Thommy Abrahamsson

Long before the Sedin twins, Sweden offered hockey fans the Abrahamsson twins.

Thommy was one of Sweden's greatest players of the 1970s. North American fans had a chance to witness that for themselves when he and twin brother Christer signed with the WHA's New England Whalers for the 1975-75 season.

Christer was plagued by injuries and never really amounted to much in the WHA and never made it to the NHL. Thommy's subtle brilliance was on display for New England area fans, starring on defense for three seasons in the WHA (scoring 28 goals and 95 points in 203 WHA games) before returning home to Leksands for three more years. He returned to the Whalers in 1980-81, who of course by now had joined the NHL. Injuries limited him to 32 NHL games where he scored 6 goals and 17 points.

Thommy would return to Sweden to continue playing while also scouting for the Whalers and operating his sporting goods store he and Christer had opened up some years earlier.

I mentioned that Thommy was a star player in Sweden before coming to North America. He represented Sweden at five world championships as well as the 1972 Olympics. He was the Swedish Player of the Year in 1973. A small furor erupted when the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation purposely left Thommy off of the 1976 Canada Cup squad. Other players threatened to boycott the team unless he was included, but he diffused the situation by encouraging his teammates to go without him.