"Good things weren’t happening too often for the Jets this past week as they dropped two games to the New England Whalers, in what was supposed to be a battle for second place."
The following THN Archive story takes a deep dive into European star forward Kent Nilsson and the start of his career in Winnipeg.
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Winnipeg's Nilsson a Natural Star
February 16, 1979 – Vol. 32, Issue 20
"Two years ago, the Winnipeg Jets’ roster consisted of 10 European players; last year, six Swedish athletes remained. The fans were proud of the “European” style of play which the team had adopted.
This year, much of this flavor has left, and it has been replaced through home-grown, Canadian talent. But one of the more popular Jets, and possibly the finest young player on the team, is one of the remaining Swedes, Kent Nilsson. He is also the Jets’ leading scorer, despite the fact that he missed a game (the first in his WHA career), and is still playing with a special mask to protect a broken nose he acquired against Indianapolis on December 7.
Last year, Nilsson finished as the fourth leading scorer on the team, behind the departed Hot Line members: Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and Bobby Hull. He tallied 107 points, including 42 goals, and his impressive total earned him the Lou Kaplan Award as top rookie in the WHA.
On Dec. 11, the Jets defeated the Swedish “B” team, 4-3. Playing against his native country wasn’t especially a thrill for the 22-year-old Nilsson; but he admits it was fun because the team was composed of many friends with whom he had played for a couple of years before joining the Jets. For most youngsters in Sweden, hockey takes a back seat to school work, but it wasn’t so for Nilsson. There are stories that as a boy in Nynashamn he shot a thousand pucks a day in his basement, but, according to coach Larry Hillman, it isn’t only practice which has made him an overwhelming hockey player.
“He’s a gifted player who was born with natural talent,” says Hillman.
After having had a tremendous season last year, Nilsson is not setting specific goals for the present year. He doesn’t care about his personal production, but only to do his best game in and game out. He got off to a very fast start, and leads the team in points and assists, and seems headed toward another excellent year, barring serious injury.
His defensive ability has been questioned, and coach Hillman agrees, blaming it on the system in which he was taught.
“I find it more so with European players rather than North American players,” says Hillman. “The European is better in the fundamentals of the game, but he is not as good in the checking.” His playing on the wing this season, as opposed to center last year, has made him more responsible for his checking role, and Hillman feels that the fine art of backchecking is something which Nilsson will add to his repertoire the more he plays.
At six-foot-one and 185-pounds Nilsson is one of the bigger players on the team, and, surprisingly, one of the least penalized. So far this year he has one-quarter of his total from last season, which was an incredible eight minutes. But, then, the place for fine hockey players is not in the penalty box, because all they can do from there is watch. The only place to make things happen is on the ice, and when Kent Nilsson is on, be it with his thundering slap shot or his deceptive speed, good things usually happen for the Winnipeg Jets.
Good things weren’t happening too often for the Jets this past week as they dropped two games to the New England Whalers, in what was supposed to be a battle for second place. Winnipeg gave up three goals while on the power play and in both games it seemed to take the wind out of their sails.
Kent Nilsson got the Jets back on the track, scoring two goals, as Winnipeg dumped Edmonton 6-3 in a game that was the Jets second, in as many nights.
The win put the Jets just two points out of first place and with Nilsson starting to get hot, the Avco Cup Champions are hoping to be on top soon."