It was said that he learned to play hockey largely without skates and would then always play like that. In any case he had an awful work ethic and was fairly immobile even by 1980s German standards, but also had magic hands and great vision as his saving grace. Had the size to keep the puck even with his poor skating too, albeit not a physical player otherwise and didn't play much defense. I don't have any statistics, but many of his points must have been on power play. The kind of player that sold tickets and the next generation grew up idolizing, but whom the coaches thought much less highly of.
Lars-Gunnar "Krobbe" Lundberg.
I grew up in Massachusetts, my cousin played for the Bruins and Whalers in the 70s, the first Massachusetts born and trained player to be drafted by the Bruins. He played against Lars Gunnar Lundberg in the 77 Worlds and said that he and Helmut Balderis were the most spectacular and skilled puckhandlers he ever saw or played against. He played with or against some of the best including Bobby Sheehan, Guy Lafleur, Gil Perreault and Gary Gambucci (that's my personal opinion). Lundberg played a bit style-wise like Gretzky at least in his skating stride and size. Although Lundberg was MUCH more geared towards one-on-one and end-to-end play than Gretzky. And although he was an excellent playmaker, he was nowhere near Gretzky in the all-time great playmaking department. Neither were the fastest players on their teams but both were very quick on their skates and could cut and dart on a dime. Lundberg (and Balderis) had dazzlingly fast hands with the puck which set them apart. Lundberg also had reportedly the hardest wrist shot in Europe in the 70s, on a par supposedly with players like Mike Bossy in North America. Lundberg and Balderis both were much like later stars Tim Connolly or Alexei Kovalev in the way that hey could manipulate the disc at blinding speed while making dekes and fakes and still maintaining control. I am putting togather a highlight reel of "Krobbe" Lundberg which I hope to be ready later this summer. I will post it to my Youtube channel when ready. Currently I have about 20 games with Lundberg and over 40 of Balderis. Balderis's highlight reel will be quite extensive when it's done. Also want to make one of Jarkko, Doru Tureanu and othjer "lost" European superstars of international hockey that get basically no ink in North America but whom all had the skills to be stars in North American pro hockey of the time.
I'm very much looking forward to this. Are these full games available online already? Or do you have access to games that we haven't had the opportunity to see before?
