Men's hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy will start on February 11. The first 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 were some snubs from the Sweden roster. Regardless, the group that was put together is elite and will be making a run at the gold medal in 2026.
Sweden finished third in the Four Nations Face-Off last year, sitting behind the two Olympic favorites, Canada and the United States. They hope to avenge that third-place finish with a gold medal at the Milano Cortina 2026 Games. They also look to rebound from some disappointing finishes at the Olympics in recent years.
Sweden won the gold medal at the Lillehammer games in 1994, and then again in Turin, Italy, in the 2006 games. They would come away with Silver in 2014 at Sochi, but in the last two Olympics, have a fifth and fourth place finish. Sweden has competed in hockey at the Olympics since 1920, playing in each tournament with the exception of 1932 in Lake Placid and 1976 in Innsbruck. They have never finished worse than fifth place, while winning the gold twice, silver three times, and the bronze four times. The team has also never played in three straight Olympic games without winning at least one medal in the time frame.
The team is primed to win a medal this year, and the color of that medal is going to be gold.
Sweden has positive experience from the Four Nations Face-Off
Sweden did not make a ton of changes from their Four Nations Face-Off roster to the Olympic one. At forward, Viktor Arvidsson, Erik Karlsson, and Gustav Nyqvist were dropped. Joining the roster are Pontus Holmberg, Gabriel Landeskog, Rickard Rakell, and Alexander Wennberg. The Olympic roster has one more forward position.
Meanwhile, on defense, Mattias Ekholm was the only drop as Philip Broberg and Oliver Ekman-Larsson joined the roster. In goal, Samuel Ersson and Linus Ullmark are no longer on the roster, but Jacob Markstrom, who was on the original roster for Sweden at the Four Nations Face-off but was injured, and Jesper Wallstedt are set to play.
Beyond the changes, Sweden showed they can compete with the top teams in the world at the tournament last year. They took Canada to overtime in the first game of the tournament, but fell. They would then take a 4-3 overtime victory over Sweden in the second game. The final game of the group stage was against the United States, 2-1. Still, it was after the US team had already clinched a spot in the finals. Regardless, the Four Nations Face-Off was comprised of the top four teams in the IIHF Rankings at the time, so Sweden has already shown, they can hang with the best.
The defense will lead the way
Defense is going to be the key for Team Sweden, and the defense is loaded. Victor Hedman and Erik Karlsson lead the way. Both of them are former Norris Trophy winners and two top defencemen in the NHL. Adding to the group is the young star Rasmus Dahlin. He has continued to produce on Sabres teams that have struggled. Even as the Sabres are playing better this season, he continues to be a major part of the growth of the team. Gustav Forsling brings championship experience, winning the Stanley Cup twice with the Florida Panthers. The weakest player on the blue line may be Philip Broberg, who has burst onto the scene over the last season and a half. This earned Broberg a massive contract extension.
Beyond the blue line, they have 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 best centers from opposing teams. He can slow down players such as Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Jack Eichel. Meanwhile, Postus Holmberg has shown himself to be a solid two-way forward, as has Adrian Kempe.
In the goal, there is the combination of Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt, both from the Minnesota Wild. The tandem has been amazing this year. The Wild are third in the NHL in goals against this year, allowing just 2.65 goals per game. Further, they are second in the NHL with a .917 save percentage. While the Wild has a solid blue line, it does not compare to the blue line of this team. That fact will only make this tandem better.
Group B was a solid draw for Sweden
Sweden got a great draw for the Olympics. While all 12 teams make the tournament, the three group winners, as well as 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 in the tournament in the IIHF rankings. They are the only team that has not named a full roster yet, but of the first 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 Ducks. The goaltender has played just two AHL games before returning to Sweden. Players like Jesper Bratt and William Nylander will be able to score with ease and help their goal differential.
Game two is the difficult one. That is the game against Finland. Sweden beat them in the Four-Nations Face-Off, and the Swedes have lost to the Finns just 19 times in 83 games against each other. The Finnish roster will be missing Aleksander Barkov, but it does add Mikko Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen to the roster.
The final game is against Slovakia. Slovakia has Juraj Slafkosvsky and Simon Nemec, who won bronze in 2022 when NHL players were not playing in the game. The top end of the roster is filled with current and former HL studs, such as Slafkocsky, Tomas Tatar, and Martin Fehervary. Still, the depth is not there, and goaltending will be an issue for the team.
Even if Sweden loses to Finland, if they can get the game to overtime, it should give them a bye to the quarterfinals. Still, the other groups are more difficult, which will hurt the second-place finishers. Group A has Canada, Czechia, and Switzerland, three of the top five-ranked teams in the tournament. Meanwhile, the United States has Germany and Latvia in the group. They are ranked eighth and ninth in the current IIHF rankings.
Sweden could be the top team in the quarterfinals, which should get them to the semifinals. At that point, the team has the talent to make the run, and will in 2026.
