Lilja plans to stay in the NHL

A little bit more than a week ago, defensive defenseman Andreas Lilja of Detroit Red Wings became the first player born in the same province as me (Scania) to win the Stanley Cup. He came back to Sweden the other day, traveling home from the airport in a car that his family and friends had decorated with a bunch of red and white balloons and the text "Here comes Scania's first Stanley Cup Champion" at the back, and my local paper, Sydsvenskan, had a chat with him.

There have been talks about him returning to Malmö Redhawks from the city I live in, the team where he started his career, but he said in the interview that he has decided to stay in the NHL for at least 4 more years.

- I'm negotiating with Detroit about a new contract, but it was put on ice for the playoffs. I'm counting on everything being done soon.

Lilja said 2 weeks ago to Expressen, that he would be happy with a small raise and Expressen is predicting that he is looking for around $1.2 million per year.
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