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Team Sweden Announces 2025 World Championship Roster

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Team Sweden has announced their roster for the upcoming 2025 IIHF World Championships. The ’Tre Konor’ will look to finish higher than third place in the international tournament for the first time since 2018.

The team will look similar to the one Sweden brought to the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. Filip Forsberg, Lucas Raymond, and Mika Zibanejad will reprise their roles as Sweden’s top forwards, while Rasmus Andersson and Jonas Brodin will lead the defensive core.

Unfortunately, the team will be without forward William Eklund for the tournament due to offseason wrist surgery. Sweden is expected to announce Eklund’s replacement in the coming days. The rest of Team Sweden’s roster is as follows:

F Mikael Backlund (Flames)
F Anton Bengtsson (Rögle BK)
F Leo Carlsson (Ducks)
F Christoffer Ehn (Linköping HC)
F Filip Forsberg (Predators)
F Max Friberg (Frölunda HC)
F Jesper Frödén (ZSC Lions)
F Marcus Johansson (Wild)
F Elias Lindholm (Bruins)
F Isac Lundeström (Ducks)
F Lucas Raymond (Red Wings)
F Alexander Wennberg (Sharks)
F Mika Zibanejad (Rangers)

D Rasmus Andersson (Flames)
D Jonas Brodin (Wild)
D Gabriel Carlsson (EV Zug)
D Simon Edvinsson (Red Wings)
D Adam Larsson (Kraken)
D Marcus Pettersson (Canucks)

G Samuel Ersson (Flyers)
G Jacob Markström (Devils)
G Arvid Söderblom (Blackhawks)

Penguins And Predators To Face-Off In 2025 Global Series

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The Pittsburgh Penguins will return to Stockholm next season to face-off against the Nashville Predators in the 2025 NHL Global Series in Sweden, per an NHL announcement.

The games are slated for Nov. 14 and Nov. 16 and will be played at Avicii Arena. The Penguins are returning to Sweden after taking part in the 2008 NHL Premiere Series. It will represent the second time leaders Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang will take part in games overseas.

The series will represent a homecoming for players on both sides. For the Penguins, Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, as well as 30-goal winger Rickard Rakell will participate (barring injury of course), while the Peds will be represented by forward Filip Forsberg and defenders Adam Wilsby and Andreas Englund.

The NHL Global Series, started in 2017 in games between the Ottawa Senators and Colorado Avalanche in Stockholm, continues a long history of international competition for NHLers. This includes the 1938 European Tour between Red Wings and Canadians (a seven-game series that the Canadians won 4-3), the 1979–80 Super Series between Russian teams and NHL squads, and most recently the NHL Premiere Series, which ran from 2007 to 2011.

Rakell and Karlsson both expressed their excitement in playing in the series. Karlsson said the series will be a “great experience” and noted how fun it will be to play before family and friends in his home country. There is speculation surrounding Karlsson’s long-term future in Pittsburgh, so it’s not exactly a certainty he’ll be a Penguin next November.

Swedish-born Predators also expressed their excitement surrounding the series, including Forsberg who noted, “It’s obviously going to be a great time, a great opportunity for me.”

While it’s the first time Nashville will play in Sweden, it’s the organization’s third international trip. They played the Sharks in the 2022 Global Series in Prague, as well as a series against Pittsburgh at the GAME One Japan series in 2000.

In the 2008 Global Series, the Penguins split two games with the Senators. In those games, Crosby registered two assists, Malkin had a goal and an assist, and Letang registered nearly 50 minutes of total ice time between the two contests.

NHL Announces 2023-24 All-Star Teams

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The NHL announced their annual season-ending All-Star teams as part of last night’s award festivities. The rosters, as voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, are as follows.

First All-Star Team

LW: Artemi Panarin (Rangers)
C: Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche)
RW: Nikita Kucherov (Lightning)
D: Quinn Hughes (Canucks)
D: Roman Josi (Predators)
G: Connor Hellebuyck (Jets)

Second All-Star Team

LW: Filip Forsberg (Predators)
C: Connor McDavid (Oilers)
RW: David Pastrňák (Bruins)
D: Adam Fox (Rangers)
D: Cale Makar (Avalanche)
G: Thatcher Demko (Canucks)

The First Team nod caps off quite a successful 24 hours for MacKinnon, who also swept both media-voted and player-voted MVP honors with the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. It’s his third All-Star nod, although his two prior ones were both Second Team honors in 2018 and 2020. The 28-year-old pivot led the Avs in scoring with 51 goals and 140 points this season and recorded a league-high 405 shots on goal.

