Photo: Bildbyrån, Jessica Gow/TT, Hans T Dahlskog/TT
He was one of the first Swedes who dared to try their luck in North America.
After his solid hockey career, Ulf “Lill-Pröjsarn” Nilsson chose to leave the sporting life behind and chose to focus on something completely different.
This is how the 74-year-old lives today.
During his years with the Winnipeg Jets and New York Rangers avg Ulf “Lill-Pröjsarn” Nilsson 1.38 points per game. He won the WHA twice with the Canadian team, moved to the NHL and became a huge crowd favorite. Even though it was only three seasons with the Rangers, he is still a celebrated hero in Madison Square Garden.
Because the father Gösta “Pröjsarn” Nilsson played ten Allsvenskan seasons with AIK in football and also played bandy for Sandviken, Ulf played both these sports in parallel with hockey. He was a real talent in soccer and also played for AIK, but he felt a stronger attraction to the community of the hockey team and was recruited to the club’s ice hockey team.
One of the first in North America
After a few really successful years in AIK – and with Tre Kronor – “Lill-Pröjsarn” got the chance on the other side of the Atlantic. Börje Salming and Inge Hammarström went to Canada in 1973, then already existed Thommie Bergman in the Detroit Red Wings. The following year, the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA recruited four Swedes: Nilsson, Anders Hedberg, Lars-Erik Sjöberg and Curt Larsson. “Lill-Pröjsarn” came to form a dreaded chain with Hedberg and Bobby Hull and in their first season together they scored 362 points together.
Four years after arriving in Canada, the biggest deal ever in the NHL was completed. The Rangers went in and picked up Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg, making them the league’s highest paid players. They were rumored to receive just over 3 million kroner each per year, which was said to be twice as much as the President of the United States Jimmy Carter served.
The time in New York was good as long as “Lill-Pröjsarn” was allowed to stay healthy. The first three years went well, but he basically missed the entire fourth year due to injury. In the fifth and final year in the NHL, there were only ten games. All because he was always half injured. In 1983 the career was over. The body said stop and Ulf “Lill-Pröjsarn” Nilsson felt finished with the sport. He was then 33 years old.
– I was completely exhausted physically and I was quite tired of hockey. If I was going to be a leader, I knew how much work I needed to put in and how much I needed to sacrifice. I wasn’t interested in it, he tells Expressen.
Witnessed his father’s death
Nynäshamnssonen, on the other hand, chose to remain in New York for another 22 years and focus on a civilian career. He worked at Pripps, which was then trying to sell sports drinks in the States. Also for Bredbandsbolaget in Sweden. When he met his current wife Gun he chose to move with her to his home country again. He thus left children and grandchildren in “The Big Apple”.
Ulf is the children’s father Anna, Mikael and Daniel. The latter tragically took his own life three years ago. It was a great trauma for “Lill-Pröjsarn” who also lost his father Gösta “Pröjsarn” when he was only 13 years old. He witnessed for himself how the father fell to the ground during a football match.
– When Daniel passed away, many thoughts about my father also came to mind. My sister and I were at the game when dad collapsed. He was only 43 years old and had a heart defect no one knew about. If it had been today, they would probably have been able to correct that. Now it took almost an hour before the ambulance came… It was tough. Mother had been a housewife, now she was left alone with two children and started working. We weren’t doing so well in those years. There were no vacations and no visits to restaurants. But there was always food on the table. Mother did well for us, after all. My aunt gave me new skates for Christmas every year, he says.
“Lill-Pröjsarn” does that today
Now “Lill-Pröjsarn” is actually not very small anymore. Or maybe young is a better word. However, the 74-year-old refuses to have a sedentary life with peace and quiet. He prefers to have slightly different projects going on.
We mentioned earlier that he worked for, among others, Pripps and Bredbandsbolaget. Nowadays, however, he is self-employed. He has chosen to bet on a certain type of product.
– I have had many exciting jobs. Nowadays, it is my wine storage that applies. I run VinPröjsarn and have two large rooms where private individuals can store their wine. I actually have several clients born in the 2000s. There is great interest in wine in Sweden. And I think it’s fun to have things to do, he tells Expressen.
How nice that things are going well for you, Ulf, and that you are staying alert and ready in the bud. Good luck in the future.
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