Today is World Cup roster announcement day and as expected the Canucks will be well represented on Team Sweden as it was announced that Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Jacob Markstrom will represent the Tre Kroner.

Daniel and Henrik being included are not surprising in slightest, but at first glance, Markstrom being included is a bit of a surprise.

The full roster can be found here:

The Sedins’ have represented Team Sweden on multiple occasions at the World Juniors, World Championships and Olympics. This includes their gold medal win at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Even though they will turn 36 during the World Cup Tournament, they will be expected to help lead the offensive attack for the Swedes. As you can see above, Boston Bruins forward Loui Eriksson was also part of the announcement, and has been a regular linemate on the international stage with the twins. So I would expect that we would see them reunited at some point this September.

Jacob Markstrom is surprise just due to it feeling a bit out of left field but if you look deeper into it, it makes sense. The Swedish NHL goaltenders that could’ve been included are Eddie Lack (CAR), Robin Lehner (BUF), Jonas Enroth (LAK), Anders Lindback (ARZ) or Jonas Gustavsson (BOS) and Markstrom has arguably had a better season than all of them. There would be some options from the Swedish Hockey League, but given that this tournament is the brainchild of the NHL and NHLPA, it’s safe to assume that the SHL goalies weren’t really considered.

Great to see Markstrom get this type of recognition as he has done extremely well on the international stage in the past. He has previously represented Sweden at two World Juniors and two World Championships. He last represented Team Sweden at the 2013 World Championships.

If you had asked anyone 18 months ago, if Markstrom was a consideration for this team, it would’ve been met by a definitive no. Thus his resurgence back a legitimate NHL goalie and an option for Team Sweden is great to see. 

Alex Edler is a noticeable exclusion from the roster, but Dallas Stars defenceman John Klinberg was not part of this preliminary roster either. They could be added between now and the start of the tournament.