Mats Anders Lindgren (born 1 October 1974) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

forward. He was selected in the first round of the

1993 NHL Entry Draft The 1993 NHL Entry Draft was the 31st NHL Entry Draft. It took place on June 26, 1993, at the Colisée de Québec in Quebec City, Quebec. First overall pick Alexandre Daigle is widely regarded today as one of the all-time greatest draft bu ...

, 15th overall, by the Winnipeg Jets, although he never had the opportunity to play for them. Despite versatility and a good on-ice work ethic, Lindgren never lived up to the offensive potential that Winnipeg had seen when they drafted him, scoring only thirteen goals in his best

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

season. In fact, in 387 games with the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

and the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

, Lindgren scored only 54 goals. A large reason for Lindgren's poor offensive record has been the number of injuries he has suffered. In 9 seasons playing in North America, Lindgren only played one where he missed no time due to injury. Back surgery effectively ended his career. He announced his retirement due to injury on 20 January 2005, despite being only thirty years old. Lindgren represented Sweden at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in th ...

in Nagano, Japan. After his professional career ended he moved back to his hometown of

Skellefteå Skellefteå (, locally ) is a city in Västerbotten County, Sweden. It is the seat of Skellefteå Municipality, which had 73,246 inhabitants in 2021. The city is historically industrial, with mining being a large part of that industry, especiall ...

, Sweden where he became assistant coach for Skellefteå AIK. He now does skill development at North Shore Winter Club.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindgren, Mats 1974 births Living people Cape Breton Oilers Cape Breton Oilers players Edmonton Oilers players Färjestad BK players Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) players Manitoba Moose players National Hockey League first-round draft picks New York Islanders players People from Skellefteå Municipality Skellefteå AIK players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Swedish ice hockey centres Vancouver Canucks players Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) draft picks Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Västerbotten County