Top 10 Swedish Hockey Players of All Time?

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

No. Lidstrom > bourque

No. Bourque > Lidstrom.

 

[joe dirte]

No. Bourque > Lidstrom.

Nope

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

Nope

Yep.

 

[MMANumminen]

Sundin over the Sedins?

As Finnish I say absolutely. Sundin was big bad scary boogeyman

 

[vippe]

Lennart Svedberg and Sven Tumba certainly in the top 10

 

[glovesave_35]

Most top10 swedes are from 90s hockey which is sad. We need better players asap.

More likely a case of those players' careers are over. In 15-20 years the current guys will have complete resumes also.

 

[CashMash]

Forsberg was the best Swede ever. End of story. Lidström had longevity.

 

[steveat]

Salming is in the top 3 for sure and it's not because of numbers and accolades, it's because he was the first Swedish star. I would choose him over Karlsson even today. He was not only offensively gifted, but sacrificed a lot...he had no fear blocking shots and was excellent on the PK. Tough as nails.

The guy was a trailblazer and took a lot of shit for being a foreigner...Salming MADE Swedish Hockey a thing. If not for him, there may not have been a Forsberg or Sundin (maybe later on).

Salming On Hitting 60 & His Rise To The NHL

An Interview with NHL Hall of Famer Börje Salming

Bridgeman vs Salming - hockeyfights.com forums

I remember one game in the 80's..I don't remember who was playing, but the goalie was down and the puck was on the stick of the opposing player and that player shot it ...it was going in top left corner..Salming did a Bobby Orr, full on horizontal leap from the other side of the net and banged the puck away..I remember this because I was surprised at how hard he batted the puck away..it hit the boards by the blue line and went all the way down the ice.

He was instrumental in Vaive's 50 goal season

Anyway...he's a legend in Sweden and probably for foreign hockey players around the world. In a time when Euro players were looked at as soft...he was tough...

Imagine having a bullseye on your back for probably the first 15 years...not for being a yapper or a cheapshot artist....just for being Swedish

 

[Nick Hansen]

When i first saw the list and noticed Steen I figured I could honestly find a spot in the top 10.
Couldn't pull it off though. Heck of a player but a heck of a peer group as well.

Thomas or Alex? I think his father probably was the better player (no point in comparing raw point totals as Steen Sr played his entire career in the 80's).

 

[Alfapet]

Lidström
Forsberg
Sundin
Salming
Karlsson
H.Sedin
Zetterberg
Lundqvist
D.Sedin
Bäckström

Extremely close to the top 10: K.Nilson, Näslund, Loob, Alfredsson, Tumba, Hedman

Some might say Sundin is too high on this list but I watched him in my youth and he is the most dominant player I’ve seen on the national team. Imo Forsberg was a better player than Lidström in his prime but I can’t say no the crazy career of Lidström. Karlsson might crack top 2-3 in the future. After top 5 it's becoming extremely close, a lot of personal preference.

 

[joe dirte]

Forsberg was the best Swede ever. End of story. Lidström had longevity.

Longevity as the best dman in the game? Ihh yeah.

 

[Master Radishes]

LOL no Bourque is.

No. Lidstrom > bourque

No. Bourque > Lidstrom.

Nope

Yep.

The quality of discussion on HF lately is amazing.

 

[joe dirte]

The quality of discussion on HF lately is amazing.

The guy gave basically zero backup for his claim.

The number of Norris trophies, and his ability to be the best for so long is unprecedented. The peak vs longevity discussion becomes irrelevant with lidstrom. He was both. The very best. For a LONG time.

Forsberg was great. But never came close to accomplishing what lidstrom did. Not by a wide margin.

 

[Spirit of 67]

1. Forsberg
2. Lidström
3. Salming
4. Kenta
5. Sundin
6/7. H/D Sedin
8. Bäckström
9. Zetterberg
10. Karlsson

Both Dahlin and Pettersson will be there for sure, unless they get injured beyond "repair".

History suggests Dahlin won't be there.

Defenders taken 1OA tend to not be all that.

 

[Spirit of 67]

Not a bad list. No complaints from me.

 

[firewagonHOCKEY]

To see the greatness of Lidstrom just look at the Wings before and after. They still haven't recovered from his retirement.

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

The guy gave basically zero backup for his claim.

The number of Norris trophies, and his ability to be the best for so long is unprecedented. The peak vs longevity discussion becomes irrelevant with lidstrom. He was both. The very best. For a LONG time.

