Penciled into the third pair for this season before last season ended, Nils Lundkvist was expected to be an integral part of the Rangers next season. A year where they trotted out Jack Johnson, Libor Hajek, and Anthony Bitetto regularly on the third pair, the Rangers were subpar at best on defense. It was a major step back for a team that expected to be better without Lindy Ruff. Most of that was due to the quality of players, although the system itself didn’t help either.
This year is different, as the Rangers brought Lundkvist over from Sweden to go with the newly signed Patrik Nemeth.