A WAY TO EARLY LOOK AT SWEDEN'S POTENTIAL LINEUP AT THE 2026 WINTER OLYMPICS

As you're reading this, you’re probably thinking why I’m predicting lineups of the major teams for the 2026 Winter Olympics that are so far away. And you're probably right. But hey, the hockey world wants something to talk about, so why not talk about the Olympics where a lot of the best current young players will be participating in. The first team I’ll talk about is the boys from Sweden. 

Forward Lines

    LW               C             RW

Lucas Raymond          Elias Pettersson           William Nylander 

Gabriel Landeskog       Mika Zibanejad        Alexander Holtz 

Filip Forsberg                 Emil Bemström     Victor Olofsson 

Fabian Lysell          Rickard Rakell    Andre Burakovsky 

The Swedish team is very interesting. You've got a mix of veterans for the forwards with guys like Gabriel Landeskog, Filip Forsberg and Mika Zibanejad. But you’ve also got some young studs in Lucas Raymond, Alexander Holtz and Fabian Lysell. It’ll be very interesting to see how the coach will utilize all of these players together. The superstars that will lead the way will most likely be Elias Pettersson, Lucas Raymond and William Nylander. 

Honourable Mentions: Isac Lundestrom, Nils Hoglander.

Defensive Pairings:

           

                                          Left Defence                 Right Defence 

                    Rasmus Dahlin         Adam Boqvist 

                   Rasmus Sandin                Victor Soderstrom           

                    Erik Brannstrom         Nils Lundkvist 

This Swedish blueline will probably be the youngest defence core on this list. Rasmus Dahlin will be in his prime for both the 2026 and 2030 Olympics, so having his presence will surely help the young kids not feel pressured. Dahlin will likely be either an assistant or actual captain, so the younger kids like Soderstrom and Lundkvist won’t need to feel scared because Dahlin will probably make the 2022 Swedish blueline and have the experience of being on the big stage already. But other than Dahlin, Sweden will ice most likely really inexperienced blueliners that are going to be solid players when they reach 2026. I don’t have guys like Hedman and Karlsson on this team because I feel like they will be too old to make it and the game is going to a more fast paced, skilled game, and I worry that them being in their mid 30s won’t really help them out. 

Honourable mentions: Phillip Broberg, Simon Edvinsson, Hampus Lindholm, Timothy Liljegren.

Goaltenders: 

Jesper Wallstedt (starter)

Linus Ullmark (backup)

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I’m really high on Jesper Wallstedt. To keep this short, I’ll just say that I believe Jesper Wallstedt is a supreme goaltender prospect. If you are a rebuilding team in the 2021 NHL draft and you are in the top 7-10 and he’s miraculously still available, take this player because you won’t be disappointed. He’ll win Vezinas for sure and maybe even a Hart Trophy someday. Anyway, Wallstedt is going to be the bonafide starter if he makes this team.  The only reason I don’t see that Wallstedt makes the team is because he’ll only be 22 when the games begin. I have Linus Ullmark as the backup. I think that having a reliable goalie who can come in and maybe play a game or two and win games like Ullmark to support Jesper, will only help out both netminders. Ullmark could potentially play a few games against lower ranked teams to have Wallstedt rest up for the elimination games. 

Honourable mentions for potential netminders: Hugo Alnefelt, Filip Gustavsson. 

Leadership group predictions: 

Captain - Elias Pettersson

Assistant captain #1 - Rasmus Dahlin

Assistant captain #2 - Mika Zibanejad

By: Luka Tkalcevic (Instagram: luka_tkalcevic, futurehockeystars)