Chris Lindberg

Christopher Lawrence Lindberg (born April 16, 1967) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Lindberg was a member of the Canadian 1992 Winter Olympics ice hockey team, winning a silver medal. He played professionally in North America in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Calgary Flames and the Quebec Nordiques, but was also associated with the Hartford Whalers. He was claimed by the Ottawa Senators in the 1992 NHL expansion draft from Calgary; two days later, Lindberg was traded back to the Flames for Mark Osiecki. In total, Lindberg played 116 regular season games in the NHL, scoring 17 goals and 25 assists for 42 points, collecting 47 penalty minutes. He spent the remainder of his hockey career playing in leagues in Europe and minor leagues in North America.

Career Amateur Lindberg began playing junior hockey with the Estevan Bruins of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. He initially gave an oral commitment to join the University of Alaska Anchorage to play college hockey with their NCAA Division I Seawolves team. However, in May 1987, the Seawolves were informed that he instead signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). Lindberg made his debut with the Bulldogs in the 1987–88 season, scoring two goals in his first game. In his freshman year, he recorded 12 goals, and 10 assists for 22 points in 35 games. He returned for his sophomore season in 1988–89 and played in 36 games, registering 15 goals and 33 points. He was assigned to Hartford's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Binghamton Whalers, for the 1989–90 season after attending Hartford's training camp. After playing 20 games with Binghamton and only registering two goals and two assists, Lindberg was assigned to the Virginia Lancers of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) on December 12, 1989. He was recalled to Binghamton on February 14, 1990 but was returned to Virginia in March in a mutual agreement with management after appearing in 12 more games with the Whalers, scoring two more goals and two assists. In 26 games with the Lancers, he scored 11 goals and 34 points. The Lancers made the ECHL playoffs but lost to the Greensboro Monarchs in their quarterfinal series with Lindberg adding three assists in their four playoff games.

In the 1990 offseason, Hartford relocated its AHL affiliate from Binghamton to the Springfield Indians. The 1990–91 season was spent primarily playing with Canada's national team. However, in March 1991, Lindberg joined the Indians and played in their final game of the regular season. Springfield made the 1991 Calder Cup playoffs and ending up winning the Calder Cup. Lindberg played in one playoff game, going scoreless.

Calgary Flames Lindberg signed with the Calgary Flames in April 1991. but returned to the Canadian national team for the 1991–92 season. After national teammate Kent Manderville was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Lindberg became Calgary's top option to join the team in March 1992, once his term with the national team ended. He registered his first NHL point assisting on Paul Ranheim's third period goal in a 5–5 tie with the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 5. He recorded his first NHL goal on March 19 in a 3–1 victory over the San Jose Sharks, snapping a shot past goaltender Jeff Hackett in the second period to open the scoring in the game. Lindberg finished the season with two goals and seven points in 17 games. and was selected by the Senators in the 1992 NHL expansion draft on June 18. Flames' general manager Doug Risebrough attempted to prevent Lindberg's selection by reportedly striking a deal with the Lightning and the Senators ahead of the draft, but angrily departed the draft room after the Senators selected him. Rumours of his return to Calgary began shortly after the draft. Five days after the draft on June 23, Lindberg was traded back to the Flames for defenceman Mark Osiecki.

Lindberg began the 1992–93 season with the Flames, playing on the third line with Joel Otto and Paul Ranheim. By January 1993 he was playing on a line with Robert Reichel and Theoren Fleury. That same month, he injured his knee and missed time. Beginning in mid February, he began a period of being in and out of the lineup. He ended up appearing in 62 games, scoring nine goals and 21 points. He earned his first playoff point in the game assisting on Frantisek Musil's second period goal. He appeared in one more game before the Flames were eliminated by the Kings.

In the 1993 offseason, the NHL expanded again, adding the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers. Lindberg was again, left unprotected by Calgary for the 1993 NHL expansion draft. However, he was not selected by either of the expansion teams. The Flames offered Lindberg a termination contract in the offseason and on August 1, he informed the Flames that he would not return to the team.

Quebec Nordiques Lindberg signed a contract with the Quebec Nordiques in September 1993. He was invited to training camp and made the Nordiques, making his debut for the team in the season opener on October 6 against the Ottawa Senators. He recorded his first goal for Quebec on October 10, scoring the game winning goal against Ken Wregget in a 5–2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, he was assigned to Quebec's AHL affiliate, the Cornwall Aces, on November 24. He was recalled by Quebec on December 4 and remained with the Nordiques until January 15, 1994 when he was returned to Cornwall. He was recalled one last time on February 1 but pulled a muscle in his right hip and was sidelined. He returned from the injury and was assigned to Cornwall on March 9. He appeared in 37 games with Quebec, scoring six goals and 14 points. In 23 games with Cornwall, he scored 14 goals and 27 points. In 13 playoff games, Lindberg added 11 goals and 14 points and was the team's leading playoff scorer.

