Niclas Bergfors (born 7 March 1987) 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 ...

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 h ...

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

currently playing for

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 name ...

of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He was drafted by 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)'s New Jersey Devils in the first round, 23rd overall, at the

2005 NHL Entry Draft The 2005 NHL Entry Draft was the 43rd NHL Entry Draft. Originally scheduled to be held on June 25, the 2004–05 NHL lockout led to the draft being postponed to July 30. Special procedures were required to determine the order of picks, because ...

, playing for the organization for four-and-a-half seasons before joining the Atlanta Thrashers 2010, Florida Panthers in 2011 and

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

via free agency in 2011. He later joined the KHL's

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 ...

in late 2011 before signing with

Severstal Cherepovets Hockey Club Severstal is a professional ice hockey team based in Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League. History Founded in 1956, the club was originally known as Stroitel ...

. In 2013, he joined

Admiral Vladivostok Hockey Club Admiral, Also Known as The Admiral Vladivostok, (russian: Хоккейный клуб Адмирал)are a professional ice hockey team based in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia. They are members of the Chernyshev Division of t ...

, where he played for three seasons before joining

Amur Khabarovsk Hockey Club Amur (russian: Хоккейный клуб Амур), commonly referred to as the Amur Khabarovsk, is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Khabarovsk. They are members of the Chernyshev Division of the Kontinental Hockey Le ...

in a mid-season trade.

Playing career

In 2004–05, prior to being drafted to the NHL, Bergfors played for hometown club

Södertälje SK Södertälje Sportklubb, also known as Södertälje SK and often referred to as SSK, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club playing in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest level of pro hockey in Sweden. Södertälje were charter members of Eli ...

of the Elitserien. Bergfors spent the 2005–06 season with the New Jersey Devils'

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 developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL) affiliate, the Albany River Rats, scoring 17 goals and 40 points in 65 games. During the season, he represented Sweden at the

2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''2006 WJHC'') were held in Vancouver, Kelowna and Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. The championships began on December 26, 2005, and finished on January 5, 2006. Games were played at GM Place ...

, scoring three goals and six points in six games. In 2006–07, Bergfors played for New Jersey's new AHL affiliate, the

Lowell Devils The Lowell Devils were a minor ice hockey team in the American Hockey League playing in Lowell, Massachusetts, at the Tsongas Center. As their name implied, they were the top minor league affiliate of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey L ...

, where he scored 13 goals and 32 points in 60 games. He once again played with Sweden in the 2007 World Junior Championships, where he posted two assists in seven games. Bergfors returned to Lowell for the 2007–08 season, where he saw his production decrease to 12 goals and 27 points in 66 games. He did make his NHL debut, however, going pointless in one game with New Jersey. He spent the majority of the 2008–09 season with Lowell, scoring 22 goals and 51 points in 66 games, also playing in eight games with New Jersey, scoring one goal. In 2009–10, Bergfors made the Devils' opening day roster, and in 54 games with New Jersey, he scored 13 goals and 27 points. On 4 February 2010, however, the Devils traded Bergfors, along with

Johnny Oduya David Johnny Oduya (born 1 October 1981), is a Swedish former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is of Kenyan Luo descent on his father's side. Oduya is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the ...

, Patrice Cormier and their first-round pick in 2010, to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for

Ilya Kovalchuk Ilya Valeryevich Kovalchuk (russian: Илья Валерьевич Ковальчук; born 15 April 1983) is a Russian former professional ice hockey winger. He played for the Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, Montrea ...

Anssi Salmela Anssi Salmela (born 13 August 1984) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently playing with EHC Biel of the National League (NL). Playing career Undrafted, Salmela's professional career started in the 2003–04 season wit ...

and Atlanta's second-round pick in 2010. Bergfors finished 2009–10 with Atlanta, where he scored eight goals and 17 points in 27 games. After the season, 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 ...

after scoring 21 goals and 44 points in 81 games with both the Devils and Thrashers. In

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, Bergfors saw his numbers slide, scoring 11 goals and 29 points in 52 games with Atlanta. On 28 February 2011, the Thrashers traded Bergfors and

Patrick Rissmiller Patrick Rissmiller (born October 26, 1978) is an American former professional ice hockey winger who played in the National Hockey League for the San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers, Atlanta Thrashers, and the Florida Panthers. He joined the Anah ...

to the Florida Panthers for

Radek Dvořák Radek Dvořák (born March 9, 1977) is a Czech former professional ice hockey right winger. Dvořák was drafted in the first round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, tenth overall, by the Florida Panthers. A veteran of 1,260 NHL games, Radek has pla ...

and Florida's fifth-round draft pick in 2011. On 4 July 2011, Bergfors signed a one-year, $575,000 contract with the

as a free agent. He was put on unconditional waivers by the Predators on 24 November 2011, making him a free agent. Bergfors then signed with the

on 2 December 2011, playing just eight games before joining

on a two-year contract. In June 2013, he was drafted at the KHL Expansion Draft by

. After 12 years playing professionally abroad, Bergfors returned to his native Sweden agreeing to a two-year contract with

Linköpings HC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club * Linköpings FF, premier men's football team * Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See als ...

of the SHL on May 4, 2016. On February 15, 2017, Niklas left mid-season to sign a contract with fellow SHL club, Djurgårdens IF Hockey until the end of the 2018 season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergfors, Niclas 1987 births Living people People from Södertälje Admiral Vladivostok players Ak Bars Kazan players Albany River Rats players Amur Khabarovsk players Atlanta Thrashers players Djurgårdens IF Hockey players Florida Panthers players Linköping HC players Lowell Devils players Nashville Predators players National Hockey League first-round draft picks New Jersey Devils draft picks New Jersey Devils players Severstal Cherepovets players Södertälje SK players Swedish ice hockey right wingers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Sportspeople from Stockholm County