Magnus Hellberg

Magnus Hellberg (born 4 April 1991) is a Swedish professional ice hockey goaltender who currently plays under contract to SKA Saint Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Magnus Hellberg
Magnus Hellberg at the 2011 NHL Draft.
Born (1991-04-04) 4 April 1991
Uppsala, Sweden
Height 6 ft 6 in (198 cm)
Weight 209 lb (95 kg; 14 st 13 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
KHL team
Former teams		 SKA Saint Petersburg
Frölunda HC
Nashville Predators
New York Rangers
Kunlun Red Star
National team  Sweden
NHL Draft 38th overall, 2011
Nashville Predators
Playing career 2009–present

Playing career

Hellberg was selected 38th overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, and was the first goaltender selected in the draft.

Hellberg almost didn't make the trip from Sweden to St. Paul, Minnesota, for the draft, citing it was "50-50" that he'd even be drafted. Because of the last minute decision to come, the only person with him was his agent.[1]

Technically, he was the first player to wear the new, redesigned Nashville jersey. The home gold version had still not been unveiled by the team and the road white debuted at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Additionally, the Predators did not have a first round pick, giving Hellberg the honor of becoming the first player to wear it.[2]

During the 2012–13 season, Hellberg appeared in 39 regular season games with the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League and two games with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.[3] He added four more games with Milwaukee during AHL post-season.

On 26 October 2013, Hellberg made his NHL debut with the Nashville Predators, playing 12 minutes after replacing starter Carter Hutton in a game against the St. Louis Blues.[4] With the Predators system crowded at both NHL and AHL levels, he was assigned to ECHL affiliate, the Cyclones, to finish the 2013–14 season.

On 1 July 2015, Hellberg was traded to the New York Rangers for a 6th-round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.[5]

Hellberg was assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack upon his arrival in New York, but was called up on 18 December to serve as a backup to Henrik Lundqvist while Antti Raanta was recovering from a head injury. Hellberg took the ice in a 20 December game against the Washington Capitals after Lundqvist allowed five goals, including four in the second period; Hellberg allowed two goals in the third period as the Rangers eventually lost the game 7–3. On 30 December, after Raanta was cleared to return, Hellberg was sent back down to the Wolf Pack.

Hellberg was called up to the NHL three times during the 2016–17 season, the first call-up came on 15 January 2017 after Raanta suffered a lower body injury against the Montreal Canadiens. As a result, Hellberg was called up to the NHL to back up Lundqvist for one week while Raanta recovered. Hellberg took the ice once as he replaced Lundqvist during the third period of the Rangers 17 January game against the Dallas Stars; the Rangers lost the game 7–6 despite rallying from a 7–3 deficit. He was called up again in March after Lundqvist suffered a hip injury. He served as Raanta's backup for 5 games, but did not see any ice time.[6] Hellberg was called up a third time for a season-ending back-to-back set of games, after Raanta suffered another lower body injury.[7] Hellberg sat on the bench as Lundqvist's backup in the first game (a 3–1 loss to the Ottawa Senators), but Hellberg made his first NHL start in the second game (Rangers' season finale) against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He stopped 22 of 24 shots as the Rangers won the game 3–2.[8]

As an impending free agent, Hellberg left the NHL and signed a one-year contract to be the starting goaltender of Chinese club, Kunlun Red Star of the KHL, on 25 May 2017.[9] In the 2017–18 season, despite registering just 16 wins in 51 games, Hellberg was a standout for the underperforming Kunlun, posting a .926 save percentage.

Having earlier signed a one-year extension with Kunlun during the season, Hellberg was traded the following off-season by the Red Star, to perennial contending club, SKA Saint Petersburg in exchange for financial compensation on May 28, 2018.[10]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T/OT MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2010–11 Almtuna IS Allsv 31 — — — 1790 61 5 2.04 .935 — — — — — — — —
2011–12 Frölunda HC SHL 17 — — — 1016 42 2 2.48 .908 — — — — — — — —
2011–12 Örebro HK Allsv 1 1 0 0 61 2 0 1.98 .923 2 — — — — — 4.04 .884
2012–13 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 39 22 13 0 2107 75 6 2.14 .924 4 1 3 248 7 1 1.69 .944
2012–13 Cincinnati Cyclones ECHL 2 1 1 0 119 5 0 2.52 .923 — — — — — — — —
2013–14 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 21 5 13 1 1168 55 1 2.82 .911 — — — — — — — —
2013–14 Nashville Predators NHL 1 0 0 0 12 1 0 5.00 .750 — — — — — — — —
2013–14 Cincinnati Cyclones ECHL 7 5 1 1 394 19 0 2.89 .901 — — — — — — — —
2014–15 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 38 15 10 6 2007 78 3 2.33 .913 — — — — — — — —
2015–16 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 53 30 20 3 3098 124 3 2.40 .918 — — — — — — — —
2015–16 New York Rangers NHL 1 0 0 0 20 2 0 6.00 .667 — — — — — — — —
2016–17 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 36 12 15 5 1990 98 1 2.95 .903 — — — — — — — —
2016–17 New York Rangers NHL 2 1 1 0 79 2 0 1.52 .929 — — — — — — — —
2017–18 Kunlun Red Star KHL 51 16 26 3 2761 110 6 2.39 .926 — — — — — — — —
2018–19 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 34 24 7 3 2048 45 8 1.32 .940 10 7 2 571 16 1 1.68 .919
2019–20 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 26 14 7 3 1443 41 3 1.70 .927 2 2 0 173 2 1 0.69 .977
NHL totals 4 1 1 0 111 5 0 2.71 .868 — — — — — — — —
KHL totals 111 54 40 9 6,252 196 17 1.88 .930 12 9 2 744 18 2 1.45 .937
Medal record
Ice hockey
Representing  Sweden
World Championships
2018 Denmark

International
Year Team Event Result GP W L OT MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2018 Sweden WC 3 3 0 0 184 5 1 1.63 .938
Senior totals 3 3 0 0 184 5 1 1.63 .938

Awards and honours
Award Year
J20 Elit
East Best GAA (1.97) 2010
East Best SVS% (.929) 2010
AHL
All-Star Game 2015

References
  1. Gover, Jeremy K. "LIVE FROM THE NHL DRAFT: Preds 1st pick Magnus Hellberg speaks…". section303.com.
  2. Gover, Jeremy K. "LIVE FROM THE NHL DRAFT: Preds runner Nik debuts new jersey…". section303.com.
  3. "Five debut give ECHL 520 players to reach NHL". ECHL. 26 October 2013. Archived from the original on 7 November 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  4. Korac, Louie. "Steen's pair leads Blues past Predators". Nashville Predators.
  5. McKenna, Ryan (1 July 2015). "Rangers acquire Magnus Hellberg from Predators". Sportsnet. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  6. "Rangers' Magnus Hellberg: Back in AHL". CBS Sports. 11 March 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  7. "Rangers' Antti Raanta: Won't start due to injury". CBS Sports. 9 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  8. "Magnus Hellberg of Rangers gets first NHL win". National Hockey League. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  9. "HC Kunlun reach agreement with Magnus Hellberg". rsport.ru (in Russian). 25 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  10. "Magnus Hellberg traded to SKA" (in Russian). SKA Saint Petersburg. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
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