Germany and IHL An unrestricted free agent in the 1994 season he opted to sign overseas in Germany with the Krefelder EV 1981 of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) for the 1994–95 season. In 42 games, Lindberg scored 25 goals and 66 points. Krefelder made the DEL playoffs and Lindberg played in 15 playoff games, scoring four goals and 14 points. In 1996–97, Lindberg recorded 37 goals and 72 points in 47 games for Krefeld, He added only one assist in three playoff games for Krefeld. After playing four games with Grand Rapids and scoring seven points, he was forced to sit out three IHL games to complete his German suspension after complaints from other IHL teams. He returned to Germany after the suspension ended but the Grand Rapids continued to pursue him, especially after losing top scorer Michel Picard to the NHL. He returned to the Griffins again in January 1994 and in 18 games total with Grand Rapids, he scored eight goals and 22 points. His unauthorized departure from the team led him to be suspended by the IHL on February 23. Lindberg signed a contract with EV Zug of the Swiss National League A (NLA) while suspended. It was later revealed that the Griffins had not secured a proper release from the German team and that EV Zug had. He appeared in two regular season games for EV Zug, scoring one goal and two points. For the 1999–2000 season, Lindberg once again moved to a new team in the NLA, joining Zurich SC. He appeared in 22 games with Zurich, scoring five goals and 13 points. He joined Canada for the 1990 Spengler Cup, in which Canada advanced to the tournament final. In 1991, he continued playing for the national team, making appearances in exhibition games against other national teams. He appeared in 55 games for the national team in 1990–91, scoring 25 goals and 56 points.

After completing the NHL season with Calgary in 1992, Lindberg was invited to join Team Canada for the 1992 World Championship in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Canada was eliminated by Finland in the quarterfinals, 4–3. Lindberg scored in the game in an effort to come back from a 3–0 deficit. Lindberg recorded just the one goal in five games. However, the team were eliminated by the Cologne Sharks of the DEL in the round-robin portion of the tournament. In four games, he had two goals and four points. In December 2000 he was once again named to the Canadian team for the 2000 Spengler Cup. The team advanced to the Spengler Cup final but lost to HC Davos. Lindberg played in three games, registering just one assist. The Canadian team went on to defeat the defending champion HC Davos in the final to win the Spengler Cup. Lindberg recorded two assists in four games.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1985–86 Estevan Bruins SJHL 60 30 38 68 110 15 5 14 19 6 1987–88 University of Minnesota Duluth WCHA 35 12 10 22 36 — — — — — 1988–89 University of Minnesota Duluth WCHA 36 15 18 33 51 — — — — — 1989–90 Binghamton Whalers AHL 32 4 4 8 36 — — — — — 1989–90 Virginia Lancers ECHL 26 11 23 34 27 4 0 3 3 2 1990–91 Canada Intl 55 25 31 56 53 — — — — — 1990–91 Springfield Indians AHL 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1991–92 Canada Intl 56 33 35 68 63 — — — — — 1991–92 Calgary Flames NHL 17 2 5 7 17 — — — — — 1992–93 Calgary Flames NHL 62 9 12 21 18 2 0 1 1 2 1993–94 Quebec Nordiques NHL 37 6 8 14 12 — — — — — 1993–94 Cornwall Aces AHL 23 14 13 27 28 13 11 3 14 10 1994–95 Krefelder EV 1981 DEL 42 25 41 66 105 15 4 10 14 20 1995–96 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 49 19 34 53 96 6 6 8 14 8 1996–97 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 47 37 34 71 129 3 0 1 1 6 1996–97 Grasshopper Club Zürich SUI.2 — — — — — 1 0 0 0 0 1997–98 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 15 2 7 9 33 — — — — — 1997–98 Grand Rapids Griffins IHL 18 8 14 22 25 — — — — — 1997–98 EV Zug NDA 2 1 1 2 0 17 6 15 21 22 1998–99 SC Rapperswil–Jona NDA 43 22 28 50 114 5 1 2 3 4 1999–2000 ZSC Lions NLA 22 5 8 13 62 — — — — — 1999–2000 Canada Intl 9 2 6 8 8 — — — — — 2000–01 HC Lugano NLA 19 9 8 17 22 13 2 5 7 42 2001–02 EHC Olten SUI.2 4 4 4 8 8 — — — — — 2001–02 Genève–Servette HC SUI.2 3 2 2 4 4 5 3 4 7 4 2002–03 HC Ajoie SUI.2 37 21 35 56 152 5 2 1 3 14 2003–04 EC VSV AUT 23 7 21 28 28 — — — — — 2004–05 Nippon Paper Cranes ALH 29 13 32 45 76 8 6 1 7 12 NHL totals 116 17 25 42 47 2 0 1 1 2 DEL totals 153 83 116 199 363 24 10 19 29 34 NDA/NLA totals 86 37 45 82 198 35 9 22 31 68

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1992 Canada OG 8 1 4 5 4 1992 Canada WC 5 1 0 1 8 Senior totals 13 2 4 6 12