Niklas Sundström
Lars Niklas Sundström ( born June 6, 1975 in Örnsköldsvik ) is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who played for his hometown club, MODO Hockey in the Swedish Elitserien on the position of the right winger. In the National Hockey League, he was active for the New York Rangers, San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens.
Career
Sundström first played until 1995 at MODO Hockey in his Swedish home town of Örnsköldsvik, which was first put him at the age of 16 years in the Elitserien, the highest Swedish league. In the youth team MoDo he had formed a forward line with Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund. After the Swede had been selected in the NHL Entry Draft in 1993 in the first round at the eighth position overall by the New York Rangers, he left his hometown club at the end of the 1994/95 season and took the change on the North American continent.
Right at the beginning of the 1995/96 season he made the jump to the National Hockey League and played all 82 season games for the New York Rangers, who had gone as defending Stanley Cup in this season. In the second year he played his best NHL season with 52 points in 82 games, but nevertheless excelled through his fair, strong defensive game that was reflected with only 20 penalty minutes and a plus / minus stats by 23 in the statistics. Sundström ended up staying until the end of 1998/ 99 in the " Big Apple", before he was released as part of the NHL Entry Draft 1999, together with Dan Cloutier and two draft electoral rights to the Tampa Bay Lightning, which, in turn, a high right to vote in Draft the following year received the later Pavel Brendl was selected. A few weeks later transferred him the Lightning. For Shawn Burr, Steve Guolla, Bill Houlder and Andrei Sjusin the San Jose Sharks committed the winger. In San Jose Sundström played three strong years, since he was still an indispensable factor for its offensive as defensive capabilities. In all three seasons, also managed to qualify for the playoffs, which was in the last two years no longer managed with the New York Rangers. After the Sharks in the season 2002/ 03 could not reach the playful level of previous years and also Sundström performance was significantly dropped compared to the previous seasons, the management decided shortly before the end of the transfer window for a rebuild, which also includes the Swede fell victim. In January 2003, he was discharged in a transfer deal between the San Jose Sharks, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens to Montreal. However, in Montreal, where Sundström until the end of the 2005/06 season, with the exception of the lockout season 2004 /05 he spent in Italy for HC Milano Vipers, played, he could no longer even on the achievements of his time in Connecting New York and at the beginning of his engagement with San Jose. After exactly 750 games and 349 points in ten NHL years, he returned in the summer of 2006 to Sweden for his hometown club back.
In MODO Hockey he showed at the end of the game in 2006 /07 in his offensive statistics again significantly improved. By 2013 he was in game four years assistant captain of his team, before he left MODO after the 2012/13 season.
Internationally
Sundström participated with the Swedish national team in many international tournaments. He was, at the Junior World Championships in 1993, 1994 and 1995 member of the team and also played at two European Junior Championships. On Senior level he participated in the World Cup of Hockey in 1996, part of the Olympic Winter Games in 1998 and 2002, as well as the World Championships in 1998 and 1999. Overall, he was able to win five medals, including one gold.