Niklas Hagman was born December 5, 1979 in Espoo, Finland. The 3rd choice, 70th overall selection of the Florida Panthers in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, Hagman spent four seasons with HIFK Helsinki in the Finnish Junior League and parts of two seasons with HIFK Helsinki of the Finnish Elite League before joining Espoo for the 1999-2000 season.
After only 14 games with Espoo, Hagman joined Karpat Oulu in the Finnish Division I League for the remainder of the 1999-2000 season before leading Karpat Oulu in goals 28 and finishing second in points 46.
In his first full season in the NHL with Florida, Hagman suited up for 78 games, tallying 28 points (10-18-28) and has been one of the team's more durable players since his arrival. However, despite his productive play with Florida he was traded to the Dallas Stars in December of 2005.
In the summer of 2006, Hagman signed a two-year contract with the Dallas Stars. The following season, Hagman was one of three players on the Stars to compete in every game and he tallied a 17 goals. He bettered his goal output the following season, scoring a career high 27 goals and 41 points. Despite his increase in production, the Stars opted not to re-sign Hagman who would sign a four-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On the international stage Hagman is a two-time member of Finland's World Junior Team (1998-1999), a four-time member of its World Championship team (2002-2005), a two time member of its Olympic team (2002,2006) and World Cup team in 2004.
On January 31, 2010, Hagman was shipped to the Calgary Flames as part of a seven player trade that saw the Maple Leafs acquire Dion Phaneuf.
