| Ulf Nilsson | ||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Ulf Nilsson during the Internet Days in Stockholm, Sweden, in October 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1950-05-11)11 May 1950 (age 75) Nynäshamn, Sweden | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 175 lb (79 kg; 12 st 7 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Centre | |||||||||||||||||||
| Shot | Right | |||||||||||||||||||
| Played for | AIK IF Winnipeg Jets New York Rangers | |||||||||||||||||||
| National team |  Sweden | |||||||||||||||||||
| NHL draft | Undrafted | |||||||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1967–1983 | |||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Ulf Gösta Nilsson (born 11 May 1950) is a Swedish former professionalice hockey player who played in theWorld Hockey Association (WHA) for theWinnipeg Jets and in theNational Hockey League (NHL) for theNew York Rangers. As part of "The Hot Line" with teammatesBobby Hull andAnders Hedberg that played from 1974 to 1978, Nilsson won twoAvco World Trophies as WHA champions with the Winnipeg Jets.[1] He recorded 67 points in 14 playoff games for an average of 1.595 points per game, the best playoff point average for all WHA players.[2]
In the early 1970s Nilsson was part of a group of hockey players who was tested on byJerry Wilson, a Canadian former hockey player who was studying the physiology of hockey players, specifically their heart and lung conditioning.[3] Wilson had been asked by theWinnipeg Jets of theWorld Hockey Association (WHA) to watch out for any notable Swedish hockey players, and he recommended both Nilsson andAnders Hedberg, who was one of Wilson's interns.[4] Both would join the Jets in 1974.[5] At the time theBuffalo Sabres of theNational Hockey League owned Nilsson's NHL rights, but by going to the WHA there was no compensation required.[5]
Part of the first major wave of Europeans to star in North American hockey, Nilsson was a major star in theWorld Hockey Association from1974 to1978. He scored at least 114 points in each of his four seasons in the upstart league, finishing third or fourth among overall scorers every time. He led the WHA with 85 assists in1976–77, and tiedMarc Tardif for the lead the next season with 89. Along with countrymanAnders Hedberg and established superstarBobby Hull, he played a starring role as the Jets wonAvco Cup titles in1976 and 1978. In the 1976 playoffs, he scored 26 points in 13 games and was namedWHA Playoff MVP.[6]
By this time both Hedberg and Nilsson were looking to join the NHL, as they had nothing left to prove in the WHA. They were also looking for a massive increase in salary: both had earned around $125,000 in the1976–77 season.[7] With their high salary demands, the only NHL team capable of signing them was theNew York Rangers.[8] While the Jets stated they wanted to re-sign both players, the team did not have the financial backing to do so.[9]
In the summer of 1978, Nilsson and Hedberg signed with the Rangers. Each signed contracts $600,000 per season for two years.[10] Their signings further weakened the struggling WHA which would cease operations after just one more season. Nilsson's NHL career was marred by two significant injuries. The first was a broken ankle suffered when his skate blade got caught in a crevice in theMadison Square Garden ice as he was hit byDenis Potvin of theNew York Islanders, which resulted in Nilsson bearing the entire force of the hit on only one leg. Although Nilsson has never characterized the hit as dirty and, in 2009, said, "He [Potvin] was always fair. But the ice was never great in the Garden, because they had basketball and other events. My foot got caught. It was a freak thing," the incident is nevertheless commemorated by the "Potvin Sucks" chant that takes place during every Rangers home game.[11]
As a player of NHL All-Stars team, Nilsson took part in the1979 Challenge Cup, where they played against theSoviet Union national team.
Nilsson's second serious injury was to his knee while representingSweden at the1981 Canada Cup which caused him to miss the entire1981–82 season.[12] Nilsson was limited to 160 games in his three full seasons with the Rangers, though he scored an impressive 163 points in that time. He scored 8 goals and 16 points in the1980–81 playoffs as the Rangers advanced to the semi-finals before being eliminated by their local rivals, the defending champion Islanders. After missing the previous season, he returned to the Rangers lineup for ten games early in the1982–83 season.
Nilsson tested positive forephedrine afterSweden's 4–1 victory overPoland on 6 April 1974, at the1974 World Ice Hockey Championships. As a result, Sweden's win was vacated, and Poland was awarded a 5–0 walkover win.[13] Nilsson was suspended for the remainder of the tournament.
Nilsson was one of fiveplaintiffs along withDave Forbes,Rick Middleton,Brad Park andDoug Smail inForbes v. Eagleson, aclass actionlawsuit filed in 1995 on behalf of about 1,000 NHL players who were employed by NHL teams between 1972 and 1991 againstAlan Eagleson, the league and its member clubs. The players alleged that the NHL and its teams violated theRacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act by colluding with Eagleson to enable him toembezzle from theNational Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) and that the four-yearstatute of limitations in civilracketeering cases began when Eagleson wasindicted in 1994. The lawsuit was dismissed on August 27, 1998 inUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania byThomas Newman O'Neill Jr. who ruled that the statute of limitations expired because it had begun in 1991 when the players were made aware of the allegations against Eagleson. O'Neill's decision was upheld in theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on 17 October 2000.[14][15]
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1967–68 | AIK | SWE | 19 | 2 | 1 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1968–69 | AIK | SWE | 8 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 1969–70 | AIK | SWE | 14 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 2 | ||
| 1970–71 | AIK | SWE | 14 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 6 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | ||
| 1971–72 | AIK | SWE | 14 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 2 | ||
| 1972–73 | AIK | SWE | 14 | 11 | 7 | 18 | 4 | 14 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 23 | ||
| 1973–74 | AIK | SWE | 14 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 32 | 15 | 14 | 6 | 20 | 26 | ||
| 1974–75 | Winnipeg Jets | WHA | 78 | 26 | 94 | 120 | 79 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1975–76 | Winnipeg Jets | WHA | 78 | 38 | 76 | 114 | 84 | 13 | 7 | 19 | 26 | 6 | ||
| 1976–77 | Winnipeg Jets | WHA | 71 | 39 | 85 | 124 | 89 | 20 | 6 | 21 | 27 | 33 | ||
| 1977–78 | Winnipeg Jets | WHA | 73 | 37 | 89 | 126 | 89 | 9 | 1 | 13 | 14 | 12 | ||
| 1978–79 | New York Rangers | NHL | 59 | 27 | 39 | 66 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1979–80 | New York Rangers | NHL | 50 | 14 | 44 | 58 | 20 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 2 | ||
| 1980–81 | New York Rangers | NHL | 51 | 14 | 25 | 39 | 42 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 23 | ||
| 1981–82 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1982–83 | New York Rangers | NHL | 10 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1982–83 | Tulsa Oilers | CHL | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 170 | 57 | 112 | 169 | 85 | 25 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 27 | ||||
| SWE totals | 97 | 45 | 36 | 81 | 54 | 72 | 37 | 25 | 62 | 65 | ||||
| WHA totals | 300 | 140 | 344 | 484 | 341 | 42 | 14 | 53 | 67 | 51 | ||||
| Year | Team | Comp | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Sweden | WC | 10 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 4 | |
| 1974 | Sweden | WC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1976 | Sweden | CC | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| 1981 | Sweden | CC | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | |
| Senior totals | 21 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 12 | |||
