It’s been almost three years since I first met Nils Lundkvist. It was a chilly November evening in Hodonín, Czech Republic in 2018 where the young defenseman, 18 at the time, had just finished a game in the u20 Four Nations against Vitaly Kravtsov and Russia u20.
Lundkvist did not get any points and was -2 but during the game I had the pleasure to meet his family and through them, I was able to meet up with the youngster afterwards. Ever since I’ve been following the progress of the Rangers first round pick closely.
Fun fact: Kaapo Kakko played later that evening and had a goal and 2 assists against the Czech Republic.