Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis was quickly becoming a mainstay in Nashville when the WCE was rolling. The best compliment paid to Naslund was the manner in which Predators coach Barry Trotz tried to keep a player still learning the ropes from being schooled by the master.
"The years I played against him, I was a young player and the coach tried to keep me away from him," said Hamhuis. "Markus could score from anywhere and was very dynamic. He was fun to watch but a real challenge to play against."
There's truth in advertising:
"There are less than a handful of players in this game who can take a play where there’s nothing—I mean no room, no pass, no shot, no play—and turn it into a scoring chance. That’s what the truly exceptional players like Markus can do for you. It’s a creativity that only that type of superstar can see... and then they have the ability to make it look easy.” - Marc Crawford
"The best way I could describe it was instant impact," recalled former Columbus, Dallas and Philadelphia coach Ken Hitchcock. "I felt when he was on the ice that if you made a mistake, he made you pay a big price. When you're on the bench against him, you could almost feel a goal coming. When he was hanging on to the puck — and he had it for more than 10 seconds in the offensive zone — you knew something really bad was going to happen for your team."
Team Sweden:
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| Näslund played with Sundin for Sweden. |
He won Gold in the 1990 European Junior Championships, and won silver with team Sweden in the 1992 and 1993 World Junior Championships.
He represented Sweden in the Olympics in 2002, ranking fourth on the team in scoring.
Read more about his international accomplishments here.
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