The NHL is hosting their own international competition called the 4 Nations Face-Off, which includes teams from Canada, USA, Sweden and Finland. Rosters for the teams have been submitted, and will be announced on Dec. 4, 2024. While we await that announcement, the writers at The Hockey Writers voted on a poll to fill in their own roster for each team, now moving to Team Sweden.
Each team will have 13 forwards, seven defensemen, and three goaltenders, as permitted by the roster rules of the tournament.
Without further ado, here is the projected roster the writers selected, with each position being listed alphabetically by last name.
Team Sweden’s Forwards
Each team announced six players to their roster earlier in the year. Those players are marked with an asterisk.
- Jesper Bratt
- Leo Carlsson
- William Eklund
- Joel Eriksson Ek
- Filip Forsberg*
- William Karlsson
- Adrian Kempe
- Elias Lindholm
- Gustav Nyquist
- William Nylander*
- Elias Pettersson
- Lucas Raymond
- Mika Zibanejad*
There are a lot of high-octane forwards with the Swedish group. Having star players like Filip Forsberg, William Nylander, and Mika Zibanejad announced to the lineup early ensures that there likely won’t be a lack of scoring for the team. Even moving further down the lineup, players like Adrian Kempe, Lucas Raymond, Jesper Bratt and others will solidify that.
The Swedes also have a number of elite two-way players with Elias Pettersson, Elias Lindholm, Joel Eriksson Ek, and these types of players are likely to be used lower in the lineup to shut down the top offensive players on other teams.
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The depth on the team is very capable of making a name for themselves early in the tournament, too. Gustav Nyquist and William Eklund are wildcards as they could be used in limited roles, but wouldn’t surprise anybody if they were to take over a game.
Some forwards just missing out on the team based on the poll include Rickard Rakell, Fabian Zetterlund, and Mikael Backlund.
Team Sweden’s Defense
- Rasmus Andersson
- Rasmus Dahlin
- Mattias Ekholm
- Gustav Forsling*
- Victor Hedman*
- Erik Karlsson*
- Hampus Lindholm
Team Sweden has what could arguably be the best defensive group in the tournament. With superstar offensive presences like Erik Karlsson and Rasmus Dahlin, they could generate a ton of puck movement from this group.
Not only those two, but with their strong two-way players in Rasmus Andersson, Victor Hedman, and Gustav Forsling, they are all capable of moving the puck very well too, but will likely be tasked with more shut-down style roles.
Mattias Ekholm and Hampus Lindholm will likely be the physical, wear-you-down, and stay-at-home options for Sweden as they can play that type of game better than most in that group.
Sweden has a dangerous defensive group as most of them are excellent at the defensive side of the game, can be very physical, and for the opponent, will not be fun to play against.
Team Sweden’s Goaltending
- Filip Gustavsson
- Jacob Markstrom
- Linus Ullmark
Another very strong position for the Swedes is in the net. Filip Gustavsson has been one of the best goaltenders in the NHL this season, while Jacob Markstrom has been one of the better goalies for most of a decade, and over the last two full seasons, Linus Ullmark has been one of the best, including a Vezina Trophy.
Between the great defense and incredible goaltending, the Swedish team has a great chance of winning this tournament.
