Thomas Steen played his entire National Hockey League career with the Winnipeg Jets, where he may not have been known outside small-market Winnipeg and his home country of Sweden, but he was a player who was vastly underrated, selfless, and thus invaluable to the Jets, who never let him go.  Beyond his work with the Jets, Steen played internationally for Sweden at three Canada Cups and was a two-time Silver Medalist at the World Championship.  Steen’s #25 would be retired by the Jets in 1995.

While many 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 offensive rush, especially on the power play, throughout 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 Norris Trophy voting.  He would also win a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 2002.  He also represented Sweden internationally on many occasions.

Mats Naslund was a star with the Montreal Canadiens throughout the 1980s, and while Patrick Roy received the bulk of the Habs' offensive credit for the 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. Internationally, he represented his country multiple times, including winning an Olympic Gold Medal 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 playoff appearances.  Johannson did not often get the credit he deserved, as Washington had many defensive stars at the time (Scott Stevens, Rod Langway, Kevin Hatcher, for example).  Still, he contributed to these clubs, providing 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. Following the merger of the WHA and NHL, Nilsson joined the Flames, where, in the 1980-81 season, he had a career-high 131 points. This remains the record of both a Swedish-born player and a member of the Calgary Flames.

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 the Hockey Hall of Fame inductees, but were among the best of his time.

Along with Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg became one of the first European stars in North America when the pair joined the Winnipeg Jets of  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, putting the puck in the net 50, 70, and 63 times over the next three years, with 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.