Robert Nilsson
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Robert Åke Nilsson (born 10 January 1985 in Calgary, Alberta ) is a Swedish- Canadian professional ice hockey player who is since 2013 in the ZSC Lions in the National League A under contract. His father, Kent was also a professional hockey player.
Career
Robert Nilsson, who was born in Canada, as his father Kent Nilsson was playing in the NHL, began his career as a hockey player with Leksand IF for which he played from 2002 to 2004 in the Swedish Elitserien and previously worked at youth level. During this time he was selected in the NHL Entry Draft in 2003 in the first round than a total of 15 players from the New York Islanders. The 2003/04 season he finished in Fribourg- Gottéron in the Swiss National League A, for which he played together eleven games in the regular season and in the playoffs.
The time of the lockout in the 2004/ 05 NHL season bridged the attacker with Hammarby IF in the Swedish second league and Djurgårdens IF of the Elitserien. Then the Swede was taken Islanders before the season 2005 /06 in the NHL squad of New York. Although he in his first NHL game time in 52 games 20 scorer points scored, including six goals, he came for the second year in North America exclusively for the farm team of the Islanders, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League, are used.
On 27 February 2007 Nilsson was released along with Ryan O'Marra and the first- choice right of Islanders in the NHL Entry Draft in 2007 in exchange for Ryan Smyth to the Edmonton Oilers. By the end of the season Nilsson was used mainly in the damaligem AHL farm team, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at. For the second year in Edmonton but he was already on the permanent staff.
End of the 2009/10 season he was bought out by the Edmonton Oilers of the contract remaining and moved to Salavat Yulaev Ufa, with whom he won the title of the Kontinental Hockey League in the 2010/11 season. In the 2011/12 season he prepared for Ufa five goals in 15 games before, before he was assigned in October 2011 to Ufa farm team Toros Neftekamsk from the second-rate Wysschaja Hockey League. For Neftekamsk however, he only played two games before he was hired by the KHL participants Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod at the end of the month.
In November 2012 Nilsson's contract was terminated with torpedo, after he had collected 44 points scorer for the club in 65 KHL games. On 8 January 2013, the ZSC Lions announced that Nilsson was committed to the 2013/14 season out. He received a contract until 2016 with a release clause for a one-way NHL contract after every season.
Internationally
For Sweden Nilsson took part in the junior level at the U18 World Junior Championships in 2001 and 2002 and the U20 World Junior Championships in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In the senior level, he stood in his country's squad at the World Championships in 2008 and 2011. His biggest international success with Sweden was winning the silver medal at the 2011 World Cup.
Awards and achievements
- 2011 Gagarin Cup win with Salavat Yulaev Ufa
- 2011 Silver medal at the World Championships
- 2012 KHL striker of February
Statistics
(End of season 2010/11)