Career
He is currently a European scout with the Vancouver Canucks. Inge played his first hockey games at the top national league level in 1963 for Timrå IK, at the age of 15. In 1973, Hammarström became the first player from Timrå IK ever to play in the National Hockey League. He went on to spend five seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs and two for the Saint His career ended in 1982, aged 35, after another three seasons with Brynäs IF. After his playing career ended, Hammarström began working as a European-based hockey scout, including a stint with Central Scouting.
From 1990 to 2008, he was the chief European scout for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Most famously, Hammarström is credited with being the scout who pushed the hardest for Philadelphia to select Peter Forsberg with the sixth overall pick of the 1991 National Hockey League Entry Draft. At the time, the pick was considered a surprise — and a bit of a gamble.
Forsberg had been ranked considerably lower by The Hockey News in its 1991 Draft Preview, and most observers expected the player to be taken late in the first round or early in the second round of the draft.