Mats Naslund was “Le Petit Viking”, the 5-foot-7 Swede who scored 110 points for the Montreal Canadiens and won the Stanley Cup in 1986. He is one of the few players who have won the Stanley Cup, Olympic gold and a world championship. When his hockey career was over, he went back to something he had learned before he ever played in the NHL.
Where is Mats Naslund now?
Mats Naslund works as a building carpenter in Hollviken, a coastal town south of Malmo in southern Sweden, NHL.com’s Swedish edition reported in December 2023. He is employed by a friend, and his working days run between six and eight hours. He trained as a carpenter in his teens, before he left his first club, Timra, in 1978. “So it feels like a suitable job for me,” he said, adding that he will keep working as long as his body lets him.
| Mats Naslund: then and now | |
|---|---|
| Known for | “Le Petit Viking”, 110 points and the Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1985-86 |
| Position | Left wing, shoots left |
| Born | 31 October 1959, Timra, Sweden |
| Drafted | 1979, second round, 37th overall, Montreal Canadiens |
| NHL career | 9 seasons, 651 games, 634 points, Montreal and Boston |
| Last NHL season | 1994-95, Boston Bruins |
| Current role | Building carpenter in Hollviken, Sweden, as of December 2023 |
| Swedish name | Mats Näslund |
It is not a new arrangement. When the Swedish league’s website SHL.se called him in November 2019, he had just finished his working day. He said then that he had coached a junior team for a while after his playing career, then found his way back to carpentry. Having a trade to fall back on, he said, gave him a way out of hockey, and he never struggled with leaving. He described himself to SHL.se as a homebody who still gets on the ice once a week and plays golf whenever he can.
His old teammates have not forgotten him. When he turned 60 in 2019 and was celebrating in Bologna, his former Montreal captain Bob Gainey turned up to surprise him, he told SHL.se.
He did one more stint in the game. From 2005 to 2010 he was general manager of Sweden’s national team, a spell that included the Olympic gold in 2006. Since then, he has had no role in professional hockey. He follows his boyhood club Timra on television and in person whenever they play in southern Sweden.
Is Mats Naslund related to Markus Naslund?
No. Mats Naslund and Markus Naslund share a surname and both come from the same part of northern Sweden, but they are not related.
Is Mats Naslund in the Hall of Fame?
Mats Naslund is in the IIHF Hall of Fame, but not the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The IIHF lists him as a player inductee in its class of 2005. He is also a member of the Triple Gold Club, with the Stanley Cup in 1986, a World Championship in 1991, and Olympic gold in 1994.
Mats Naslund’s Stanley Cup and the 110-point season
Before Montreal, Mats Naslund was already a star at home. He made his debut in Sweden’s top league for Timra at 16 in February 1976, the youngest player ever to do so at the time, moved to Brynas in 1978 and won the Swedish championship and the Guldpucken, Sweden’s player of the year award, in 1980. The following season he led the league in scoring.
He joined Montreal in 1982 as the first European-born player in Canadiens history and scored 71 points as a rookie. His best season was 1985-86: 43 goals and 110 points, making him the first Montreal player to reach 100 points since Guy Lafleur, and the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup that spring.
He played almost entirely without penalties. Montreal had enforcer Chris Nilan, who Naslund has described as his protector, and Naslund himself never took more than 19 penalty minutes in a season. In 1988 he won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship, ahead of Wayne Gretzky in the voting. After the 1989-90 season, he left for Lugano in Switzerland, then Malmo in Sweden, and he made a brief return with the Boston Bruins in 1994-95.
Mats Naslund’s NHL stats
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | P | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982-83 | Montreal | 74 | 26 | 45 | 71 | 10 |
| 1983-84 | Montreal | 77 | 29 | 35 | 64 | 4 |
| 1984-85 | Montreal | 80 | 42 | 37 | 79 | 14 |
| 1985-86 | Montreal | 80 | 43 | 67 | 110 | 16 |
| 1986-87 | Montreal | 79 | 25 | 55 | 80 | 16 |
| 1987-88 | Montreal | 78 | 24 | 59 | 83 | 14 |
| 1988-89 | Montreal | 77 | 33 | 51 | 84 | 14 |
| 1989-90 | Montreal | 72 | 21 | 20 | 41 | 19 |
| 1994-95 | Boston | 34 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 4 |
| Total | 651 | 251 | 383 | 634 | 111 |
Figures are from Hockey-Reference.
The channels for every Canadiens game are in our guide to how to watch the Montreal Canadiens.
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