweden and won a few more scoring titles. (Not that we Swedes did pay much attention to who scored most points, but anyway he was noticed in media here in Sweden.)
Playing in Sweden made him being able to represent Sweden, for example being part of the 1994 Olympic gold winning team, as well as a World Championship team, thus the "triple gold club".
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I don't know which forward from that generation I would pick instead. Maybe Mats Näslund, a very smart player. In the NHL, he was the leading scorer on an MTL Stanley Cup winning team. Like Loob, he too chose to play outside of the NHL, including in Sweden, not due to lack of skill or ability but because there is a hockey world outside of the NHL with good salaries, excellent welfare, passionate hockey fans and so on. Näslund also eventually got a job at a high position of the Swedish hockey government.
I think Kent Nilsson is a bit overrated. He could be great when he was at his best, but overall and over time not super great.
Earlier generations, Sven Tumba for being the "Mr Hockey" of Sweden, but... skill wise not at the mentioned guys level.
Of later generations, guys like Alfredsson could have a chance. Zetterberg. I may be forgetting someone. The Sedins. If these guys had returned back to Sweden playing some more years there, and playing on our national team, I think it would have helped their also. Same if they got to play more in Canada Cup-like tournaments, even though they got some Olympics.
Sundin and Forsberg are locks though, for everything they've accomplished. Sundin being the great leader, multiple best-on-best tournaments All Star Team player, scoring big goals and winning tournaments. While Forsberg got to play on a stacked Stanley Cup contender (and winner), Sundin got stuck in TOR. Switch them and maybe Sundin would get some Stanley Cup, scoring big goals and possibly be a Conn Smythe contender, while Forsberg might not get his scoring title or Stanley Cup. I do however rate Forsberg slightly higher.
I’d probably have voted for Tumba, but Loob was a worthy pick.
Kind of would have liked seeing a first and second team sort of like the ones voted for in the NHL each year, or even a full 20 player lineup.
Pominville Knows
Registered User
I mean sure, from a Swedish perspective he may have the accolades to be a non-surprise on that team, i'll give you that much.
And he did have his moments, he was no bum.
I think i would have taken Zetterberg, although for some reason the Sedins are often seen as better. I know some of the reasons for that, but amounts to trophy counting and the twin-factor as far as i'm concerned, and quite possibly that Zetterberg was often somewhat overshadowed on the Wings whilst the Sedins was the Canucks go-to-guys(Oh mama, help!).
Yozhik v tumane
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2019
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Sandström is one the worst actors I’ve seen, Renberg’s performance is Oscar worthy in comparison.
Renberg: What happened there?
Sandström: Against Detroit in ‘98, had to have 50 stitches.
R: I got a hundred stitches to my face!
S: Hey, I blocked a shot: the jaw was cracked in three places.
R: [Bares his chest] Rob Blake cross checked me in the ribs, breaking three of them.
S: That’s nothing.
R: … Well, three on the one side, but another three on the other side, plus that I got a concussion and a punctured lung, how about them apples?
S: [Removes his shirt and bends over] Was hooked up by Shanahan, 334 stitches, a broken leg and two weeks in a coma.
R: [While dropping his pants and just as Börje Salming enters the elevator] Pah, Gretzky, Peter Forsberg, they came from two different directions and just squashed me-
Funny thing is that Loob was not even the top scorer in Flames that season since Nieuwendyk scored 51. Loob is a bit like Kenny Jönsson and his legacy was built after some good years back home. Otherwise it is really tricky to point out the third best Swedish forward after Forsberg and Sundin. Especially since Sven Tumba and Ulf Sterner played i a different era.
But saying Kenta Nilsson is overrated is a bit strange since his 131 points in one season was third best in the whole league after Gretzky and Dionne. Loob had five guys who outscored him. Players like Craig Simpson and Jimmy Carson are not that well-remembered. And Kenta Nilssons points/game is really good and should get more attention.
Otherwise the jury who picked the players made some obvious mistakes in the process. Just look at the nominees below. People has been speaking about Tommy Salo missing but there's many more to discuss. Häggroth was no way near being top five. And how about not picking Roland Stoltz or Lill-Strimma Svedberg ahead of guys like Kenny Jönsson and Anders Eldebrink? And even guys like Calle Johansson or Ulf Samuelsson.
Jörgen Jönsson must be the strangest one and leaving out Markus Näslund. There is a bunch of forwards who was better than Jönsson or similar. Tomas Sandström, Thomas Steen, Patrik Sundström, Lill-Pröjsarn Nilsson, Bengt-Åke Gustafsson and Thomas Gradin to mention a few.
All time goalie
Leif ”Honken” Holmqvist
Lennart ”Klimpen” Häggroth
Peter ”Pekka” Lindmark
Henrik Lundqvist
Pelle Lindbergh
All time defenseman
Lars ”Lasse” Björn
Anders Eldebrink
Victor Hedman
Tomas Jonsson
Kenny Jönsson
Erik Karlsson
Nicklas ”Lidas” Lidström
Stefan Persson
Börje Salming
Lars-Erik Sjöberg
All time Forward
Daniel Alfredsson
Nicklas Bäckström
Peter ”Foppa” Forsberg
Anders Hedberg
Jörgen Jönsson
Håkan Loob
Kent ”Kenta” Nilsson
Nils ”Nisse” Nilsson
Mats Näslund
Daniel Sedin
Henrik Sedin
Mats Sundin
Ulf Sterner
Sven Tumba
Henrik Zetterberg
Something like this.
