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Propsect Nils Lundkvist felt time was right to leave Sweden, join Rangers

GREENBURGH, N.Y. – Nils Lundkvist won the Borje Salming Award last season, given to the best Swedish-born defenseman in the SHL. The third of three first-round draft picks by the Rangers in 2018, Lundkvist had 14 goals and 18 assists in 52 games for Lulea in 2020-21, establishing career highs in games played, goals, points and average time on ice (21:24).

After all that, the time was right, he said, to leave Sweden and come to North America and play for the Rangers.

"I stayed home for (three) years now and it feels like I did what I can back home,’’ Lundkvist said Saturday, after the second day of the Rangers’ 2021 Prospect Development Camp.