Defenseman Nils Lundkvist came into training camp ready to impress.
DALLAS - Nils Lundkvist’s first year with the Stars didn’t exactly end on a high note.
The 23-year-old defenseman watched 15 of the final 18 regular season games from the press box as a healthy scratch, and didn’t play in the playoffs either.
He made his final appearance on March 25 against the Canucks and his campaign was essentially done.
Circumstances like that could frustrate any player, regardless of their experience level, but Lundkvist took a different approach to the situation when he returned to Sweden for the summer.
“I had a great, healthy summer. I was healthy the whole time. Shout out to my coaches back home. They do a good job. I wanted to learn and do new things, and I think we got some great results from that,” said Lundkvist. “I skated a little bit more, and hopefully it can pay off on the ice.”
The first-round selection of the Rangers in 2018 focused on a number of areas training-wise after recognizing that his game dipped at times as the campaign wore on.
He acknowledged there were a few trouble spots that needed to be rectified.
“Being stronger, in general, it’s going to help, and also getting the conditioning up and being more fresh more often,” explained Lundkvist, who appeared in 60 games with Dallas in 2022-23. “Being able to hopefully have a higher consistency and not feeling as tired.”
Bulking up his frame was important, too, after closely observing his competition across the NHL.
The Pitea native is committed to being more imposing this fall.
“I feel like when you watch around the League, the defensemen are usually pretty strong and heavy. I didn’t want to put on weight that was going to make me slower and everything, but just put on the right weight and hopefully be a little bit harder to play against, and then keep developing the offensive side,” said Lundkvist, who led all rookie defensemen with six goals. “I feel like if you watch the best teams right now, they have pretty heavy and skillful defensemen.”
Like most young rearguards, Lundkvist’s adaptation to hockey at the highest level is a work in progress.
He isn’t putting any additional pressure on himself because of the way things played out down the stretch, though, just looking to showcase his development and make a good impression on key decision-makers like general manager Jim Nill and head coach Pete DeBoer.
“You always want everything to go as fast as possible and have a role like probably Miro [Heiskanen] or all those great guys who just came into the League and were so impressive, but I feel it’s more common to have a little bit more up and down,” mentioned Lundkvist. “[Thomas] Harley came up last year and played tremendous. I was really impressed with his play. I learned a lot, so hopefully I can take that with me and have a good season.”
DeBoer addressed Lundqvist’s situation during his media availability last Wednesday.
He thinks rather highly of the up-and-coming blueliner.
“I just want Nils to be himself and play the way he’s capable of playing. There’s been a lot of talk about Nils Lundkvist. I’m not worried about Nils Lundkvist. What we saw last year was a really good player for the first few months of the season, and then like a lot of young defensemen, the League goes to another level, you’re playing for the first time an entire season in the NHL, all those things go into it and you start to struggle a little bit. That’s ok. That’s a normal process for a young player,” shared DeBoer. “I think Nils’ progression is exactly where it should be. He’s played really well at this level already, so he knows he can do it. It’s learning to do it every night over an entire season. He came in fantastic shape. He’s one of the best conditioned guys in camp for us, so he put a ton of work in over the summer. He learned a lot watching the playoffs last year. I have no doubts he’s ready to go.”