Linus Hultström (born December 9, 1992) is a Swedish professional

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 is currently signed under contract with

Linköping HC Linköping Hockey Club, often known by its Acronym, initials LHC, or Colloquialism, colloquially among its fans as Cluben, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Linköping, founded in 1976. The home arena of the team is Saab Arena (for ...

of the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (SHL; ) is a professional ice hockey league in Sweden and the highest level of the ice hockey in Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Li ...

(SHL).

Playing career

A product of

Vimmerby HC Vimmerby HC (often referred to as Vimmerby Hockey) is a Swedish ice hockey club based in Vimmerby Vimmerby () is a city and the seat of Vimmerby Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 10,934 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Stångån is a sm ...

, Hultström joined the youth ranks of

Linköpings HC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club *Linköpings FF, premier men's football team *Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See also< ...

in 2008. He made his debut in Sweden's top-flight

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

with the club's men's team during the

2009–10 Elitserien season The 2009–10 Elitserien season was the 35th season of Elitserien. It started on September 21, 2009, and ended on March 13, 2010. The playoffs started on March 18, 2010, and ended on April 24, 2010. HV71 won the playoffs, beating Timrå IK 4–1 ...

. In October 2014, he signed with another

team,

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 ...

, before moving on to

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

, where he inked a three-year deal in April 2015. Hultström made 60 appearances for the Stockholm-based team during the 2015–16 season, tallying 15 goals and 28 assists. He also saw action in eight contests of the

Champions Hockey League The Champions Hockey League is a European first-level ice hockey tournament. Launched in the 2014–15 season by 26 clubs, 6 leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features top teams across Europe. Backgrou ...

(two goals, four assists). On May 3, 2016, he put pen to paper on a two-year, entry-level contract with the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

of the

National Hockey League 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 ...

(NHL). He was returned on loan to Djurgårdens IF for the first season of his contract with the Panthers, in 2016–17. He remained in the SHL for the entire duration of his contract with the Panthers, eventually signing a two-year contract extension with Djurgårdens IF on January 10, 2017. As a free agent following the shortened 2019–20 season due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, Hultström left Sweden for the first time in his professional career by agreeing to a two-year contract with Russian club,

HC Vityaz Hockey Club Vityaz Moscow Region () is a professional ice hockey club based in Balashikha, Russia. It is a member of the Bobrov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In the first few seasons of the KHL, the team was widely known for pl ...

of the KHL, on May 2, 2020. In the

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 ...

season, Hultström quickly adapted to the new league, continuing to produce on the blueline in posting seven goals and 23 points through 53 regular season games. On May 1, 2021, Hultström left Vityaz after just one year, remaining in the KHL by agreeing to a one-year contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. During his lone season with Metallurg in 2021–22, Hultström recorded a career-high of 24 assists, in posting 28 points through 48 regular season games. In the post-season, he added a further 7 points from the blueline before losing in the

Gagarin Cup The Gagarin Cup () is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was supposedly named after Gagarin because the last po ...

finals to

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. As a free agent, Hultström left the KHL and returned to his original club, Linköping HC of the SHL, signing a four-year contract on May 4, 2022.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1992 births Living people Djurgårdens IF (men's hockey) players Leksands IF players Linköping HC players Metallurg Magnitogorsk players IK Oskarshamn players Swedish ice hockey defencemen 21st-century Swedish sportsmen Vimmerby HC players HC Vityaz players Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players for Sweden People from Vimmerby Municipality Ice hockey people from Kalmar County {{Sweden-icehockey-player-stub