According to a news report out of Sweden, all indications are that Nils Lundkvist is heading to the New York Rangers after this last season in the Swedish Hockey League. In the article, the management of his current team discussed moving forward without him on the team.
Ulf Engman, Luleå’s deputy general manager told the Swedish Hockey News “The probability is very high that he will transfer to next season. We realize that. But surely we will probably not know until after the season,.”
Personligt målrekord och i topp i backarnas poängliga. Nu talar det mesta för att backen lämnar Luleå för NHL efter säsongen. https://t.co/8V0PiBxDUp #LuleåHockey #SHL #twittpuck
— HockeyNews.se (@HockeynewsSe) March 1, 2021
A week ago, we wrote about when we would expect to see Lundkvist in a Ranger uniform. Ironically, the departure of Tony DeAngelo has created space for Lundkvist on the roster as it moved him up on the right shot defenseman depth chart
The Swedish article is careful to state that it is not confirmed that Lundkvist is leaving, but the team is preparing for it. Engman gave his reasons to believe that Lundkvist is New York bound. “It is that he is a national team defender…and maybe plays in the World Cup this spring. He’s probably good enough to play in the NHL. It’s not that we hear anything but it’s more of a feeling because he’s good.”
Lundkvist was quoted from an earlier interview with the Swedish Hockey News about coming to New York, saying “Yes, of course you are eager to test over there and there is nothing to worry about but it should feel right with the coronavirus situation and it is tricky now with a lot of postponed matches. It remains to be seen and Luleå is a fantastic place to be and develop, but it is of course the dream.”
As I've been saying for months, Nils Lundkvist is signing his ELC this summer. There was no doubt in his mind, or his family's. Now his team announces it as well.
— Stat Boy Steven 🇳🇱 🇿🇦 🇮🇪 (@StatBoy_Steven) March 1, 2021
Time to relax, #NYR fanshttps://t.co/5N4zJ6pZbq
The lack of any word about Lundkvist had been cause for some concern with the Rangers facing a June 1, 2022 deadline to get him under contract. The speculation had been that he would not sign with the team since he was behind Jacob Trouba, Adam Fox and DeAngelo on the depth chart. That’s why the DeAngelo departure has changed this situation. The Rangers still have Braden Schneider in the pipeline as a righty defender, but with Lundkvist turning 21 this summer, he is more NHL ready.
Lundkvist is leading all SHL defensemen with 12 goals and seven power play goals. He is eighth in scoring with 27 points. As mentioned in the article, he is likely to play in the IIHF World Championships for Sweden and with that tournament running from May 21 to June 6, it’s pretty much a guarantee that he won’t make it to North America until the 2021-22 season.
Though not a sure thing, all signs are positive that the 2018 first round draft pick will soon be a fixture on an already loaded Rangers’ blue line.
Thanks to Google Translate for the text of the Swedish news article.