Toronto rookie forward Viktor Stalberg was on the Joe Louis Arena ice, warming up before Friday's preseason game, when he took a moment to let the significance sink in. He looked across the ice at the Red Wings and saw fellow Swedes Nicklas Lidstrom, Johan Franzen and Niklas Kronwall.
Three former Stanley Cup winners. All heroes back home.
"It was almost like a dream," Stalberg said. "It was great."
But the star-gazing stopped there.
By the time the exhibition game neared its completion, it was Kronwall who was impressed—enough to kiddingly ask Stalberg not to get a hat trick.
"You could see the Red Wings a few times just turned and retreated when they saw (Stalberg) pick up the puck," Toronto coach Ron Wilson said after the Leafs' win. "He really does have blinding speed. It's amazing at ice level to see someone skating that fast."
That's not the only amazing thing. Stalberg isn't the only rookie turning heads in Toronto.
Before being sent back to his junior team in London, Ont., f...
Original Story:
http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/artic...
Original Story:
http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/artic...