Sverige
Forwards10. Kent Nilsson – 21. Peter Forsberg – 12. Håkan Loob
17. Sven Tumba – 13. Mats Sundin – 11. Daniel Alfredsson
22. Daniel Sedin – 33. Henrik Sedin – 14. Ulf Sterner
26. Mats Näslund – 40. Henrik Zetterberg – 91. Markus Näslund
15. Anders Hedberg – 19. Nicklas Bäckström
Backar
5. Nicklas Lidström – 3. Börje Salming
8. Erik Karlsson – 41. Victor Hedman
4. Lennart ”Lill-Strimma” Svedberg – 2. Roland Stoltz
7. Stefan Persson – 6. Calle Johansson
Målvakter
30. Henrik Lundqvist
31. Pelle Lindbergh/35. Tommy Salo
sr edler
gold is not reality
- Mar 20, 2010
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Calgary won back-to-back Presidents' Trophies in 1988 and 1989 (essentially the best team in hockey in that condensed time frame) and on those teams Loob placed 1st and 2nd in scoring respectively with a strong all-round game, so it's not like he was completely irrelevant in the NHL. Nieuwendyk played on Loob's line, he was a former Cornell lacrosse player with a strong butt-game, which means he deflected a lot of pucks into the net via his rear end, he was not a play driver on his line Loob was.
I feel Kenny Jönsson is underrated too, both Jönsson's are probably underrated by the mainstream. Jörgen had actual skill offensively but was mostly deployed (I think) as a defensive/face-off guy in international tourneys. Kenny though was probably too nice for the NHL, but he looked way better on those Isles team than someone like Chara. Imagine if Kenny had Chara's ruthlessness, and a propensity to stay away from concussions, he could have had a way better NHL career if he had landed on a less dysfunctional team.
Agree regarding both Loob and Kenny. Kenny Jönsson's +/- stats in NYI are very affected by being a player with high ice time on a bad team. I think I've seen some modern analytics stats (which I don't pay much attention to and am quite skeptical towards) where he actually was one of the league's best players during several seasons but particularly one season. Having seen him play a lot, he was very solid defensively.
I'm not very high on Jörgen Jönsson. (I'm probably affected by him not giving a very good impression during Mästarnas Mästare, which is a Superstars like Swedish tv-program.)
With NHL (too), much has to do with opportunities. Kenny probably could have been a solid defensive defenseman on a dynasty. Most upper half NHL players were/are good enough to be. While most who was on dynasties are very replaceable. I think NHL fans put too much weight on Stanley Cup trophies.
I think Mats Näslund might be the "most forgotten" Swede. Very smart player.
When both were in the NHL at the same time (Näslund is one year older), and excluding Loob's rookie season (to be fair to Loob), Näslund outscored Loob.
Näslund 394gp 167g 269a 436pts +78
Loob... 373gp 163g 211a 374pts +94
Best goal scoring sesaons during those five years:
Näslund 43-42-33-25-24
Loob... 50-37-31-27-18
So we have this arbitrary number 50, that Loob happened to reach during his by far best goal scoring season.
Kent Nilsson had 49 and 47 (both in CGY) during his career.
The really best might actually be Markus Näslund's 48 goals in 2002-03.
--
I would have been OK with Tumba on the All Star Team. Same with Mats Näsund. Or Zetterberg, or Alfredsson. But then, how do we compare them to the Sedins (one Art Ross and Hart each plus a Lindsay for Daniel) or Markus Näslund (one Lindsay).
Top-two anyhow are Sundin and Forsberg.
Are you Swedish? Because that is the thing with Kenny being overrated in Sweden and underrated in North America. Much of his legacy stems from being a key player during the later part of the 2006 Olympics. Just imagine Sweden not throwing that game against Slovakia and losing in the QF to a top team. Then Kenny Jönsson would not have this status.
Many guys during that period were better or equal. Lidström was of course the best but then we had Norström, Öhlund, Kronwall, K Johnsson, Samuelssons x2, Olausson and Ragnarsson.
Interesting case about Mats Näslund being better than Loob. I think that a player like Markus Näslund had the best peak (besides Forsberg and Sundin) together with Kenta Nilsson. But overall many players had better careers.
sr edler
gold is not reality
- Mar 20, 2010
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Kenny Jönsson was certainly better than Kronwall. He was also fairly similar to Öhlund. Both Jönsson and Öhlund had #1D upside, Kronwall didn't really have that upside although late Red Wing career (post Lidström) he was still deployed as one because they didn't have anyone better. Kronwall was a classic #2D/#3D. Kim Johnsson, I was surprised to see how old he was/is and how much he actually played in the NHL, very solid but unspectacular career, yeah he was pretty good.
Ulf Samuelsson/Norström were strictly defensive Ds so hard to compare. Olausson was basically a PP specialist, not a guy you would want leading your overall forces. Ragnarsson was pretty solid but clearly not as good overall as Jönsson.
Kjell Samuelsson I'm higher on his son (who is American, by the way), I hope he comes back from his injury soon and stabilizes Sabres defense so they don't have to play AHL trash.
Staniowski
Registered User
It's unlikely that Loob will ever be inducted into the HHOF....but he was good enough to be, and I think there's a small chance he could be at some point.
His case is quite unusual...only 6 seasons in the NHL. But 4 scoring titles in Sweden (I think that's accurate), quite a legendary figure in Swedish hockey, a big scorer in his only best-on-best tournament (10 points in 8 games in '84), and multiple championship teams (Stanley Cup, Olympics, WCs).
Staniowski
Registered User
Regardless of their NHL numbers, Loob was certainly more offensively talented than Naslund, although the difference wasn't huge.
Loob was a better skater, puck-carrier, and scorer. Naslund was a little tougher, grittier, and better defensively. Naslund fit quite well with the '80s Habs teams. They both had very good hockey sense.
BTW, like Salming in '76, Naslund received a bigger ovation than any Team Canada player in their '87 Canada Cup game in Montreal (Gretzky and Bourque were both in the starting lineup).
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