New York Rangers center Lias Andersson has one of the most well known and respected former players watching his back in Stanley Cup Champion Adam Graves.
New York Rangers hockey and business representative Adam Graves was a guest on TSN 1050 Toronto radio on Monday and spoke quite highly of center Lias Andersson.
“He is a kid that will find a way to have an impact on the game every night because he is so hungry.”
Adam Graves on Lias Andersson's competitiveness and where the Rangers are https://t.co/2SvT0WfWKM pic.twitter.com/0ZhlbPNn5c
— SNYRangers (@SNYRangers) July 16, 2018
Of course, when talking about the 19-year-old center, the topic of him throwing his World Junior Championship silver medal into the stands came up.
Graves mentioned that anytime something like that occurs, people will bring it up. However, that isn’t the whole story behind Andersson.
Graves went on to tell TSN 1050 (as was reported by SNY.com) that Andersson is an “incredibly competitive young man and wore the ‘C’ for Sweden for a reason. He is a very well intentioned, character kid, loves to win, we were very fortunate to be able to draft him, along with Chytil, our other first round pick.”
As Graves mentions, Filip Chytil was also a first-round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft for the Rangers, selected 21st overall.
Lias Andersson had a very eventful 2017-18 campaign.
After attending the Rangers training camp in September, he went back to Sweden to continue his season there.
Andersson then went on to play for Team Sweden in the 2018 World Junior Championships and after suffering a small injury, it was decided he would stay in North America and play for the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Rangers’ AHL affiliate.
Andersson was called up to the New York Rangers in March and played in seven games scoring one goal and one assist.
Andersson has the right guy watching over him as his NHL career is set to begin this season.
The kid can’t go wrong having Graves, a fan favorite, help him battle through this roller coaster ride that is an Original Six team in New York City.
