NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced last February that NHL players will once again be allowed to participate in the Winter Olympics and that the league would be putting together best-on-best tournaments, such as the former World Cup events, every two seasons. To build more anticipation, the league will be holding the first ever 4 Nations Face-Off tournament Feb. 12-20, 2025, instead of the traditional All-Star Game festivities. It is a four-team round-robin format, played between Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland. The top two teams will compete in the final.
The Calgary Flames have an illustrious history, and many legendary players have walked through the doors of the Scotiabank Saddledome. In honour of the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, we will continue our series covering the best Flames to come from each of the four countries. In this edition, we remember the five greatest Flames to come from Sweden.
Elias Lindholm, Forward
First up on our list is a very recent Flame, centreman Elias Lindholm. The Boden, Sweden native was the fifth overall selection in 2013 by the Carolina Hurricanes. Lindholm played the first five seasons of his NHL career with the Hurricanes but never really reached the lofty expectations set out for him as a lottery pick.
In 2018, the Hurricanes sent him and Noah Hanifin to the Flames in exchange for Dougie Hamilton, Michael Ferland, and Adam Fox. The move immediately paid dividends, as Lindholm scored a then-career-high 27 goals and 78 points in 82 games. Lindholm was equally defensively responsible as he was offensively gifted. He quickly became a two-way fixture in the team’s top six and spent a lot of time on the penalty kill and power play.
Lindholm saved his best performance for the 2021-22 season. He enjoyed tremendous success on one of the most dominant lines in franchise history; alongside Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau, he scored a career-high 42 goals and 82 points in 82 games. Lindholm was also a plus-61, second in the league to Gaudreau. His showing earned him a Selke Trophy nomination as the best defensive forward.
After another productive season in 2022-23, the rebuilding Flames dealt the pending unrestricted free agent to the Vancouver Canucks halfway through the following campaign. In return, the Flames received Andrei Kuzmenko, a 2024 first-round pick (Matvei Gridin), a conditional fourth-round pick, and prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo. Lindholm played out the year with the Canucks before signing a massive deal with the Boston Bruins this past offseason. In all, Lindholm totalled 148 goals and 357 points in 418 games with the Flames.
Rasmus Andersson, Defense
Next up is defender Rasmus Andersson. The 27-year-old has spent his entire career with the Flames after they drafted him 53rd overall in 2015 – the pick used to select him originally belonged to the Canucks, who traded it to the Flames for former forward Sven Baertschi.
Andersson has become one of the more respected leaders on the rebuilding Flames, skating on the top defensive pairing alongside Mackenzie Weegar. He served as an alternate captain last season and is likely to keep his status for 2024-25. The smooth-skating blueliner’s 455 career games rank second amongst active Flames, only behind captain Mikael Backlund‘s 990.
In 2023-24, Andersson recorded nine goals and 39 points in 79 games, which ranked third and second on the team, respectively, amongst Flames defensemen. This was considered a “step down” for the offensively gifted Swede, who has career-highs of 11 goals and 50 points in a season.
Andersson has also performed well in the playoffs, with 14 points in 27 appearances, including six points in 12 games during the Flames’ 2022 playoff run. Unfortunately, as he enters his prime and the team builds for the future, many have speculated that Andersson will be the next to be traded. Here’s hoping he will continue to add to his already impressive Flames resume. His 200 career points rank ninth in franchise history among defensemen, his 36 goals are 11th, and his games played have him at seventh.
Håkan Loob, Forward
Our third Swedish Flame was here for a good time, not a long time. Legendary forward Håkan Loob played six seasons for the Flames from 1983-89. For younger Flames fans, there was a very famous number 12 in franchise history not named Jarome Iginla.
Slite, Sweden’s Loob is one of the most successful Swedish players of all time, with an Olympic gold medal, two World Championship golds, and multiple Swedish Hockey League (SHL) records, including most goals (42) and points (76) in one season. As a Flame, Loob got his start after the team drafted him in the ninth round of the 1981 NHL Entry Draft. He didn’t join the team until the 1983-84 season but quickly figured out the North American game, scoring 30 goals and 55 points in 77 games as a rookie.
