Lars-Erik "Taxen" Sjöberg (4 May 1944 in

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabita ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

– 20 October 1987 in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

, Sweden) was a Swedish

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 ...

. He played in Sweden from 1962 to 1974 (

Leksands IF Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, SHL, after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The c ...

1962–65 and 1967–69,

Djurgårdens IF Hockey Djurgårdens IF Ishockeyförening – commonly known as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården Hockey, Djurgården () – is a professional ice hockey team based in Stockholm, Sweden, affiliated with the Djurgårdens IF umbrella organization. Djurgården ...

1965–67, and

Västra Frölunda IF Västra Frölunda Idrottsförening (English: Västra Frölunda Sports Association) is a Swedish football club located in Gothenburg. It was formed on 2 January 1930 and has played ten seasons in the Allsvenskan, the highest Swedish league. In t ...

1969–74), and in North America for the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

in the WHA and

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 ...

from 1974 to 80. Sjöberg won the

Golden Puck Guldpucken (''The Golden Puck'') is awarded annually to the ice hockey player of the year in Sweden. It is similar to the NHL's Hart Memorial Trophy. Normally it goes to a player in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top-level ice hockey league ...

as the Swedish player of the Year in 1968–69 and was named best defenceman at the

1974 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1974 Ice Hockey World Championships were the 41st Ice Hockey World Championships and the 52nd European Championships in ice hockey. The tournament took place in Finland from 5 to 20 April and the games were played in the capital, Helsinki. Si ...

. He was the first non-North American born and raised captain in the NHL, wearing the "C" for the Winnipeg Jets during their first season in the NHL. He was nicknamed "The Professor" and "The Little General" while playing for the Jets. Sjöberg captained the Swedish national team at the

1976 Canada Cup The 1976 Canada Cup was an international ice hockey tournament held September 2 to 15, 1976, in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Quebec City in Canada as well as in Philadelphia, in the United States. It was the first of five Canada Cup to ...

. Sjöberg was working as a scout for the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

when he died of cancer in 1987. To honour him the Rangers each year gives out the Lars-Erik Sjöberg Award to the best rookie in the training camp.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and achievements

*Swedish Player of the Year (1969) *

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

All-Star Team (1974) *Named Best Defenseman at

(1974) *Played in the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

(1976) *

Avco Cup The Avco World Trophy, also known as the Avco Cup, is the playoff championship trophy of the defunct World Hockey Association (1972–1979). The trophy's naming rights were sold to the former Avco Corporation (a name originally derived from "Avia ...

( WHA) Championships (1976, 1978, 1979) * WHA First All-Star Team (1978) *

Dennis A. Murphy Trophy The Dennis A. Murphy Trophy was presented annually to the World Hockey Association's best defenceman. It was named in honour of WHA co-founder Dennis Murphy. Winners *1973 – J. C. Tremblay, Quebec Nordiques * 1974 – Pat Stapleton ...

Winner (1978) *"Honoured Member" of the

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum for ice hockey in Manitoba, located on the main level of the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1985, when the first honoured members were named an ...

*Inaugural member of the

World Hockey Association Hall of Fame The World Hockey Association Hall of Fame is an independent organization dedicated to honoring the World Hockey Association (WHA) which operated from 1972 to 1979 as a major professional ice hockey league. Officially partnered with the United Stat ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sjoberg, Lars-Erik 1944 births 1987 deaths Djurgårdens IF Hockey players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Frölunda HC players Ice hockey players at the 1968 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1972 Winter Olympics Leksands IF players New York Rangers scouts Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden People from Falun Swedish expatriates in Canada Swedish ice hockey defencemen Winnipeg Jets (1972–1996) captains Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players Winnipeg Jets (WHA) players Sportspeople from Dalarna County