Sweden

Team Sweden

The best jerseys in the field. 

Forwards

The Swedish forward group is easily one of the three best groups in the tournament.

With their skating ability and scoring threats deep through the The group is battling injuries- they lost Johan Franzen due to lasting effects from a concussion and Henrik Sedin to rib issues- but they were still able to replace those top-six forwards with NHL talent in Marcus Johansson and Gustav Nyquist.

Player	Team	Pos	OGVT	DGVT	GVT	Rel Corsi	Competition
Alexander Steen	STL	LW/C	18.2	3.5	21.7	7.8	1.7
Henrik Zetterberg	DET	C	14.0	5.5	19.5	8.3	1.4
Nicklas Backstrom	WSH	C	16.1	2.0	18.1	6.0	0.5
Henrik Sedin	VAN	C	12.4	4.7	17.1	19.3	1.0
Daniel Sedin	VAN	LW	12.2	3.9	16.1	16.5	0.9
Johan Franzen	DET	RW	8.9	3.3	12.2	-1.4	0.8
Carl Hagelin	NYR	LW	5.1	4.9	10.0	3.6	0.7
Daniel Alfredsson	DET	RW	6.2	2.5	8.7	-0.3	0.9
Gabriel Landeskog	COL	LW	6.7	1.8	8.5	7.8	1.9
Patrik Berglund	STL	C	4.3	4.0	8.3	6.1	0.4
Loui Eriksson	BOS	LW	5.5	1.6	7.1	27.5	0.6
Marcus Kruger	CHI	C	2.4	4.5	6.9	-18.6	0.9
Jakob Silfverberg	ANA	RW	2.9	2.8	5.7	-1.5	0.1
Jimmie Ericsson	SWE	LW/RW	–	–	–	–	–
OGVT: Offensive goals versus threshold, 2013 and 2013-14 combined DGVT: Defensive goals versus threshold, 2013 and 2013-14 combined GVT: Goals versus threshold, 2013 and 2013-14 combined Rel Corsi: Shot attempt differential when on ice vs. off ice, 2013-14 (zero is average) Competition: Level of competition based on Corsi Rel QoC, 2013-14 (zero is average)

This group can skate and bury the puck, and the Swedes are one of the few teams in the tournament who may actually benefit from the size of the rink. The Swedish coaching staff can’t go wrong with the top nine in this group, but here is how they’ve practiced so far:

Landeskog-Zetterberg-Steen
Sedin-Backstrom-Eriksson
Nyquist-Berglund-Alfredsson
Hagelin-Kruger-Ericsson

The Swedes can skate with any team in Sochi, both ways, and have a solid combination of youth and veterans with Olympic experience.

Captain Henrik Zetterberg will play big minutes, and the speed the Swedes have along the left side with Steen, Landeskog and Hagelin may be unmatched in the tournament.

It will be interesting to see if Daniel Sedin can produce without his twin brother Henrik in the lineup. I think putting him with Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom, who is used to setting up Russia’s Alexander Ovechkin in Washington, is a wise move, although Sedin with Zetterberg could be equally potent.

Defensemen

Sweden might have the best overall blue line in the tournament, with the possible exception of Canada. They can skate and move the puck, and are used to playing shutdown minutes.

If they have a weakness it is that Erik Karlsson is the lone right-handed shot of the bunch, but this is an all-pro group that can easily overcome an issue such as that. The statistical summary for Sweden’s defense is shown below:

Player	Team	Pos	OGVT	DGVT	GVT	Rel Corsi	Competition
Niklas Kronwall	DET	LD	8.2	5.6	13.8	5.2	1.2
Erik Karlsson	OTT	RD	13.0	0.6	13.6	8.3	0.7
Niklas Hjalmarsson	CHI	LD	4.0	7.4	11.4	-6.7	1.9
Jonathan Ericsson	DET	LD	2.1	8.1	10.2	5.8	1.1
Oliver Ekman-Larsson	PHX	LD	5.8	4.1	9.9	-8.7	1.4
Johnny Oduya	CHI	LD	2.4	6.0	8.4	-9.3	1.9
Alexander Edler	VAN	LD	4.3	1.0	5.3	-5.5	0.7
Henrik Tallinder	BUF	LD	0.2	2.6	2.8	3.1	0.3

This group could be the biggest asset for Sweden on open ice; moving the puck quickly from the defensive zone through the neutral zone and creating offense off of one pass is the kind of style that can separate teams like Sweden in this tournament. Some pairings you may see based on practice:

Ekman-Larsson-Karlsson
Kronwall-Ericsson
Oduya-Hjalmarsson
Tallinder-Edler

The top four of Sweden’s defense will be as good as any in the tournament field. This could be a dangerous power-play team as well, with several potent offensive threats walking the blue line.

Goaltending

Henrik Lundqvist is the man in net for Sweden. Already having earned a gold medal for Sweden in Torino in 2006, he is as decorated as any goalie in the field.

No one has been better in the NHL since the 2004-05 lockout, although Lundqvist’s numers are surprisingly average this season. I have no doubt he will turn up his game to “King Henrik” levels for Sochi.

Player	Team	GGVT	DGVT	GVT	Career Sv%
Henrik Lundqvist	NYR	16.1	0.7	16.8	.920
Jhonas Enroth	BUF	3.9	-0.3	3.6	.914
Jonas Gustavsson	DET	-0.4	0.4	0.0	.901

Sweden is a top-three team in this tournament, flat-out. If Lundqvist plays lights-out they are the best team in Sochi; their biggest advantage over the Canadians is in net and Lundqvist could easily be the MVP of this tournament if the Swedes win gold.

The mystery of big ice is not much of a secret. You need a team that can skate and move the puck quickly.

Mike Babcock, head coach of Team Canada, said the Canadian management team consulted Ralph Krueger, player and coach overseas, to consult with the group on its roster selections. This story will be detailed more in a later post.

I’d expect to see the Swedes at the podium, and this team’s mindset is “gold or bust”. They should cruise through the opening round and compete hard in the second week of play. Here’s the schedule they face:

vs. Czech Republic, Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 12:00 pm ET on USA Network*
vs. Switzerland, Friday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 am ET on TSN and NBCSN
vs. Latvia, Saturday, Feb. 15 at 12:00 pm ET on USA Network

*Opening game of the tournament