Loob exploded in 1987-88, tallying 50 goals and 106 points in 80 games to lead the team in scoring. He is still one of only seven Flames to score 50 or more goals in a season. In 1988-89, Loob came closer to earth with 85 points in 79 games and lit it up in the postseason with eight goals and 17 points in 22 games as the Flames won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Loob would famously assist on Lanny McDonald’s final NHL goal to put the Cup-clinching game away for good.
Afterwards, Loob surprised many Flames fans by announcing his departure from the team and North America to return home to play. He wanted his kids to grow up in Sweden and refused a rich contract offer by the Flames. He retired from hockey after seven more SHL seasons. Loob joined the Flames as head European scout in 2018, a role he held until 2021. He ended his Flames tenure with 193 goals and 429 points in 450 games.
Kent Nilsson, Forward
The next-best Swede’s career was also short but sweet. Hailing from Nynashamn, Sweden, Kent Nilsson is a well-remembered and well-loved former Flame. Like Loob, Nilsson began his professional career by starring in the SHL. He was selected in both the NHL and former World Hockey Association (WHA) drafts in 1976. The 6-foot-1 195-pound forward decided to start in the WHA with the Winnipeg Jets, where he won two Avco World Trophies as league champion. Then, in 1979, he hopped ship and joined the then-Atlanta Flames, scoring 40 goals and 93 points in 80 games in his first season. This earned him his first of two All-Star Game appearances.
The following season was Nilsson’s best; he scored a career-high 49 goals and 131 points in 80 contests. His points and assists totals still stand as the highest single-season marks by a Flame and the all-time highest ever recorded by a Swedish player in the NHL.
Nilsson played just four more seasons for the team before he was traded to the Minnesota North Stars for a second-round pick, which was used to select Joe Nieuwendyk. The North Stars traded him a year and a half later to the Edmonton Oilers, where he won the 1987 Stanley Cup. After seven seasons overseas, Nilsson made an NHL comeback with the Oilers in 1994-95, which would last just six games. He officially retired from hockey in 1997. As a Flame, Nilsson totalled 189 goals and 469 points in 345 matches. After Wayne Gretzky retired, he stated that Nilsson “may have been the most skilled hockey player I ever saw in my entire career.”
Mikael Backlund, Forward
Last but certainly not least is the current Flames captain. Backlund was drafted by the team in the first round, 24th overall, in 2007. He has been a prominent figure ever since he made the roster full-time in 2010. Backlund is an immensely effective defensive centreman tasked with shutting down the other team’s best forwards on a nightly basis. However, he has a very underrated offensive touch as well, averaging 17 goals and 44 points per 82 games played over his career thus far.
Last season, he recorded 15 goals and 39 points in 82 games, a step down after he set a career-high with 56 points in 2022-23. That season, he also finished sixth in Selke Trophy voting and won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy as the league’s best leader on and off the ice. The Flames concurrently extended his contract and named him captain in 2023.
As an unrestricted free agent heading into last season, many thought Backlund was on his way out. But he showed immense loyalty to the team that gave him his start and stayed put, which set an excellent example for others. His calm, responsible presence is especially important; with young players becoming more prominent, they will need to lean on an excellent leader like him for help and advice.
Backlund has played a team-high 990 games with the club, which is second all-time behind only Iginla. His 531 points and 331 assists rank seventh in franchise history, his 200 goals are ninth, and he has the most face-off wins ever with a whopping 7,217. While he may not have a Stanley Cup to his name like other Swedes on our list, Backlund has the leadership and consistent longevity that every NHL general manager hopes for when drafting a player.
Related: Calgary Flames’ Best Finnish Players of All-Time
Players are remembered for different reasons, and lists like this are always subjective. One person will inevitably think higher of a player than another, and the process of leaving players out is always the toughest. There have simply been many amazing Swedish players to wear the Flames logo on their chests.
