This is the first part to my 2022 Olympic roster series. We are going to safely assume in this series that all NHL players will be allowed to go, as predicting who won't go and boycotts just adds a mess into things.
I want to reiterate before we start that these are simply depth charts and not who I think will be linemates.
We start off with Sweden, who may just have the best blue line at the tournament. Sweden is a team built to have a great two-way game and while that means they will play with great structure. It doesn't mean they won't be able to fill the net if needed.
Left Wing
Gabriel Landeskog
Filip Forsberg
Lucas Raymond
Elias Pettersson
Rickard Rakell
Center
Mika Zibanejad
Nicklas Backstrom
Elias Lindholm
William Karlsson
Right Wing
William Nylander
Andre Burakovsky
Gustav Nyquist
Jakob Silfverberg
Alexander Holtz
Viktor Arvidsson
Left Defense
Victor Hedman
Rasmus Dahlin
Hampus Lindholm
Mattias Ekholm
Right Defense
Erik Karlsson
John Klingberg
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Jonas Brodin
Goalies
Jacob Markstrom
Linus Ullmark
Robin Lehner
Sweden's blueline is simply unmatched, even with the play of Erik Karlsson declining. John Klingberg and Victor Hedman are true number one defenseman in the NHL while players like Rasmum Dahlin have been in the Swedish system since they were young boys. Dahlin surprisingly enough already has Olympic experience under his belt.
I think it's important that Sweden gets some experience in for their younger future stars such as Alexander Holtz and Lucas Raymond, while I don't expect them to play big minutes for Sweden. Bringing them along for the ride shows great promise in the younger generation.
Sweden is poised to be one of the best teams at the Olympic Games. My only worry is the goaltending, but if Markstrom plays like he is with Calgary currently, there will be nothing to worry about for Tre Kronor.
