Kjell Håkan Dahlin (born 2 March 1963) is a Swedish 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 ...

forward. He played for the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

in the

NHL 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 ...

in the mid-1980s.

NHL

Dahlin was drafted by the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

in the fourth round as the 82nd pick overall. Dahlin played in Sweden until 1985 when he joined the Canadiens. In his first season in the NHL he played 77 games and scored 32 goals and 71 points, tying a club record for points by a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

that was set by countryman and teammate

Mats Näslund Mats Torsten Näslund (born 31 October 1959), nicknamed "Le Petit Viking", is a Swedish former ice hockey player. He played as a left winger. Despite his small size at only five feet and seven inches, Näslund is best known for being one of th ...

and also setting a club rookie goals record. His point total made him the top scoring rookie that season but an outstanding season by first-year defenceman

Gary Suter Gary Lee Suter (born June 24, 1964) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played over 1,000 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1985 and 2002. He was a ninth round selection of the Calgary Flames, 180th overa ...

kept Dahlin from capturing the rookie of the year honors, though he was named to the

NHL All-Rookie Team The NHL All-Rookie Team is chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association from the best rookies in the National Hockey League at each position for the season just concluded based on their performance in that year. The team was first named a ...

. Despite his scoring ways during the regular season, Dahlin was held to just two goals and five points in the playoffs, while the Canadiens went on to win the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

. In his second season injuries limited Dahlin to just 41 games and his point total dropped to 20. In 1987–88, Dahlin's third year, injuries again limited him as he played just 48 games this time scoring 25 points.

Back to Sweden

With diminishing returns and bad luck on the injury front, Dahlin opted to return to Sweden for the 1988–89 campaign. Dahlin rejoined Färjestads BK, the Swedish Elite League club team he spent three seasons with before joining Montreal. Dahlin played six seasons with them then retired from the game in 1994. Dahlin only played 11 games with the Swedish national team, and never played with them in any major tournament.

NHL

Back to Sweden

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links