Forsberg was great. But never came close to accomplishing what lidstrom did. Not by a wide margin.

LOL sure and I could tell you the same with yours...

Bourque played in the strongest era ever for defensemen, there were so many more Hall of Fame defensemen in Bourque's generation than Lidstrom's (Lidstrom's generation was the weakest one). And he still won the most Norris trophies of the bunch with five.

And for the ability to be the best for so long, longevity and peak, Bourque was better than Lidstrom too. Since day 1 for Bourque until his very last when he finally lift the Stanley Cup.

 

[joe dirte]

LOL sure and I could tell you the same with yours...

Bourque played in the strongest era ever for defensemen, there were so many more Hall of Fame defensemen in Bourque's generation than Lidstrom's (Lidstrom's generation was the weakest one). And he still won the most Norris trophies of the bunch with five.

And for the ability to be the best for so long, longevity and peak, Bourque was better than Lidstrom too. Since day 1 for Bourque until his very last when he finally lift the Stanley Cup.

What's your basis to say it was the best ero of defensemen?

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

What's your basis to say it was the best ero of defensemen?

There is no other era that provided so many hall of fame defensemen at the same time. We couldn't say the same with the Lidstrom's generation.

 

[joe dirte]

There is no other era that provided so many hall of fame defensemen at the same time. We couldn't say the same with the Lidstrom's generation.

There is no other era that provided as many hall of fame players in general. But that's not necessarily the caliber of the players that explains that. It goes a lot deeper.

The style of game was conducive to it. So was the shift in style of play by dmen.

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

There is no other era that provided as many hall of fame players in general. But that's not necessarily the caliber of the players that explains that. It goes a lot deeper.

The style of game was conducive to it. So was the shift in style of play by dmen.

Usually it's hard to compare two players of different generation or era. Therefore the only way to know is to compare with peers especially for the Norris trophy argument.

Bourque's peers are:
Potvin, Park, Stevens, Leetch, Coffey, Langway, MacInnis, Chelios, Howe, Robinson, Larry Murphy, Rick Green, and on and on.

Lidstrom's peers are:
Peak Pronger, Niedermayer and Chara...

For style of play, Bourque was the very best TWO-WAY defenseman of his generation (and ever if you don't label Orr as a two-way defenseman).

 

[Babooch]

Anders Hedberg

 

[b in vancouver]

Forsberg was the best Swede ever. End of story. Lidström had longevity.

Kent Nilsson was better than Forsberg. Nilsson isn't the 'greatest Swedish hockey player ever' but he is the 'best Swedish hockey player ever'. A shame to see some people leave them off their lists as he has a case to be #1.

For those that never watched The Magic Man play - he was simply incredible when he showed up which unfortunately wasn't often enough as he had a tendency to disappear for games at a time and not really try - but was honestly most talented. He could just do anything he wanted when he was engaged - and when he was engaged, The Flames won.

It was either TSN or NHL that had him as the 5th most talented player ever - behind Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux and Kovalev. He was that good.

 

[joe dirte]

Usually it's hard to compare two players of different generation or era. Therefore the only way to know is to compare with peers especially for the Norris trophy argument.

Bourque's peers are:
Potvin, Park, Stevens, Leetch, Coffey, Langway, MacInnis, Chelios, Howe, Robinson, Larry Murphy, Rick Green, and on and on.

Lidstrom's peers are:
Peak Pronger, Niedermayer and Chara...

For style of play, Bourque was the very best TWO-WAY defenseman of his generation (and ever if you don't label Orr as a two-way defenseman).

Yeah no.

Lidstrom also competed with macinnis, scott stevens, bourque himself (their careers overlapped and he finished ahead of bourque several times) , rob Blake, chelios, zubov, leetch, Duncan Keith, shea weber, Ryan suter.....

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

Yeah no.

Lidstrom also competed with macinnis, scott stevens, bourque himself (their careers overlapped and he finished ahead of bourque several times) , rob Blake, chelios, zubov, leetch, Duncan Keith, shea weber, Ryan suter.....

Lidstrom entering in his prime finished ahead Bourque when the latter was at the end of his career? Wow so much better...
(By the way Bourque still finished second to Lidstrom for the Norris trophy at the age of 40 in 2001)

And I could do the same with Bourque and add Lidstrom, Blake, Pronger, Zubov and more too so it just makes Bourque's list even more impressive.