It stands to reason that a franchise with a long history of excellent Swedish players, like the Vancouver Canucks, would have iced a few all-Swedish lines over the lines. Tre Kronors, if you will.

And indeed, that is the case. One memorable unit from the past was the line of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, and Mikael Samuelsson, in which the latter more-than-briefly replaced Alex Burrows as the twins’ go-to winger.

Now, amid the turmoil of the 2024/25 campaign, another All-Swede line appears to have risen to the occasion. Though it’s still pretty early to start drawing any meaningful conclusions, the first results are definitely noticeable.

Elias Pettersson (the original edition) has been struggling this season, no doubt about it. That struggle has included an ability to click with any linemates for any sustained period of time. There was a good run with a line of Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk, and Kiefer Sherwood for a bit there, but it didn’t last. Sherwood moved back down the lineup, and Pettersson and DeBrusk’s chemistry would seem to have run dry, at least for the time being.

Pettersson has also had a decent amount of success when paired with former running mate Brock Boeser this year, but the coaching staff seems to prefer to put Boeser with JT Miller. At least, that’s what they keep going back to.

All of which left a lingering question of how best to support Pettersson in the ongoing lineup. Whether the plan is to keep him, trade him, or some other third thing, everyone can agree that it is better for the Canucks if Pettersson is playing well. As such, he’s really been juggled around the lines of late.

Folks definitely noticed when Linus Karlsson was called up and placed directly on a line with Pettersson and Nils Höglander –  another of Pettersson’s frequent on-again, off-again linemates. It’s hard to say whether or not this constituted Karlsson being inserted into the ‘top-six’ because the exact identity of Vancouver’s top-six is a little ambiguous right now. But all recognized it as a big opportunity for Karlsson all the same.

Few thought it would make much of a difference in Pettersson’s (or Höglander’s) performance on the ice. And yet…

The unit has now spent three consecutive games together, which is a statement in and of itself in a season where the lines have consistently been in a blender. Those three games were three straight wins, the first such streak the Canucks have enjoyed in a good long while.

Coincidence? We’re not so sure.

The Höglander-Pettersson-Karlsson line has played 20:22 of five-on-five ice time together thus far, which we must note is not the largest sample size in the world. But it was enough of a sample for Rick Tocchet to grant the line a little more ice time each game and list them as his top line on the roster card for Wednesday’s game against Nashville.

Clearly, they have impressed.

A quick glance at the possession stats might cause some confusion as to the unit’s success. Together, at five-on-five, they’re currently rocking a 39.53% Corsi rating and a 45.45% control of shots. That’s not exactly sparkling.

But over such short stints, the fancier numbers can definitely get a little skewed. Let’s look instead at the more important and incontrovertible stats, like goals for and against. As a line, Höglander-Pettersson-Karlsson have been on the ice for three goals for (one per game) and zero goals against (zero per game).

At the same time, they’ve maintained an expected goals ratio of 61.31%, brought on mainly by an 80% control of high-danger chances. That means that opponents might have technically made more shot attempts than this line when sharing the ice, but that this line consistently had the better shot attempts and scoring chances – and by a long shot.

This is important when we look into who this line was playing against, too.

On Saturday against Washington, the Höglander-Pettersson-Karlsson line was matched up closely with the top pairing of John Carlson and Rasmus Sandin and split their time fairly evenly between forward opponents.

On Monday Against St. Louis, that changed, and the Tre Kronor matched up hard against the Blues’ top line featuring Rob Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich.

Then, on Wednesday against Nashville, the line’s two most frequent opponents were top defender Roman Josi and top forward Filip Forsberg.

Again, these are single-game snapshots amid a long regular season. But the results are also quite stark: Three games. Three wins. No goals against, shutting down, or at least breaking even against the best opposition the other team can offer.

All of which leads one to wonder if this line might have a future, either short-term or long-term.

Höglander with Pettersson is a well the Canucks have gone back to a number of times before, and so it makes sense that they would keep the two together for the time being with things going so well. Karlsson’s ongoing place in the lineup is a little more up in the air.

With Dakota Joshua back from injury, it’s just Kiefer Sherwood on the IR right now, and he’s not projected to be there for long.

The Canucks currently have three forwards called up from Abbotsford in Karlsson, Phil Di Giuseppe, and Aatu Räty. Di Giuseppe has been playing well enough, especially on the penalty kill. Räty has not played since his recall earlier in the week but has been shooting the lights out in the AHL and definitely deserves a chance.

But given the utmost importance of keeping whatever roll Pettersson is currently on going for as long as possible, one has to think that Karlsson should stick around for now. We expect the Höglander-Pettersson-Karlsson unit to be sent out again on Friday against the Dallas Stars.

And if all goes well, who knows where the line can take it from there?