Notably, the voting ledger (available in the league’s announcement) indicates Kucherov was the unanimous First Team selection at right wing. That’s the first time that’s happened since 2002, when the Flames’ Jarome Iginla was the across-the-board pick after also winning the Richard and Art Ross trophies. Like Iginla, Kucherov was crowned this year’s Art Ross winner after recording 144 points in 81 games. He tied with McDavid for a league-leading 100 assists, becoming the first winger in NHL history to hit the mark.

Absent from either team is Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews, whose 69 goals this season were the most of anyone since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. He also fell short of being a Hart Trophy finalist behind Kucherov, MacKinnon and McDavid. He was third in All-Star voting among centers, though, and did receive nine First Team and 55 Second Team votes out of 187 ballots. The only other center to receive consideration was the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, who only appeared on four ballots.

Predators Notes: Saros, Tomasino, Forsberg

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Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz told reporters today that the team will engage with goaltender Juuse Saros this summer in an effort to ink the netminder to a contract extension (according to Robby Stanley of NHL.com). The 29-year-old has just one year remaining on the four-year deal he signed back in August 2021, that deal turned out to be a massive bargain for the Predators as Saros has been playing under a $5MM average annual value.

Saros is eligible to sign a new deal on July 1st and was the subject of trade rumors for much of this past season. The chatter appeared to get to him as Saros’s save percentage fell to a career-low .906 and his save percentage ballooned to a career-worst 2.86.

In other Nashville Predators notes:

  • Michael Gallagher of Nashville Hockey Now is reporting that Predators head coach Andrew Brunette had harsh words for forward Philip Tomasino saying, “If he continues to have the skill without the work, I don’t think he has a chance to play with us next year.” It’s not the first time that Brunette has been publicly critical of Tomasino’s play as he had strong words in February as well. Tomasino was a healthy scratch frequently this season, at one point sitting in the press box for 11 of 52 games. The 24th pick in the 2019 NHL entry draft has been a decent offensive contributor at the NHL level registering 23 goals and 47 assists in 148 games but his overall game has led to criticism from Nashville’s coaching staff and ultimately caused the 22-year-old to be shuttled back and forth between the NHL and AHL. It will be interesting to see if Tomasino remains with Nashville long-term or if the Predators opt to move on from the talented youngster.
  • Alex Daugherty of The Nashville Tennessean writes that Predators star forward Filip Forsberg has revealed the ailment that plagued him through the second half of the season and into the playoffs. Forsberg reportedly dealt with a bone bruise on his ankle that cut his leg and made it difficult for him to wear skates. The injury happened when the 29-year-old blocked a shot in mid-February, and it required stitches to repair the skin. While the outside of the wound healed, the bruised bone underneath was the issue that caused Forsberg the most problems. The injury was never severe enough to keep Forsberg out of the lineup and he was a key catalyst to Nashville’s 18-game point streak that thrust them back into the playoff picture. Forsberg posted six points in six playoff games and had a career year in the regular season tallying 48 goals and 46 assists for a career-high 94 points.

Central Notes: Forsberg, Seguin, McGroarty, Wagner

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Predators winger Filip Forsberg is in the middle of a career year as he leads the team in scoring with 43 goals and 44 assists through 76 games so far. However, he’s playing through some kind of injury as he has been rarely practicing with the team. In an appearance on 102.5 The Game (audio link), head coach Andrew Brunette indicated that the issue isn’t going away anytime soon. While he termed it as something that’s manageable, the bench boss also added that it might take the entire offseason before Forsberg heals up. The winger hasn’t shown any ill effects from whatever is bothering him, helping to lead the Predators on an improbable 18-game point streak recently, taking them from out of the playoffs to safely in the postseason picture.

Other updates out of the Central:

  • The Stars were without veteran forward Tyler Seguin in today’s loss to the Blackhawks, but they’ll get him back in the lineup tomorrow against the Avalanche, Brien Rea of Bally Sports Southwest reports. He’s dealing with a lower-body injury, potentially related to the issue that kept him out for 11 games in February and March. The Stars have been cautious with the 32-year-old’s deployment since he returned a few weeks back, making him a scratch for maintenance/load management reasons against the Sharks early last week. The 2010 second-overall pick is having his best season since missing nearly all of the 2020-21 campaign with a hip injury, potting 23 goals and 50 points in 64 games.
  • One storyline surrounding the Jets is the future of top prospect Rutger McGroarty, who has at most one week left in his sophomore season at the University of Michigan. He told Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun that his agents haven’t had serious discussions with Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff about an entry-level deal but have kept in touch. The 20-year-old Nebraska tore apart Big 10 opponents this season, finishing second on the Wolverines in scoring with 16 goals and 52 points in 35 games. Coming off a point-per-game freshman season and captaining the USA at the 2024 World Juniors, it wouldn’t be surprising to see McGroarty turn pro and finish the season as a Black Ace on Winnipeg’s playoff roster.
  • After being sent to the minors yesterday, Avalanche center Chris Wagner was recalled back to the NHL roster. The move comes in the wake of an upper-body injury to star winger Mikko Rantanen, who left partway through last night’s 6-2 loss to the Oilers and didn’t return. Wagner gives the Avs 13 healthy forwards without Rantanen, providing additional injury insurance for tomorrow’s all-important clash for divisional playoff positioning against the Stars. He’s got a goal and an assist in 11 games with Colorado this season, his first in the Avs organization.

