Mattias Ohlund spend the majority of his career with the Vancouver Canucks where he provided solid defensive play, which he combined with six 30 Point Seasons.  An All-Star in 1999, the Defenseman had a respectable 343 career Points and he represented Sweden four times in the Olympics where he would help his country win the Gold in 2006.

The possessor of one of the coolest Scandinavian names in sports history, Ulf Samuelsson played 1,080 Games in the National Hockey League who was known for his hard hits and defensive play.  Samuelsson may never have been an All-Star but he was one of the better blueliners in his day and he played many times internationally for Sweden.

While there are many that can’t envision the idea of a Scandinavian power forward, that was an excellent way to describe what Sweden’s Tomas Sandstrom was. 

Swedish blueliner Fredrik Olausson proved to be excellent on the offence rush especially on the power play through his career.  A Winnipeg Jet for the first eight seasons of his NHL career, Olausson would reach 50 Points four times and would hit that mark much later in his career with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim where he finished ninth in Stanley Cup voting.  He would also win a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 2002.  He also represented Sweden many times internationally.

Mats Naslund was a star with the Montreal Canadiens throughout the 1980’s and while Patrick Roy received the bulk of the credit for the Has shocking Stanley Cup win in 1986, it was Naslund who was the offensive star of the team.  The Swedish star was a Second Team All Star and a Lady Byng Trophy winner and internationally speaking he would represent his country multiple times including an Olympic Gold Medal win in 1994.  Had Naslund played longer in the NHL (which he could have, but he elected to play in Europe instead) he might be ranked a little higher.

A Washington Capital for fifteen of his seventeen seasons in the NHL, Calle Johannson was an integral part of the Capitals making multiple playoffs.  Johannson does not often get the credit that he deserved as Washington had many defensive stars at the time (Scott Stevens, Rod Langway, Kevin Hatcher for example) but he was a contributor on these clubs giving excellent depth.  Internationally, he represented Sweden multiple times, including anchoring them to two World Championships (1991 & 1992).

Despite playing his entire career in an Original Six city, Henrik Zetterberg had a brilliant under the radar career.  The Swedish Centre was the runner-up for the Calder Trophy in 2003 and two seasons later he would develop into one of the most well rounded players in the National Hockey League.

Should someone compile a list of the best all time hockey players from Sweden, Kent Nilsson often gets left out. Nilsson was a largely forgotten international star whose professional path may have made him the forgotten man. After a few years lighting up the Swedish league, Nilsson joined the WHA and the Winnipeg Jets where he was instantly among that organization’s elite. Upon the merger of the WHA and NHL, Nilsson joined the Flames where in the 1980-81 season he had a career year of 131 points. This remains the record both a Swedish born player and Calgary Flame.

Now we have a real test of the reduced scoring totals of the new millennium as the career tallies of Markus Naslund do not approach many of Hockey Hall of Fame inductees, but were among the best of his time.

Along with Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg would become one of the first European stars in the North America when the pair joined the Winnipeg Jets who were then with the World Hockey Association.  Hedberg would be named the Lou Kaplan Trophy winner as the WHA’s version of the rookie of the year and was a Second Team All Star who scored 53 Goals and an even 100 Points.  Hedberg would go on an incredible run as a Jet as their top goal scorer where he would put the puck in the net 50, 70 and 63 times in the next three years, the 70 being league leading.  The Swedish sensation would be a First Team All-WHA selection all three of those years and he is the all-time leader in the World Hockey Association in Goals per Game.