Niklas Hjalmarsson (born 6 June 1987) is a Swedish retired 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 ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

who last played for

HV71 HV71 (), often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League ...

of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He previously also played for the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

and

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Coyotes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and currently play at the Mul ...

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). Drafted in the fourth round (108th overall) by the Blackhawks in 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 ...

, Hjalmarsson won three Stanley Cups ( 2010,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, and 2015) as well as a silver

Olympic medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid o ...

with Sweden at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Playing career

Chicago Blackhawks

Hjalmarsson was drafted 108th overall in the

by the

. He played professionally for three years in the Elitserien with

. In the 2007–08 season, his first in North America, Hjalmarsson made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks. After spending the majority of the season with the

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

, Chicago's

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, he procured a regular spot on the roster after defenceman

James Wisniewski James Joseph Wisniewski (born February 21, 1984) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for the Kassel Huskies of the German DEL2. He has previously played in the Na ...

's trade to the Anaheim Ducks. Hjalmarsson scored his first career NHL goal against

Ty Conklin Ty Curtis Conklin (born March 30, 1976) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. Throughout his National Hockey League (NHL) career, he played for the Edmonton Oilers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, S ...

of the Detroit Red Wings. Hjalmarsson became a key part of the Blackhawks' lineup late into the 2008–09 season and to begin the 2009–10 season. In 2009–10, he played 77 games in the regular season and all 22 in the

Stanley Cup playoffs The Stanley Cup playoffs (french: Les séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Stanley) is an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League (NHL) consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series to determine the league champion and the winner ...

for the team, averaging over 19 minutes played per game, switching between the second and third defensive pairings. Over that time, he recorded a production value (PROD) of a point roughly every 45 minutes of it, while his season PROD was 89 minutes. During the

2010 Stanley Cup playoffs The 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs of the National Hockey League (NHL) began on April 14, 2010, after the 2009–10 NHL regular season. The Finals ended on June 9, 2010, with the Chicago Blackhawks defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in six games to ...

, a slapshot Hjalmarsson took was redirected by teammate

Andrew Ladd Andrew Joseph Ladd (born December 12, 1985) is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger for the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Thrashers, Winn ...

to give Chicago a 3–2 lead in Game 6 of the

2010 Stanley Cup Finals The 2010 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2009–10 season, and the culmination of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Western Conference champion Chicago Blackhawks ...

; the team won the game in overtime, 4–3, and eventually the Stanley Cup. Niklas Hjalmarsson Stanley Cup

On 9 July 2010, shortly after the end of the season, Hjalmarsson signed a four-year, $14 million

offer sheet In North American professional sports, an offer sheet is a contract offered to a restricted free agent by a team other than the one for which he played during the prior season. Different leagues have different ways to handle offer sheets. NHL In t ...

with 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 ...

. Three days later, however, on 12 July, the Blackhawks announced that they would match the offer sheet. Hjalmarsson became the first NHL defenceman in 13 years to receive an offer sheet as a restricted free agent, and, critically, Chicago's matching of the offer meant that they no longer had enough cap space to re-sign goaltender Antti Niemi, who coincidentally ended up joining the Sharks later that off-season. During

2012–13 NHL lockout The 2012–13 NHL lockout was a labor dispute between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) that began at 11:59 pm EDT on September 15, 2012. A tentative deal on a new collective barg ...

, Hjalmarsson played in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

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and in the

IIHF Continental Cup The Continental Cup is a second-level ice hockey tournament for European clubs (behind Champions Hockey League), begun in 1997 after the discontinuing of the European Cup. It was intended for teams from countries without representatives in the E ...

with HC Bolzano. During game 7 of the Western Conference's semifinal series against the Detroit Red Wings, with the score tied at 1–1 late in the third period, Hjalmarrson scored what appeared to be a go-ahead goal with 1:47 left in regulation time, but referee Stephen Walkom called offsetting penalties on Detroit's

Kyle Quincey Kyle Quincey (born August 12, 1985) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenseman. He most recently played for HIFK of the Finnish Liiga. Quincey played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings ...

and Chicago's Brandon Saad just before the puck went in, so the goal was disallowed. Brent Seabrook went on to score the game-winning goal in overtime, to win the series for the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks won the

2013 Stanley Cup Finals The 2013 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) season, and the conclusion of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Western Conference playoff champion Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Eastern Conf ...

. During the 2013 off-season, Hjalmarsson signed a five-year extension with the Blackhawks, at an annual average salary of $4.1 million. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup again in 2015, making Hjalmarsson one of only seven players to be part of the 2010, 2013, and 2015 Stanley Cup victories.

Arizona Coyotes and initial retirement

After the 2016–17 season, his 10th year with the Blackhawks, Hjalmarsson's tenure with the club came to an end as he was dealt to the

in exchange for

Connor Murphy Connor Murphy (born March 26, 1993) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman and alternate captain for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. He was selected 20th overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the Phoenix Coyotes ...

and Laurent Dauphin on 23 June 2017. Hjalmarsson was named an alternate captain for the Coyotes to begin the 2017–18 season. On 1 July 2018, Hjalmarsson signed a two-year, $10 million contract extension with the Coyotes. On 25 July 2021, Hjalmarsson retired from professional ice hockey after 14 seasons in the NHL.

Return to HV71

After one season away from professional play, Hjalmarsson came out of retirement to re-sign with HV71 on 10 November 2022. After the 2023 season Hjalmarsson retired once again.https://www.expressen.se/sport/hockey/niklas-hjalmarsson-avslutar-hockeykarriaren/

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hjalmarsson, Niklas 1987 births Living people Arizona Coyotes players Bolzano HC players Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Chicago Blackhawks players HV71 players Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics IK Oskarshamn players Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players for Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for Sweden People from Eksjö Municipality Rockford IceHogs (AHL) players Stanley Cup champions Sportspeople from Jönköping County Swedish expatriate ice hockey people Swedish ice hockey defencemen