Kent Nilsson
Kent " Kenta " Nilsson ( born August 31, 1956 in Nynäshamn ) is a retired Swedish professional ice hockey player (Center), for the 1977 to 1995 for the Atlanta Flames and Calgary Flames, Minnesota North Stars, and Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League as well as the Winnipeg Jets played in the World Hockey Association.
Career
He began his career at Djurgårdens IF Stockholm and played with 17 years in the Elitserien. At the Junior World Championships, he drew attention to himself. In the NHL Amateur Draft 1976 it chose the Atlanta Flames in the fourth round as 64th out. Even more interest showed the Toronto Toros, already in the first round chose him in the WHA Amateur Draft in 1976 as the eleventh player. In the Elitserien, he moved to AIK Stockholm and a year later he ventured to North America.
Here, the Winnipeg Jets in the meantime had secured the rights to him. With the Jets, he met a number of other Sweden. In addition to NHL legend Bobby Hull, Ulf Nilsson and Anders stood with Hedberg two Swedish scorer in the squad. But Willy Lindström was one of the best players in the league. In his two years in Winnipeg he could each win a master of the WHA Avco World Trophy. In the second year he was the best scorer of the team.
After dissolution of the WHA, the Atlanta Flames took advantage of their right and took him into their NHL team. There, too, he convinced and was top scorer of the Flames, with whom he moved after a year to Calgary. In the 1980/81 season, the first in Calgary, he brought it to 82 templates and 131 points. He was behind Wayne Gretzky and Marcel Dionne 's third best scorer in the NHL, making even more still unbeaten records at the flames on. After an injury in the coming season, he was the 1982/83 season with 104 points at the top of the team.
In June 1985, the Flames gave from their leading scorer on the Minnesota North Stars. In return, the Flames were the stars of their second-round draft rights for the Drafts in 1985 ( Joe Nieuwendyk ) and 1987 ( Stéphane Matteau ). But in Minnesota, he could not build on the achievements of earlier and managed to only slightly more than one point per game. So they sold him after one and a half seasons at the Edmonton Oilers. The team led by Wayne Gretzky, he contributed in the playoffs with 21 points to Stanley Cup victory. After Willy Lindström he was the second European to the Avco World Trophy after also could win the Stanley Cup.
He then returned to Europe and played in numerous countries. The first stop on his return was the HC Bolzano, with whom he won the Italian championship. There was a short trip for two games for SC Langnau in Switzerland, before returning to Sweden to Djurgårdens IF. Here he was now also Swedish champion. After a year in the home it went for three years to EHC Kloten in the Swiss National League A. In the season 1992/93 he played again for Djurgårdens IF. This was followed by a season in the EC Graz Austria and Norway at Vålerenga Ishockey before it again for six games to the Edmonton Oilers joined the NHL and even scored a goal. After a season in his native city at Nynäshamn IF and a game at the EC Stuttgart in the 1996/97 season he also played for a year in Spain when Majadahonda HC, with whom he Spanish Champion was the end of his career.
For the Edmonton Oilers, he worked as a scout.
He is married to the golfer Helen Alfredsson. His son from a previous marriage, born 1985 Robert Nilsson plays in the NHL since 2005, currently with the Edmonton Oilers.
In 2006 he was honored with induction into the IIHF Hall of Fame.
Statistics
Sporting successes
- Avco World Trophy: 1978 and 1979
- Stanley Cup: 1987
- Italian Champion: 1988
- Swedish Champion: 1989
- 1990 Silver medal at the World Championships
Personal Awards
- Swedish World All-Star Team: 1985, 1989 and 1990
- Lou Kaplan Trophy: 1978
- Paul Deneau Trophy: 1979
- Guldpucken: 1989
- Participate in the NHL All-Star Game: 1980 and 1981