Team Sweden has to be the favorites at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. I mean, this isn’t the complete roster yet and we haven’t seen the Team North America, the Team Canada or the Team USA rosters yet. But I mean, come on with this:
G Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
G Jacob Markstrom, Vancouver Canucks
D Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Arizona Coyotes
D Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
D Niklas Hjalmarsson, Chicago Blackhawks
D Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators
D Niklas Kronwall, Detroit Red Wings
D Anton Stralman, Tampa Bay Lightning
F Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals
F Loui Eriksson, Boston Bruins
F Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators
F Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche
F Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
F Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
F Alexander Steen, St. Louis Blues
F Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings
That defense is absolutely insane, easily going to be the best in the tournament. If Henrik Lundqvist gets hurt or otherwise can’t play they may be weak in goal, but that defense alone is enough to put fear into opponents. And they snubbed John Klingberg! (He’ll probably make the final 23-man roster in June.)
Here’s what they’ll wear:
Here’s the Team Sweden World Cup jersey. pic.twitter.com/5lCBIPcUBE
— Travis Hughes (@TravisSBN) March 2, 2016
Not as nice as what they wore at the Olympics in 2014, in my opinion (see above), but not bad either.
