Nils Lundkvist (born 27 July 2000) is a Swedish 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 ...

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 ...

for the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...

of 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). Lundkvist was selected in the first round, 28th overall, of the

2018 NHL Entry Draft The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was the 56th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 22–23, 2018, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was the second of two professional sports drafts to be held in the Dalla ...

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 ...

. After two impressive seasons in the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, an ...

(SHL) with

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening is an ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are the northernmost team in the league and h ...

, Lundkvist made his NHL debut in 2021 with the Rangers, prior to the following season was traded to the Dallas Stars.

Playing career

Lundkvist played as a youth within the

organization of the

. He made his professional debut as a 17-year-old in the 2017–18 season. Lundkvist recorded a break out year in the 2019–20 season with Luleå HF, recording 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points through 45 games in finishing with the most assists and points as junior in the league. In his fourth season in the SHL in

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, Lundkvist having evolved into a top pairing blueliner, recorded 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points in 52 games for the team. He led all defencemen in goals and power-play goals and his 14 goals were the most goals recorded by a defenceman under 21 in SHL history. Following a postseason exit after seven playoff games, he was awarded the

Salming Trophy The Salming Trophy is awarded to the best Swedish-born defenceman. It is named after Börje Salming, who was named to the IIHF Centennial All-Star Team in 2008. Winners {, class="wikitable sortable" , - !Season !Player !Team !Win # , - , 2007� ...

as the league's best defenceman. On 3 June 2021, Lundkvist was signed by draft club, the

, to a three-year, entry-level contract. On 11 October, the Rangers awarded Lundkvist with the Lars-Erik Sjöberg Award, which is given to best rookie in training camp. Remaining on the Rangers roster to open the season, Lundkvist later scored his first NHL goal on 8 December 2021, at Madison Square Garden against the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

. On 19 September 2022, Lundkvist was traded to the

in exchange for a conditional

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

first-round pick and a conditional

2025 Predicted and scheduled events *January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1929 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** The American FAA will have been imp ...

fourth-round pick.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* 2000 births Living people Dallas Stars players Hartford Wolf Pack players Luleå HF players National Hockey League first-round draft picks New York Rangers draft picks New York Rangers players People from Piteå Swedish ice hockey defencemen Sportspeople from Norrbotten County {{Sweden-icehockey-defenceman-stub