Lars Niklas Sundström (born June 6, 1975) 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 h ...

player who started his professional career in

Modo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The club was founded in 1987 and has won one SHL championships; in 2007. ...

. He was drafted eighth overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft by 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 ...

. He was also on Wayne Gretzky's line. He was not known for his goal scoring ability, but for his defensive play. He was traded to the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

in 1999, and to 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 2003. Sundström plays forward and specializes in defensive roles. When he was a junior player he formed a line in Modo with future NHL stars

Peter Forsberg Peter Mattias Forsberg (; born 20 July 1973) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player and former assistant general manager of Modo Hockey. Nicknamed "Peter the Great" and "Foppa", Forsberg was known for his on-ice vision and physical pl ...

and

Markus Näslund Markus Sten Näslund (born 30 July 1973) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player and former general manager for Modo Hockey of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL, formerly named Elitserien). He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) f ...

. He wore the number 24 for the San Jose Sharks and the New York Rangers but wore the number 37 for the Montreal Canadiens. After 11 NHL seasons, he returned to play in Sweden at the start of the 2006–07 season, leading Modo to a surprise title during his first season, scoring several vital goals in the playoffs. He formed an effective partnership with Norwegian

Per-Åge Skrøder Per-Åge Skrøder (born August 4, 1978) is a Norwegian former ice hockey player, who last played for Modo in the HockeyAllsvenskan (Allsv). Playing career Previously, he played for the Norwegian teams Lillehammer and Sparta Warriors, and the ...

, leading to Skrøder winning the top scorer rankings in 2009. Modo still missed the playoffs that year, despite Sundström having the best plus-minus rating in the entire series. On December 3, 2013, Sundström officially announced his retirement.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

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NHLPA player bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundstrom, Niklas 1975 births HC Milano players Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Living people Modo Hockey players Montreal Canadiens players National Hockey League first-round draft picks New York Rangers draft picks New York Rangers players Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden People from Örnsköldsvik Municipality San Jose Sharks players San Jose Sharks scouts Sportspeople from Västernorrland County Swedish ice hockey right wingers