September 19, 2022, 8:54 pm FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Stars have been looking for a creative, right-handed shooter, and on Monday they found one. Stars general manager Jim Nill said his team was able to reach a deal with the New York Rangers for 22-year-old Nils Lundkvist in exchange for a conditional first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. “Neals is a skilled defenseman who adapted to the North American game last season and has a high ceiling,” Neal said. “We felt that adding a creative player like Nils to our defense team was necessary and he has a tremendous opportunity to establish himself as an everyday impact defenseman at the NHL level.” The five-foot-11 Lundkvist split the 2021-22 campaign between the Rangers and Hartford of the American Hockey League. He recorded four points in 25 regular season games with the Rangers, including his first career goal on Dec. 8 against Colorado. Lundkvist also scored 15 points in 34 AHL games for the Wolf Pack. He was originally selected by the Rangers in the first round (28th overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. The native of Pitea, Sweden, was named the 2020-21 winner of the Salming Trophy, which is awarded annually to the best Swedish-born defenseman in the SHL, as selected by Hockey Hall of Famer Borje Salming. Lundkvist’s 14 goals in 2020-21 were the most in a season by an under-21 defenseman in SHL history.
