Lars-Erik "Taxen" Sjöberg (4 May 1944 – 20 October 1987) was a Swedish

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

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 l ...

. He played in Sweden from 1962 to 1974 (

Leksands IF Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish professional ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, Swedish Hockey League (SHL), after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus ...

1962–1965 and 1967–1969, Djurgårdens IF Hockey 1965–1967, and

Västra Frölunda IF Västra Frölunda Idrottsförening () is a Swedish football club based in Gothenburg. Founded on 2 January 1930, the club has spent a total of ten seasons in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. As of the 2025 season, Västra Frölund ...

1969–1974), and in North America for the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The Jets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The te ...

in the WHA and

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

from 1974 to 1980. Sjöberg won the Golden Puck as the Swedish player of the Year in 1968–69 and was named best defenceman at the

1974 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1974 Ice Hockey World Championships were the 41st Ice Hockey World Championships and the 52nd European Championships in ice hockey. The tournament took place in Finland from 5 to 20 April and the games were played in the capital, Helsinki. Si ...

. He was the first non-North American born and raised captain in the NHL, wearing the "C" for the Winnipeg Jets during their first season in the NHL. He was nicknamed "The Professor" and "The Little General" while playing for the Jets. Sjöberg captained the Swedish national team at the

1976 Canada Cup The 1976 Canada Cup was an international ice hockey tournament held September 2 to 15, 1976, in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Quebec City in Canada as well as in Philadelphia, in the United States. It was the first of five Canada Cup ...

. Sjöberg was working as a scout for the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

when he died of cancer in 1987. To honour him the Rangers each year gives out the Lars-Erik Sjöberg Award to the best rookie in the training camp.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and achievements

*Swedish Player of the Year (1969) *

World Championship 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 ...

All-Star Team (1974) *Named Best Defenseman at

(1974) *Played in the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup () 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 world championship that a ...

(1976) *

Avco Cup The Avco World Trophy, also known as the Avco Cup, is the playoff championship trophy of the defunct World Hockey Association, which operated from 1972 until 1979. The trophy's naming rights were sold to the former Avco Corporation (a name origin ...

( WHA) Championships (1976, 1978, 1979) * WHA First All-Star Team (1978) * Dennis A. Murphy Trophy Winner (1978) *"Honoured Member" of the

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum for ice hockey in Manitoba, located on the main level of the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1985, when the first honoured members were named ...

*Inaugural member of the

World Hockey Association Hall of Fame The World Hockey Association Hall of Fame is an independent organization dedicated to honoring the World Hockey Association (WHA), which operated from 1972 to 1979 as a major professional ice hockey league. Honourees were inducted in 2010 and 201 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sjoberg, Lars-Erik 1944 births 1987 deaths Djurgårdens IF (men's hockey) players Swedish expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Frölunda HC players Ice hockey players at the 1968 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1972 Winter Olympics Leksands IF players New York Rangers scouts Olympic ice hockey players for Sweden Ice hockey people from Falun Swedish expatriates in Canada Swedish ice hockey defencemen Winnipeg Jets (1972–1996) captains Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players Winnipeg Jets (WHA) players