Sundström was drafted 175th overall by the
Vancouver Canucks in the
1980 NHL entry draft. One of the best players developed by
IF Björklöven in
Umeå, with whom he played for three full seasons, in 1982 he headed overseas to play in the
NHL with the
Vancouver Canucks. Sundström played in
Vancouver for five seasons before being traded to the
New Jersey Devils on September 15, 1987 for
Kirk McLean,
Greg Adams and New Jersey's second round choice (
Leif Rohlin) in the
1988 NHL entry draft. Sundström would play another five seasons with the Devils. by recording eight
points (three
goals and five
assists) in New Jersey's 10-4 victory over the
Washington Capitals in Game 3 of the
Patrick Division Final. This broke the previous record of seven points, recorded on three occasions by
Wayne Gretzky while with the
Edmonton Oilers. After leaving the NHL in 1992, he returned to Sweden to play the 1992-1993 season for Björklöven and was a contributing factor to them being promoted back to the
Swedish Elite League (SEL) in 1993. Sundström scored a total of 588 points (219 goals, 369 assists) in 679 regular season NHL games and 86 points (41 goals, 45 assists) in 115 games in the SEL. Sundström represented
Sweden at the
1980 and
1982 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He also represented Sweden in 31 official
"caps" including the
1981,
1982 World Ice Hockey Championships, the
1981 and the
1984 Canada Cups. At present, he works with youth ice hockey in Umeå. He is the father of former
New Jersey Devils prospect
Alexander Sundström, and twin brother of
Peter Sundström who also played in the NHL. His father, Elon Sundström, and uncle, Kjell Sundström, both played ice hockey at the highest level in Sweden. ==Career statistics==