NHL Names Western Conference All-Stars

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Sportsnet is reporting that the NHL has named the first 16 selections from the Western Conference who will appear in the NHL All-Star Game that will take place February 3rd in Toronto.

The game will be held in Canada for the first time since 2012, when it was held in Ottawa. Toronto hasn’t hosted the game since 2000 and this year will be the first time that the NHL uses a four-team, three-on-three format in combination with the fantasy draft format that was used from 2011-2015. The league will name four captains, one for each team, who will take part in a draft to select their teams on February 1st.

The initial players named from the Western Conference are as follows:

Central Division

Arizona: LW Clayton Keller (4th appearance)
Chicago: C Connor Bedard (1st appearance)
Colorado: C Nathan MacKinnon (3rd appearance)
Dallas: G Jake Oettinger (1st appearance)
Minnesota: LW Kirill Kaprizov (3rd appearance)
Nashville: C Filip Forsberg (1st appearance)
St. Louis: C Robert Thomas (1st appearance)
Winnipeg: G Connor Hellebuyck (3rd appearance)

Pacific Division

Anaheim: LW Frank Vatrano (1st appearance)
Calgary: C Elias Lindholm (1st appearance)
Edmonton: C Connor McDavid (7th appearance)
Los Angeles: G Cam Talbot (1st appearance)
San Jose: C Tomas Hertl (1st appearance)
Seattle: RW Oliver Bjorkstrand (1st appearance)
Vancouver: D Quinn Hughes (1st appearance)
Vegas: C Jack Eichel (1st appearance)

The initial announcements of 32 players (one player to represent each team) tonight will be followed by the naming of the final 12 all-stars in the coming weeks. Those 12 players will be decided by a fan vote on NHL.com as well as several of the NHL’s social media platforms.

Roman Josi Listed As Day-To-Day

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Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet is reporting that Roman Josi is day-to-day after leaving the Nashville Predators 3-2 overtime loss to Winnipeg yesterday. Josi did not make Nashville’s scheduled trip to New York for tonight’s game against the Rangers.

Not much is known about Josi’s injury as he joins a long list of Predators players who are out of the lineup. Nashville is already short on manpower as they are without the services of Ryan Johansen, Juuso Parssinen, Alexandre Carrier, Filip Forsberg, and Ryan McDonagh. Now they will be forced to navigate Josi’s injury as they try and chase down a wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Nashville has struggled to score this season with just 191 goals in 67 games, good enough for 28th in the NHL. Josi’s injury could further complicate matters as he leads the Predators in scoring with 59 points on the season. Despite the offensive struggles, Nashville sits just five points back of Winnipeg for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, with three games in hand.

It seems improbable that Nashville could make the playoffs given the recent injuries as well as the recent trade deadline sell off, but somehow they have hung around, largely due to the play of Josi and goaltender Juuse Saros. Josi has been a horse for the Predators having averaged over 25 minutes of ice time a night. The former Norris Trophy winner hasn’t had the kind of offensive production he enjoyed last season, but he has led a defensive unit that is ranked ninth in the league in goals against.

Nashville Predators Recall Philip Tomasino

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One of the most confusing things about the Nashville Predators season so far has been the absence of Philip Tomasino. The young forward played the entire season in the NHL last year and faired well, racking up 32 points in 76 games. This year he has that same total in the minor leagues through 38 games without a single appearance with the Predators.

Now, perhaps that is about to change. Tomasino has been recalled from the Milwaukee Admirals and will join the Predators ahead of their game tonight against the Arizona Coyotes.

The 21-year-old Tomasino is an interesting case of COVID-affected development. After being selected 24th overall in 2019, he returned to the OHL for his post-draft season with championship sights. After dominating with the Niagara IceDogs through the first half, but still losing nearly all of his games, Tomasino was sent to the Oshawa Generals for a playoff run. It would be just 26 games (and 43 points) before the season was shut down, ending his year early.

