Dan Labraaten

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SwedenSweden  Dan Labraaten Ice hockey player
Date of birth 5th September 1951
place of birth Arvika , Sweden
size 176 cm
Weight 76 kg
position Left wing
Shot hand Right
Career stations
until 1969 Grums IK
1969-1976 Leksands IF
1976-1988 Winnipeg Jets
1978-1981 Detroit Red Wings
1981-1982 Calgary Flames
1982-1988 Leksands IF

Dan Labraaten (born September 5, 1951 in Arvika ) is a former Swedish ice hockey player and scout , who played 276 games for the Detroit Red Wings and Calgary Flames in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1965 and 1988. and 135 other games for the Winnipeg Jets in the World Hockey Association (WHA) on the position of left winger has played. But Labraaten spent most of his career in his Swedish homeland at Leksands IF , with whom he won three championship titles. With the Winnipeg Jets he celebrated winning the Avco World Trophy in 1978 . In addition, he became vice world and European champion with the Swedish national team in 1986 . Both his younger brother Ulf and his cousin Thomas Steen were professional ice hockey players.

Career

Labraaten played until shortly before his 18th birthday for Grums IK , whose junior division he went through. During the 1965/66 season, the striker had made his debut in the first team of his home club in the then second-rate Division 2 . At the age of 15 he had already established himself as a regular in the team. Also during his junior years, Labraaten took part in the prestigious TV swaddling tournament with the national team of the Värmland province , in which the striker led the provincial team to the title. He himself was awarded the Sven Tumbas scholarship as the best striker in the competition.

In the 1969/70 season , the talent left his home club from Grums and moved to the up-and-coming Leksands IF in the first-class Division 1 . There, too, he quickly managed to adapt to the higher division and - as in previous years - he collected more than 20 scorer points per season. The seven seasons in Leksand were also very successful, as the winger won three championship titles in a row with the team between 1973 and 1975 . He also received a nomination for the Swedish All-Star Team of the Year in 1975 and 1976, consisting of the best Swedish players of the season from home and abroad.

With the successes in his luggage and good performances in the jersey of the Swedish national team , the offensive player dared the leap to North America in the summer of 1976, where he signed a contract with the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Jets signed numerous players from Scandinavia at that time . The Swede made a good impression in his first year in the WHA. He collected 51 points scorer in the regular season and was one of the top five scorers with a further 24 points in the playoffs, in which Winnipeg was defeated in the final series by the Nordiques de Québec . In the following season, Labraaten successfully completed his two-year commitment in Winnipeg by winning the Avco World Trophy . After his contract with the Jets expired, he stayed in North America, but moved as a free agent to the rival league National Hockey League (NHL). There he was henceforth on the ice for the Detroit Red Wings . After two solid years, in which he was able to come up with 19 goals in his NHL rookie season and increased this value to 30 in the following season, the striker started weakly in the 1980/81 season . After he had scored only eleven times in 44 missions until the beginning of February 1981, he was transferred to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Earl Ingarfield junior . There he was finally active until the end of the 1981/82 season before he returned to his homeland in Sweden after six years in Canada and the United States.

Back in Sweden, Labraaten was back on the ice for Leksands IF in the top division now trading under the name Elitserien . However, the following six years were not nearly as successful in terms of sport as before he switched in the mid-1970s. Although the attacker was able to win the title of top scorer in the Elitserien with 44 scorer points in his second year, he only made it into the playoffs once in the six seasons. After the 1987/88 season, the 37-year-old finally ended his active career.

Immediately after his career ended, Labraaten received an offer from the New Jersey Devils in the NHL for the 1988/89 season to work for them as a scout on the European player market . The ex-player held this position for over 28 years by the end of the 2015/16 season . He then worked in the same position for the Vegas Golden Knights for two years between 2016 and 2018 before retiring at the age of 66.

International

For his home country, Labraaten completed a total of six world championships with the Swedish national team as well as the Canada Cup in 1976 . In the junior division he played three European junior championships between 1968 and 1970 . He was able to win a total of eight medals in both age groups.

