albelin has, over the course of a 24-year professional career, played a total of 952 games for three nhl teams: the quebec nordiques, the new jersey devils, and the calgary flames. albelin was drafted 152nd overall by quebec in the 1983 nhl entry draft. before joining the club he played five seasons for djurgårdens if in the swedish elitserien, winning the swedish championship in his first year (1982–83). albelin left for quebec upon the conclusion of the 1986-87 season. he played a year and a half for the nordiques before being traded to new jersey. it would be with the devils that he would play 10 seasons for and win two stanley cups, in 1995 and 2003. in 1996, he was traded to calgary, but he signed to play with new jersey again in 2001. his best season was the 1988–89 season when he put up 37 points. albelin announced his retirement from hockey on 29 july 2004, however the devils re-signed him in december 2005 (abbreviating his retirement after he had practiced with the team as an unsigned player for nearly half the season). he finished out his final year in 2006 playing for the devils.