In 2020-21, the OHL never ran at all, meaning he was stuck playing in the AHL even as a teenager. For many prospects, that might be overwhelming, but Tomasino showed off his offensive upside by scoring 32 points in 29 games. That led to him making the NHL club last season and showing well despite limited minutes. While prospects taking a step back isn’t uncommon, it was always sort of puzzling why he hasn’t received a single call-up this season.

With Filip Forsberg now out with injury, this is a huge opportunity for Tomasino to show he doesn’t belong in the minor leagues anymore. This team has only two forwards over the 30-point mark on the season and one that could certainly use some offensive juice inserted into the lineup. Even when Forsberg is back, there’s a reasonable case for Tomasino to stay, should he prove he’s ready over the next little while.

Injury Notes: Xhekaj, Forsberg, Reimer

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One of the best stories of the Montreal Canadiens 2022-23 season so far has been the emergence of rookie defenseman Arber Xhekaj. The undrafted player has taken a winding road to the NHL, and by all accounts impressed in a defensive unit stocked to the brim with rookie blueliners. Not only has he quickly established a reputation as one of the most fearsome, physical young players in the NHL, he has also flashed some more skill and ability with the puck than one might expect from someone with his profile.

It is made all the more disappointing, then, that the excitement his rookie season has inspired could be put on hold. Xhekaj left for the locker room during the Canadiens’ game against the Edmonton Oilers immediately after fighting Oilers defenseman Vincent Desharnais. The Canadiens tweeted that Xhekaj would not return for the third period of the game, and did not add any additional information on the nature of the injury. TVA Sports’ Marc-Andre Perreault did note that it’s a possible shoulder injury.

For some other notes from across the NHL:

  • The Nashville Predators have announced that star forward Filip Forsberg is out with an upper-body injury. Per the team, his status is to be considered day-to-day. The loss of Forsberg, even for just a few games, is a significant one for the Predators as he is their leading scorer among forwards with 42 points in 50 games. This is a crucial stretch of their season, as they have games in hand on both the Calgary Flames and Minnesota Wild, the two teams ahead of them for the Western Conference’s second Wild Card spot. If the Predators, who are just four points out of that spot, want to keep pushing for the playoffs they’ll have to hope that this absence is a minor one for Forsberg.
  • San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer is dealing with a minor illness, according to Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka. In his absence, Kaapo Kahkonen will take up number-one netminder duties for the Sharks, while Aaron Dell has been recalled to serve as a backup. Per Pashelka, the hope is that Reimer will be back in action in time for the Sharks’ game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Tuesday. Reimer is a pending unrestricted free agent who has posted an .895 save percentage in 28 games played this season.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Laine, Bear

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Filip Forsberg leading the way. The Nashville Predators winger scored five goals and seven points in three games, extending his lead in the team scoring race. Forsberg now has 14 goals and 32 points in 35 games, not quite the same pace he set last season when looking for a new contract. Even with a Forsberg hat trick on New Year’s Eve, the Predators failed to secure two points against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Second and third went to Erik Karlsson and Antti Raanta, who each had outstanding weeks. Karlsson had seven assists in four games and now leads the entire NHL in that category with 40 through his first 39 games. The San Jose Sharks defenseman is having an incredible bounce-back campaign and will once again be a Norris candidate thanks to a huge point total. Raanta, meanwhile, stopped 67 of 71 shots across three wins, keeping the Carolina Hurricanes on their 11-game streak.

  • Patrik Laine is out of COVID protocol and back with the Columbus Blue Jackets, according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. The star ginger will be back in the lineup tomorrow and is expected to skate with Kent Johnson and Jonny Gaudreau on the top line. Laine’s season has been constantly interrupted by injury and illness, resulting in just 20 games played so far. He has nine goals and 16 points in those appearances.
  • Portzline adds that Nick Blankenburg, who has been out since November, will travel with the club for their game against the Ottawa Senators but is not expected to play. The 24-year-old was averaging more than 18 minutes a night in his seven appearances before going down to a broken ankle.
  • Now that the calendar has been turned to 2023, players on one-year deals are eligible to sign extensions as Joe Pavelski did yesterday. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Ethan Bear and the Vancouver Canucks are expected to talk this week about a potential deal, though there is no guarantee a contract is signed so quickly. Bear has played well for the Canucks since they acquired him at the end of October from the Carolina Hurricanes, and is currently scheduled to become a restricted free agent when his one-year, $2.2MM deal expires.

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