With the Swedish U19 national team, the striker took part in the European Championships three times in a row between 1968 and 1970. He scored 14 times in 15 European Championship games and won the U19 European Junior Championship in 1968 | 1968 the bronze medal and silver in 1969 and 1970 . He also competed equally successfully in the men's world championships. He completed his first world championship in 1974 in the Finnish capital Helsinki , where he won the bronze medal with the team. The same rank in the final ranking he achieved with the Tre Kronor in the world championships in 1975 , 1976 and 1979 . The best placement achieved Labraaten at his last World Cup in 1986 in Moscow , when he won the silver medal. Only at the Canada Cup in 1976 and the World Cup in 1985 did the attacker fail to win a medal in his international appearances. He also won four bronze and one silver medals at the European championships that were played at the same time.

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1965/66 Grums IK Division 2 Statistics not available
1966/67 Grums IK Division 2 22nd 7th
1967/68 Grums IK Division 2 19th 14th 9 23
1968/69 Grums IK Division 2 21st 18th 9 27
1969/70 Leksands IF Division 1 28 14th 9 23 4th
1970/71 Leksands IF Division 1 23 13 14th 27 11
1971/72 Leksands IF Division 1 28 12 8th 20th 12
1972/73 Leksands IF Division 1 28 17th 10 27 25th
1973/74 Leksands IF Division 1 33 17th 16 33 6th
1974/75 Leksands IF Division 1 30th 24 14th 38 40
1975/76 Leksands IF Elitserien 16 13 9 22nd 6th 4th 2 0 2
1976/77 Winnipeg Jets WHA 64 24 27 51 21st 20th 7th 17th 24 15th
1977/78 Winnipeg Jets WHA 47 18th 16 34 30th 4th 1 1 2 8th
1978/79 Detroit Red Wings NHL 78 19th 19th 38 8th - - - - -
1979/80 Detroit Red Wings NHL 76 30th 27 57 8th - - - - -
1980/81 Detroit Red Wings NHL 44 3 8th 11 12 - - - - -
1980/81 Calgary Flames NHL 27 9 7th 16 13 5 1 0 1 4th
1981/82 Calgary Flames NHL 43 10 12 22nd 6th 3 0 0 0 0
1982/83 Leksands IF Elitserien 30th 9 10 19th 26th - - - - -
1983/84 Leksands IF Elitserien 36 23 21st 44 14th - - - - -
1984/85 Leksands IF Elitserien 27 15th 14th 29 14th - - - - -
1985/86 Leksands IF Elitserien 36 20th 12 32 18th - - - - -
1986/87 Leksands IF Elitserien 31 17th 14th 31 14th - - - - -
1987/88 Leksands IF Elitserien 24 9 7th 16 10 3 0 0 0 2
Division 2 total 62 39 18th 57
Division 1 / Elitserien total 370 203 158 361 200 7th 2 0 2 2
NHL overall 268 71 73 144 47 8th 1 0 1 4th
WHA total 111 42 43 85 51 24 8th 18th 26th 23

International

Represented Sweden at:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1968 Sweden U19 European Championship 3rd place, bronze 5 5 2 7th 0
1969 Sweden U19 European Championship 2nd place, silver 5 3
1970 Sweden U19 European Championship 2nd place, silver 5 6th
1974 Sweden WM 3rd place, bronze 9 2 0 2 8th
1975 Sweden WM 3rd place, bronze 10 9 1 10 12
1976 Sweden WM 3rd place, bronze 10 5 3 8th 8th
1976 Sweden Canada Cup 4th Place 5 0 1 1 2
1979 Sweden WM 3rd place, bronze 8th 1 1 2 4th
1985 Sweden WM 6th place 10 2 2 4th 6th
1986 Sweden WM 2nd place, silver 8th 0 3 3 2
Juniors overall 15th 14th
Men overall 60 19th 11 30th 42

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Labraaten, Dan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish ice hockey player and scout
DATE OF BIRTH 5th September 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Arvika , Sweden