Daniel Carl Tjärnqvist (born October 14, 1976) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

who played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) with the

Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 seaso ...

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

and the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

. His younger brother, Mathias, is an assistant coach in

Malmö Redhawks The IF Malmö Redhawks (colloquially referred to simply as Malmö or by past abbreviation MIF) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Malmö which plays in the SHL, with Malmö Arena as the venue for home games. The history of the ...

in the Swedish elite league

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

Playing career

Tjärnqvist is considered a smart player who plays safe and is a good two-way defenceman. He was drafted by the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

as their fourth-round pick, 88th overall, in the

1995 NHL Entry Draft The 1995 NHL Entry Draft was the 33rd NHL Entry Draft. It was held at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta. The drafting order was now set partially by a lottery system whereby teams would not be guaranteed first pick if they finished last. I ...

; however, Tjärnqvist never played a game for the team. After four years with

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, ''Kungliga Djurgården'' (), is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum ...

in the Swedish

, Tjärnqvist spent three seasons with the

in the

; after the 2004–05 lockout he played for the

. On July 6, 2006, Tjärnqvist signed a one-year deal with the

. Daniel established himself in the Oilers defense until he was beset with a pubic bone injury, missing the majority of the 2006–07 NHL season. Tjärnqvist, a free agent, then spent the 2007–08 season in the

Russian Super League Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

reportedly signing with

Ak Bars Kazan Hockey Club Ak Bars (russian: Ак Барс, tt-Cyrl, Ак Барс, en, Snow Leopard), also known as Ak Bars Kazan, is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Kazan. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey ...

, before formally signing a contract with

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...

. On July 3, 2008, with the option to remain in Russia, Tjärnqvist instead came back for a second stint in the NHL, signing a one-year contract with the

. Tjärnqvist was used primarily as a reserve defenseman before succumbing to a concussion to end his 2008–09 campaign. On May 24, 2009, Tjärnqvist signed a one-year contract to return to Russia with his previous team, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL, for the 2009–10 season. Establishing himself as Lokomotiv's best defensive defender, he appeared in 54 games, notching 10 points and adding 3 more in Yaroslavl's run to the Western Conference finals. On June 18, 2010, he was re-signed by the KHL team to a further one-year deal. On June 27, 2011, Tjärnqvist returned to

in Swedish

signing a one plus one optional year contract. As an Alternate captain with the club, he was primarily used as a stay at home defenseman and produced 14 points in 45 games during the 2011–12 season. On May 12, 2012, Tjärnqvist opted not to extend his contract in Sweden and signed a one-year deal with a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

club,

Kölner Haie The Kölner Haie (English: ''Cologne Sharks'') are an ice hockey club based in Cologne, Germany that plays in the professional Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The team was one of the founding members of the DEL. The ''Kölner Haie'' play their hom ...

, of the DEL. Upon spending the 2014–15 season with Haie, Tjärnqvist sat out the following season as a free agent before announcing his retirement from professional hockey on June 1, 2016.

Records

* First Swedish player to win the SM-liiga (1997).

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

champion with

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (English: Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002). Jokerit plays its ...

in 1997. * Elitserien playoff winner with

in 2000 and 2001. * World Championship's Best Defenceman in 2002. * Olympic gold medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tjarnqvist, Daniel 1976 births Living people Atlanta Thrashers players Colorado Avalanche players Columbus Blue Jackets coaches Djurgårdens IF Hockey players Edmonton Oilers players Expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Florida Panthers draft picks Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Jokerit players Kölner Haie players Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Minnesota Wild players Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey Sportspeople from Umeå Rögle BK players Swedish expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Swedish expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Russia Swedish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Swedish ice hockey defencemen