Less than a week after backstopping the Texas Stars to the AHL title, goaltender Cristopher Nilstorp has signed a two-year contract with the Växjö Lakers of the Swedish Hockey League.
by Derek O'Brien
The Texas Stars recently won the Calder Cup, emblematic of the American Hockey League championship, with two Swedish players figuring prominently in the final outcome. Now, one of them will return home immediatley and compete in the upcoming Champions Hockey League season.
In Texas's Cup-clinching game five win over the St. John's Ice Caps, the Stars won 4-3 in overtime. Goaltender Cristopher Nilstorp made 33 saves in the game, including an amazing glove save in ovetime to keep the game alive. Later in the extra period, defenceman Patrik Nemeth joined the rush and scored on the backhand to bring his team the championship.
Nemeth, a 22-year-old product of AIK Stockholm and a top Dallas Stars prospect, will stay in North America and try to earn a full-time job in the NHL next season. Nilstorp, however, is returning to Sweden to play for the Växjö Lakers.
"Cristopher is exactly what we've been looking for. He is an experienced and talented goalkeeper who has gained a lot of experience. It really feels like we've found the right goaltender for us," Växjö sports manager Henrik Evertsson said in a press release on Monday.
The 30-year-old Nilstorp has played 125 regular season games in the Swedish Hockey League with Malmö, Rögle and Färjestad, and 12 more in the playoffs. In 2011/12, his most recent season in Europe, he played 45 regular season games for Färjestad, posting a 1.90 goals-against average and .928 save percentage. Then in seven playoff games, he improved those numbers to 1.80 and .938.
Since then he's played two seasons in North America and played a lot -- 112 games for the AHL club in the Austin, Texas suburb and six more with Dallas in the NHL.
"I think Cristopher had the chance to sign a new NHL contract, but then he probably would have ended up as backup, and at 30 years old he doesn't want that," Evertsson continued. "He wants to play and have the chance to win something, and he gets that with us. He likes our organisational model here and sees that we are going to be a good team."
Last season, Växjö finished third place in the SHL regular season and made it to the semi-finals, where they fell to Färjestad in six games. This signing serves notice that they plan to go farther, both in their domestic league and in the CHL.
Växjö further describes the 191-cm, right-hand-catching Nilstorp as a "proven winner", which is something that will serve them well in a tough Group G that includes Sparta Prague, Adler Mannheim and KalPa Kuopio.