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Danish Delight: Boedker, Nielsen and Larsen sign with Finnish club

nielsengetty

Three locked-out NHLers -- Phoenix’s Mikkel Boedker, New York Islanders’ Frans Nielsen and Dallas’ Philip Larsen -- have agreed to play for SM-liiga squad Rauman Lukko, according to the team website.

Now Lukko might want to consider relocating to Denmark.

Why? Well, Boedker, Nielsen and Larsen represent half of the NHL’s Danish contingent -- in fact, the only Danes not making the trek to Lukko are Ottawa’s Peter Regin, Vancouver’s Hannik Hansen and Montreal’s Lars Eller.

The Danish trio is a major coup for a Lukko team light on NHL experience. The only player on the roster with any pedigree is winger Lauri Tukonen (five games with the LA Kings), although the club has history with snagging locked-out NHLers.

During the last work stoppage, both Hal Gill and Dwayne Roloson played for Lukko.

As for the current lockout, Lukko’s biggest score has to be Nielsen, who is coming off a career-best 17G-30A-47PTS campaign.

Nielsen’s breakout campaign also included a four-year, $11 million extension from the Isles and some noteworthy finishes in two awards categories: 20th in Lady Byng voting and 22nd in Selke voting.

Lukko should also be buoyed by the presence of Boedker. He had an impressive postseason campaign with the Coyotes, one in which he scored eight points in 16 games (including a pair of game-winning OT goals against Chicago.)