Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
NHL World Cup Of Hockey: Sweden
Sweden will be a very strong team at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. They have an advantage over Canada and America: they can use NHL players that are younger than 23 years old.
FORWARDS: Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Steen, Gustav Nyquist, Filip Forsberg, Jakub Silfverberg, Gabriel Landeskog, Marcus Kruger, Johan Franzen, Patric Hornqvist, Loui Eriksson, Elias Lindholm
That’s a very strong forward group that will rival that of Canada and the United States. They arguably have the second deepest forward group at this tournament, just behind Canada. Should Franzen retire for 2016, look for Andre Burakovsky, Mika Zibanejad or Carl Hagelin to make the team instead. Three of the best young Swedish forwards in the NHL.
DEFENSEMEN: Erik Karlsson, Niklas Kronwall, Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, John Klingberg, Hampus Lindholm, Niklas Hjalmarsson
With their forward group, Sweden must have puck movers. That’s precisely what they have in this blue line group. Kronwall and Karlsson will anchor this blue line. Hedman will help as well. Hjalmarsson is quietly one of the best shot blockers in the NHL.
GOALIES: Henrik Lundqvist, Jhonas Enroth, Eddie Lack
King Henrik will clearly be the starting goalie. Enroth is a fairly safe bet to be one of the two backups. Lack seems to have a lock on the third spot, as he’s a quickly improving NHL goalie.
Next: Team Russia