5 Fun Things to Watch For: Team Sweden

The Canucks season may be off in the distance still, but the inclusion of Sweden at the World Cup of Hockey ensures that many a Canuck will play competitive hockey soon all the same.

Remember that old trope when the Detroit Red Wings were in town? Something about the two clubs bevvy of Swedish talent acting as an intrasquad game of sorts? Well, some things never change. The Canucks are every bit as loaded with Sverige talent now as they were in the hay day of that quasi-rivalry.

Which is why I’m bringing you a list of the five most fun things to keep an eye as you watch Team Sweden contend for the World Cup of Hockey!

The Canucks made targeting Loui Eriksson in free agency a priority from the second they were out on the Milan Lucic onwards. It’s not hard to see why. We’re talking about a play driving, defensive forward who can still chip in offense at a first line rate. Talk about landing an awesome consolation prize!

Beyond those most obvious reasons for choosing Eriksson, there’s the added caveat of chemistry alongside the Sedin twins. The threesome has played together internationally on multiple occasions, both at the Olympics and World Championship alike. In typical Sedin fashion, I think the plan here is to extract more than the sum of their parts by capitalizing on that experience, chemistry and rapport the trio has built together whenever possible.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, they’ve lit up pre-competition action. Eriksson scored two goals against Finland on Saturday, all of which beautiful passing plays; all of which involving at least one Sedin. For Canucks fans and wary fans of Western Conference teams alike, it will be interesting to see whether they can carry that torrid pace into games that actually matter. If they can, the league is on notice.

Frankly, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if Markstrom never saw the ice in actual games. When you have Henrik Lundqvist as your starter, why deviate? It’s not like it’s getting any better. Then again, injuries happen. And in a short enough tournament, I wouldn’t rule out that even The King himself might be suspect to a slump. You know, the kind that would facilitate some time in the spotlight for Markstrom.

For the Canucks and their fans, who are expecting Markstrom to ease himself into the starting role as this season wears on, that will be an interesting storyline to follow. He’s started to finally cash in on his cache as one of the league’s best young netminders, right as the league was starting to write him off entirely. Playing games in the midst of a lost season, in low leverage situations, as Markstrom was last season, isn’t overly revealing, though. In a short tournament like the World Cup, we could get to see how he fares in tough situations with everything on the line.

It’s not likely we see Markstrom. But if we do, it’ll carry a lot of intrigue for those among us that follow his NHL club closely. 

If you were to look at Alexander Edler’s page on EliteProspects, you would notice he’s donned the Tre Kronor on five separate occasions in his career. So while the Swedes boast a stable of elite defencemen, it still came as some surprise to see Edler, who’s still playing at a high level, left off their roster.

For Edler, a 30-year-old grizzled veteran of 11 NHL seasons, the snub came as a somewhat of a surprise. In an interview with Jeff Paterson at The Province, he revealed as much.

I suppose a player’s absence is neither fun nor something to watch. Instead I’ll be keen to see how the Swedish blue line withstands the opposition’s forecheck and pushes play in transition without the lumbering Swede. I felt the Swedish blue line was a little on the slight side without Edler, but now that Niklas Kronwall has withdrawn from the tournament, that’s especially true.

For the bitter Canucks fan among us, maybe it’s fun to watch Sweden struggle without Edler? Who knows, it’s a possibility.

At some point, the Sedins aren’t going to be first line players in the NHL. The unfortunate part is that we’re a lot closer to that reality than anyone cares to admit. Hell, it’s why he stress the importance of a succession plan for the Twins in Vancouver with such regularity. Internationally, the Twins have been passed by by some of their compatriots.

I’ll be surprised if the Sedins play anything larger than a second line role at any point in this tournament. Maybe they get some shine on the top unit power play, but they’re not going to be carrying the team at even strength for the Swedes.

It will be interesting to see how they perform in this role, especially with Eriksson alongside them — he’s getting long in the tooth too after all. Do they continue to produce at a healthy rate? Do they take on added defensive responsibility? Plenty of storylines here to follow.

The Sedins have a combined eight medals wearing the Tre Kronor. Hell, why not bring that total to ten? I have to admit, it’s getting a little bit upsetting to see the Sedins at this stage of their career without a hope in hell of winning a cup. I want them to win so badly; I just don’t see it happening in Vancouver. Not anytime soon. 

That’s why I’m totally on board with them taking home some hardware from Toronto. It doesn’t have to be a Gold medal. As someone who’s cheering primarily for Canada, secondarily for North America, that doesn’t suit my particular needs. Bronze, though, I would be so cool with.