Marcus Rolf Börje Nilson (born March 1, 1978) 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 ...

player, 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

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 ...

and

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

Playing career

Nilson was drafted in the first round, 20th overall, by the

in the

1996 NHL Entry Draft The 1996 NHL Entry Draft was the 34th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 22, 1996. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Zdeno Chára, who retired after the 2021–22 season. ...

. His hockey style is quite adverse from the typical style of Swedish hockey players. His grit and intensity, especially among the boards, earned him the role of a dependable checker with the ability to add the odd goal/assist. A talent of

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...

in Sweden, Nilson moved to North America in 1998 and played most of his first two years in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

. After three full seasons with the Panthers, he was traded to the

on March 8, 2004, for a second round draft pick (used to select David Booth). In his first opportunity to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Nilson reached the finals and recorded 11 points in 26 playoffs games. He would play for three more years with Calgary. In the summer of 2008, the Flames placed Nilson on waivers and after clearing without being claimed by another club, he was loaned to

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) ...

of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) for the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. Nilson returned to Djurgården for the 2009–10 season, signing a one-year contract. He led his team to the playoffs after scoring 24 goals and 51 points. Nilson kept producing points during the playoffs and Djurgården reached the finals against HV71, which they lost four games to two. Nilson played with the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

on a try-out contract in September 2010, but was ultimately not offered a contract to play the season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nilson, Marcus 1978 births Beast of New Haven players Calgary Flames players Djurgårdens IF Hockey players Expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Florida Panthers draft picks Florida Panthers players HV71 players Louisville Panthers players Living people Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players National Hockey League first-round draft picks People from Håbo Municipality Swedish expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Russia Swedish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Swedish ice hockey left wingers Sportspeople from Uppsala County