Throughout the summer and into the fall, we’ll be counting down the days until the Edmonton Oilers begin their 2023-24 season with a daily trip down memory lane. Today at No. 19 we have Willy Lindstrom, a WHA star who won two Stanley Cups with the Oilers.

Willy Lindstrom made history as one of the earliest Swedish players to venture into North American professional hockey. His journey took him first to the World Hockey Association (WHA) and then to the National Hockey League (NHL), where he left an enduring impact on the sport.

Lindstrom’s North American career began in the mid-1970s when he decided to test his skills on the other side of the Atlantic. He joined the Winnipeg Jets of the WHA in 1975, marking an early wave of European talent making its way to North American ice.

Lindstrom quickly made a name for himself with the Winnipeg Jets, known for his speed and scoring ability. In the 1976-77 season, he racked up 65 points, establishing himself as a rising star in the renegade league. His defining moment came in 1979 when he scored the goal that clinched the Avco Cup for the Jets during the WHA Finals, the last in the league’s history.

The Jets made Lindstrom among the players they protected when they made the transition from the WHA to the NHL the following season. Lindstrom scored 77 goals and 143 points across 225 games over his first three seasons in the NHL and the Oilers traded for him in 1983 to add a scorer to their top-six.

The Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Finals in Lindstrom’s first season in Edmonton but they were swept by the New York Islanders. He became an important depth scorer on the Oilers and was involved in the team’s first two Stanley Cups in 1984 and 1985, scoring five goals in both playoff runs.

Lindstrom spent two more seasons after that with the Pittsburgh Penguins and three more with Brynäs IF in Sweden before retiring in 1990.