Men’s hockey on the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy will start on February 11. The primary game of the group stage features Slovakia and Finland in Group B. Later that night, host national Italy will take to the stage, playing against Sweden. Team Sweden has a solid roster, but there have been some snubs from the Sweden roster. Regardless, the group that was put together is elite and might be making a run on the gold medal in 2026.
Sweden finished third within the 4 Nations Face-Off last yr, sitting behind the 2 Olympic favorites, Canada and the US. They hope to avenge that third-place finish with a gold medal on the Milano Cortina 2026 Games. In addition they look to rebound from some disappointing finishes on the Olympics lately.
Sweden won the gold medal on the Lillehammer games in 1994, and on the other hand in Turin, Italy, within the 2006 games. They’d come away with Silver in 2014 at Sochi, but within the last two Olympics, have a fifth and fourth place finish. Sweden has competed in hockey on the Olympics since 1920, playing in each tournament excluding 1932 in Lake Placid and 1976 in Innsbruck. They’ve never finished worse than fifth place, while winning the gold twice, silver thrice, and the bronze 4 times. The team has also never played in three straight Olympic games without winning no less than one medal in the timeframe.
The team is primed to win a medal this yr, and the colour of that medal goes to be gold.
Sweden has positive experience from the 4 Nations Face-Off
Sweden didn’t make a ton of changes from their 4 Nations Face-Off roster to the Olympic one. At forward, Viktor Arvidsson, William Karlsson, and Gustav Nyqvist were dropped. Joining the roster are Pontus Holmberg, Gabriel Landeskog, Rickard Rakell, and Alexander Wennberg. The Olympic roster has yet one more forward position.
Meanwhile, on defense, Mattias Ekholm was the one drop as Philip Broberg and Oliver Ekman-Larsson joined the roster. In goal, Samuel Ersson and Linus Ullmark aren’t any longer on the roster, but Jacob Markstrom, who was on the unique roster for Sweden on the 4 Nations Face-off but was injured, and Jesper Wallstedt are set to play.
Beyond the changes, Sweden showed they will compete with the highest teams on the planet on the tournament last yr. They took Canada to additional time in the primary game of the tournament, but fell. They’d then take a 4-3 additional time victory over Sweden within the second game. The ultimate game of the group stage was against the US, 2-1. Still, it was after the US team had already clinched a spot within the finals. Regardless, the 4 Nations Face-Off was comprised of the highest 4 teams within the IIHF Rankings on the time, so Sweden has already shown, they will hang with the most effective.
The defense will paved the way
Defense goes to be the important thing for Team Sweden, and the defense is loaded. Victor Hedman and Erik Karlsson paved the way. Each of them are former Norris Trophy winners and two top defencemen within the NHL. Adding to the group is the young star Rasmus Dahlin. He has continued to supply on Sabres teams which have struggled. Whilst the Sabres are playing higher this season, he continues to be a significant a part of the expansion of the team. Gustav Forsling brings championship experience, winning the Stanley Cup twice with the Florida Panthers. The weakest player on the blue line could also be Philip Broberg, who has burst onto the scene during the last season and a half. This earned Broberg an enormous contract extension.
Beyond the blue line, they’ve some quality forwards who will provide defense. Joel Eriksson Ek is a top-quality center who has the defensive ability to match up with the most effective centers from opposing teams. He can decelerate players akin to Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Jack Eichel. Meanwhile, Postus Holmberg has shown himself to be a solid two-way forward, as has Adrian Kempe.
Within the goal, there’s the mix of Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt, each from the Minnesota Wild. The tandem has been amazing this yr. The Wild are third within the NHL in goals against this yr, allowing just 2.65 goals per game. Further, they’re second within the NHL with a .917 save percentage. While the Wild has a solid blue line, it doesn’t compare to the blue line of this team. That fact will only make this tandem higher.
Group B was a solid draw for Sweden
Sweden got an awesome draw for the Olympics. While all 12 teams make the tournament, the three group winners, in addition to the best-ranked second-place team, get an automatic bye to the quarterfinals. Sweden is in a solid spot to get a bye to the quarterfinal.
They open the tournament against Italy. Italy has faced Sweden 24 times overall, and has not have a win, with three draws and 21 losses. Further, Italy is the lowest-ranked team of the 12 within the tournament within the IIHF rankings. They’re the one team that has not named a full roster yet, but of the primary six named. None of them is an NHL player. Damian Clara was named to the roster and was a 2023 Draft pick of the Anaheim Geese. The goaltender has played just two AHL games before returning to Sweden. Players like Jesper Bratt and William Nylander will have the option to attain with ease and help their goal differential.
Game two is the difficult one. That’s the game against Finland. Sweden beat them within the 4-Nations Face-Off, and the Swedes have lost to the Finns just 19 times in 83 games against one another. The Finnish roster might be missing Aleksander Barkov, but it surely does add Mikko Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen to the roster.
The ultimate game is against Slovakia. Slovakia has Juraj Slafkosvsky and Simon Nemec, who won bronze in 2022 when NHL players weren’t playing in the sport. The highest end of the roster is crammed with current and former HL studs, akin to Slafkocsky, Tomas Tatar, and Martin Fehervary. Still, the depth will not be there, and goaltending might be a difficulty for the team.
Even when Sweden loses to Finland, in the event that they can get the sport to additional time, it should give them a bye to the quarterfinals. Still, the opposite groups are tougher, which can hurt the second-place finishers. Group A has Canada, Czechia, and Switzerland, three of the highest five-ranked teams within the tournament. Meanwhile, the US has Germany and Latvia within the group. They’re ranked eighth and ninth in the present IIHF rankings.
Sweden could possibly be the highest team within the quarterfinals, which should get them to the semifinals. At that time, the team has the talent to make the run, and can in 2026.