Rangers Sign Swedish Forward Michael Lindqvist
As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago on Forever Blueshirts, the Rangers officially came to an agreement with Swedish forward Michael Lindqvist.
OFFICIAL: #NYR have agreed to terms with free agent forward Michael Lindqvist.
Lindqvist, 23, skated in 33 games with Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League this past season, registering 20 goals and 14 assists for 34 points.
(🎥 highlights via SHL) https://t.co/QfsXF9HjNS
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 2, 2018
In 33 games last season with Swedish League club Färjestad BK, Lindqvist notched 34 points (20G, 14A). One aspect of Lindqvist’s game is that he was a force on the powerplay for Färjestad, where his ten man-advantage goals were second best in the SHL, as well as averaging over a point-per-game, 1.03 PPG to be exact. To further the point, Lindqvist led the league in goals-per-game (.61) of skaters that played more than twenty games.
Among SHL players younger than 24 years old, Lindqvist ranked second in points per game, tied for third in goals, and tied for fourth in points during this past season. #NYR
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 2, 2018
Lindqvist is a right-handed scorer, something which the Rangers do not have much of on their current roster. While Jesper Fast had a career year, it wouldn’t be reasonable, in my opinion, to expect the same production from him next season. This leaves Mika Zibanejad as the lone right-handed threat. The other right-handed forward option the Rangers have is Vinni Lettieri, but, for whatever reason, he was not able to stick around with the Rangers for more than a few games at a time last year under Alain Vigneault.
If Lindqvist can stick with the Rangers, not only will they be adding another young and talented, albeit undersized, forward, but they will be adding a right-handed threat who can play on the second powerplay unit. Add in Ty Ronning, who is also a young, talented and undersized right-handed scoring threat, and the Rangers are looking at a very solid forward group heading into their “rebuild” year.
Super excited and a dream come true signing my first NHL contract with @NYRangers , thanks to everyone who have helped me during the years to make this happen!
— Michael Lindqvist (@MLindqvist34) May 2, 2018
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