PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Markus Näslund played a full 15 seasons in the NHL.
What is behind the great success in North America?
– It was great advice from Mario (Lemieux), reveals the Swede in the podcast “Hockeypuls”.
With an incredible 869 points in 1,117 games is Markus Näslund one of our foremost Swedes in the NHL. There were a total of 15 NHL seasons for the teams Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers but unfortunately without winning a Stanley Cup.
Näslund’s career
Born and raised in Örnsköldsvik, it was of course Modo in which he got his big break. After three A-team seasons in the Elitserien, as the SHL was called at the time, the big move to North America came in 1993.
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Näslund started in the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it was in the Vancouver Canucks that he was at his best and poured in points with the C on his chest for several seasons in a row. To this day, it’s just the twins Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin who scored more points in the history of the NHL organization.
Advice from Lemieux
The Swede is truly a celebrated legend in Vancouver ever since but it could have gone so much differently if it weren’t for a couple of well-chosen words from himself Mario Lemieux to a young Markus Näslund.
READ MORE: When Markus Näslund stood in the drawing circle with a wooden mallet – and heard the 5 most degrading words
The Swede was still a freshman in the NHL when the icon, who is considered one of hockey’s absolute greatest players of all time, gave the advice that would change Näslund’s entire hockey career. Lemieux caught sight of the youngster’s club and felt compelled to intervene.
– And if Mario said something, then people listened, says Näslund with a laugh in an interview with SportExpressen’s podcast “Hockeypulse”.
“It was very good”
Lemieux advised Näslund to replace the club with a longer version, at least 10-15 centimeters longer stick. The Swede listened, took the words to heart and played the rest of his career with a longer club.
– I can see from pictures from the time in Pittsburgh that I was bent forward a lot because I had a short club. When you have a longer club, you see the ice in a different way. Of course, it depends on how you hold the club as well, Peter (Forsberg) drove with a short club throughout his career and it went pretty well for him, he-he. But for me it was good with the range, how I reached pucks and also for my shot. It was great advice from Mario, says Näslund in the podcast.
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During the 1995/96 season, Näslund had the great honor of playing in the same chain as the legendary Canadian, but that relationship did not last long. Without the spring of 1996, he was traded from the Penguins to the Canucks and would then never return to Pittsburgh again.
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The Stanley Cup miss
Although there was a golden opportunity in 2008 when Näslund left Vancouver for the New York Rangers.
– It was between Tampa, Pittsburgh and the Rangers. It was tempting with Pittsburgh because (Yevgeny) Malkin and (Sidney) Crosby were there, there could have been an opportunity to play with them, he admits in the interview.
The 2008/09 season would be Markus Näslund’s very last in the NHL and he delivered 46 points in 82 games for the NY Rangers. But extra sour was that the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup that season, the title that the Swede never got to win during his career in North America.
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