Forgotten Superstars-Ulf Nilsson

The Forgotten Superstars returns today with a look at a talent that was derailed by one nasty hit, some soft ice, and was never the same again.

Ulf Nilsson was one of the first European players to cross the Atlantic and become a star.
Nilsson joined the WHA's Winnipeg Jets with countryman Anders Hedberg and along with Bobby Hull comprised the elite line of the league's existence.
Nilsson was the center and playmaker of the line and scored over 114 points every year in the WHA.
Ulf Nilsson was a passer that was new to the game of the 1970s with assist numbers that ranged from a low of 76 to a high of 94 and excellent plus/minus stats as well.
Nilsson set up the blazing slap shots of Bobby Hull and the smooth strides of Anders Hedberg in a way the game had never seen before and helped the Jets to two Avco Cups in his four-year stint in Manitoba.

Nilsson and Hedberg left the Jets and the cash-strapped WHA in 1978-79 for the then-struggling New York Rangers at the age of 28 and should have spent his prime years establishing the Rangers as Cup contenders.
In the first year with the Gothamites, Nilsson had already scored 27 goals and 39 assists in 59 games before a rough hockey hit by the Islanders' Denis Potvin slammed the Swede into the boards.
The soft ice at the Garden caught Nilsson's skate and severely broke his ankle.
Nilsson would continue his career for a while but retired after a short ten-game swing at just 32.
The Potvin hit is remembered by Blueshirt fans to this day with the chant "Potvin sucks".


Despite the injuries, Ulf averaged over a point a game with the Rangers (163 points over 160 games) and showed the NHL just what kind of talent that European players could bring to the North American game.
Sometimes injuries cut things short and what might have been has to be good enough as we welcome Ulf Nilsson to the Forgotten Superstars universe...