Mats Torsten Näslund (born 31 October 1959), nicknamed "Le Petit Viking", is a Swedish former

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 ...

player. He played as a left winger. Despite his small size at only five feet and seven inches, Näslund is best known for being one of the top forwards with the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

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 the 1980s. In addition to the Canadiens, Näslund played for

Timrå IK Timrå IK is a professional Swedish ice hockey team based in Timrå, north of Sundsvall. It competes in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), which is the top-tier league in Sweden, since being promoted by winning 2021 SHL qualifiers. Previous seaso ...

, Brynäs IF, and

Malmö IF Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popula ...

of the

Swedish Elite 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, a ...

, and

HC Lugano Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League (NL) and has won seven Swiss championships. History The founding of HC Lugano took ...

of the

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league ...

. He made a short NHL comeback attempt in 1995 with the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making ...

following a lockout, and retired after the season's conclusion. In 1986, he won the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

with the Canadiens, and he won the Lady Byng Trophy in 1988. He is a three-time Le Mat Trophy champion, once with Brynäs in 1980, and leading Malmö to its only championship wins in 1992 and 1994. Internationally, he won gold medals at the 1991 World Championship in Finland and the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fr ...

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munic ...

, making him a member of the prestigious

Triple Gold Club The Triple Gold Club is the group of ice hockey players and coaches who have won an Olympic Games gold medal, a World Championship gold medal, and the Stanley Cup, the championship trophy of the National Hockey League (NHL). The International Ice ...

NHL career

Näslund was selected in the second round as the 37th overall pick in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, by the

. After playing for three more years in Sweden, he joined the Canadiens for the

1982–83 NHL season The 1982–83 NHL season was the 66th season of the National Hockey League. The New York Islanders won their fourth Stanley Cup in a row with their second consecutive finals sweep by beating the Edmonton Oilers four games to none. No team in ...

. He was the first European-born player to play for the Canadiens. In his rookie season of 1982–83, Näslund scored 71 points in 74 games, becoming the Canadiens' third leading scorer behind

Guy Lafleur Guy Damien Lafleur (September 20, 1951 – April 22, 2022), nicknamed "the Flower" and "Le Démon Blond", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was the first player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 50 goals in six c ...

and

Ryan Walter Ryan William Walter (born April 23, 1958) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League. He was also an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks, head coach of the Canadian National W ...

, who had 76 and 75 points respectively. That year, he was recognized as the left winger on the NHL All-Rookie Team. His offensive abilities quickly endeared him to Montreal fans, and he was given the nickname of "Le Petit Viking" (The Little Viking), a reference to his Nordic heritage and his short stature. Teammate Mario Tremblay jokingly said when Näslund arrived that the Habs only received half of a player and the other half would arrive later. Näslund had his best NHL season in . He scored 43 goals and 67 assists (110 points, eighth in the NHL that season), the first Montreal player to top 100 points since Lafleur had 125 in , and the last Canadien to reach 100 points or finish among the league's top ten scorers as of . His 67 assists were an NHL record for a left winger until Kevin Stevens of the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

scored 69 in . In the 1986 Stanley Cup playoffs, the speedy Näslund was Montreal's top point-getter (with 19), as the Canadiens won their twenty-third

, their first since 1979. He also led the Montreal Canadiens in scoring in , albeit with 30 points fewer than he had the preceding season. During his NHL career, Näslund was an infrequent visitor to the penalty box. Never logging more than 19 penalty minutes in any season during his career, his gentlemanly play was recognized when he was voted the winner of the

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, formerly known as the Lady Byng Trophy, is presented each year to the National Hockey League "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of ...

, beating

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

in the voting. (He is the latter of only two Habs to win the Lady Byng, following Toe Blake in .) During the

1988 NHL All-Star Game The 39th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held in the St. Louis Arena in St. Louis, home to the St. Louis Blues, on February 9, 1988. Lemieux makes his mark Pittsburgh Penguins' centremen Mario Lemieux recorded six points (3–3–6) and ...

, his five assists established a record, and he was instrumental in helping

Mario Lemieux Mario Lemieux (; ; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played parts of 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins between 1984 and 2006, and he assumed ownership of the ...

set the All-Star Game record with six points. After a sub-par season, worn down by the relatively long NHL seasons, Näslund left the Canadiens to return to Europe. He played one year in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, followed by three seasons in his native Sweden. He returned to the NHL to play for the

in the lockout shortened season, and retired from hockey thereafter. Näslund ranks twelfth on the Canadiens all-time scoring list, with 612 points in 617 regular season games. Despite both playing hockey, he is not related to Markus Näslund.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

International career

Näslund is one of Swedish hockey's all-time great players, and as such represented his country at numerous international tournaments. As a junior, he represented Sweden at the 1978 and 1979 World Junior Hockey Championship, winning a silver medal in 1978 and a bronze medal the following year. Näslund would go on to participate in five

World Hockey Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annu ...

, winning a bronze in 1979, a silver in 1981 and a gold in 1991, his last appearance at the event. Because the World Championships occur at the same time as the Stanley Cup playoffs, Näslund was often not available for the event during his best years in Montreal. His sole appearance as an active NHL player came in 1983. Näslund did get the chance to play for Sweden against the NHL's best players at the 1984, 1987 and 1991

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 worl ...

, the forerunner to the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. The Swedes lost to Canada in the finals of the 1984 event. They reached the semifinal game in both 1987 and 1991, losing to the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

and Canada respectively. Näslund also participated in two

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

. Sweden won the bronze medal in 1980 and the gold medal in 1994, that year defeating Canada in a memorable shootout. The gold medal in 1994 gave Näslund the distinction of having won the Stanley Cup, World Championship and Olympic Championship in his career, and (along with Håkan Loob and

Tomas Jonsson Alf Tomas Jonsson (born 12 April 1960) is a former ice hockey player from Sweden. He is assistant coach for the Danish national ice hockey team. Jonsson was drafted by the New York Islanders in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft in t ...

) becoming the first member(s) of the

. As

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

for the Swedish national men's ice hockey team, Näslund helped construct the gold medal-winning team at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

Awards, honors and championships

World Junior Ice Hockey Championship The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), or simply the "World Juniors" in ice hockey circles, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is t ...

All-Star Team,

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

Collins gem Hockey Facts and Stats 2009–10, p.510, Andrew Podnieks, Harper Collins Publishers Ltd, Toronto, Canada, * Golden Puck (Swedish Player of the Year), 1980 * Swedish league champion, 1980, 1992, 1994 * NHL All-Rookie Team,

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

* Played in

NHL All-Star Game The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many o ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

(injured, did not play) *

Viking Award The Viking Award is awarded annually to the best Swedish ice hockey player in North America. The winner is decided by a vote among all Swedish-born players participating in the NHL or the NHL farm-team leagues. Only Mats Sundin has received the awa ...

(for the best Swede in the NHL), 1985, 1986 *

NHL Second All-Star Team The National Hockey League All-Star teams were first named at the end of the 1930–31 NHL season, to honor the best performers over the season at each position. Representatives of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association vote for the all- ...

champion,

* Lady Byng Trophy,

World Champion 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, ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece be ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Naslund, Mats 1959 births Boston Bruins players Brynäs IF players HC Lugano players Ice hockey players at the 1980 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1994 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winners Living people Malmö Redhawks players Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Montreal Canadiens draft picks Montreal Canadiens players Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey People from Timrå Municipality Stanley Cup champions Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Swedish ice hockey left wingers Timrå IK players Triple Gold Club Sportspeople from Västernorrland County