As for his father, Lars Molgaard played 15 years of professional hockey in Europe, often as a teammate of Todd Bjorkstrand, the father of former Kraken forward Oliver Bjorkstrand. Young Bjorkstrand has the fourth-most appearances among Danish NHL players, and Fiske Molgaard is the 18th player to make his debut, according to Quant Hockey. In 1966, Poul Popiel became the NHL's first Danish-born player, although he moved to Canada at age 8 and learned hockey there. In 2007, the first native Dane to play in the NHL was Frans Nielsen. He is currently a Kraken player development consultant based in Europe.
“Frances was a great mentor for Oscar,” Lars Molgaard said in the stands on Thursday night. “They’ve been working together since the Kraken drafted Oscar.”
For the record: Oscar grew up thinking about the NHL
When asked about how her son's hockey dreams became a reality, first the 2023 NHL draft and now an NHL game, Trine Fisker recalled a video Oscar made when she was 10 years old.
“He was very clear that his ultimate goal was to play in the NHL,” his mom said. “It was all his idea and his dream.”
After the game, Fisker Molgaard grinned and confirmed he remembered commenting to the NHL on film: “Yeah, so now that's a really, really funny video.”
While waiting for warmups — which his parents and younger brother finished with 10 minutes remaining — Chicago attorney Nick Fucinato made his way from his regular seats high up in the Chicago Arena to the 100-seat arena. Fucinato's sister married into the Fisker Molgaard family and lives in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. Fusinato put on his usual Blackhawks jersey but donned a new Kraken ball cap to say hello and congratulations to Oscar's parents. Fusinato also displayed two handmade signs cheering for his Seattle Kraken cousins in Danish.
The year 2025 has given a boost to the career of Kraken rookie Oscar Fisker Molgaard. In September 2024, at the age of 19, he began his third and final regular season in Sweden's top professional league, then represented his native Denmark during the winter break at the 2025 IIHF World Juniors and celebrated his 20th birthday in mid-February.
He then scored twice in six relegation play-off games at the end of March to help HV71 professional club avoid relegation. With work done in Europe, the 2023 second-rounder (No. 52 overall) happily played seven games over three weeks in April for American Hockey League affiliate Coachella Valley. He scored two goals and had an assist in seven AHL games while impressing Firebirds head coach Derek Laksdahl before joining the Denmark national team for six weeks.
The Canadians, including teammate Brandon Montour on Thursday night, are well aware that Fisk Molgaard is a vital part of Denmark's bid to advance to the IIHF Men's World Championship for the first time ever. Led by Fisker Molgaard, Denmark beat Canada in the quarter-finals in front of a rapturous home crowd before finishing fourth in the tournament, the country's highest ever ranking. That same week, Nielsen was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame for his work with Denmark in international competition.
