Sweden Announces 2022 Olympic Roster
Jan 31: Djuse and Gustafsson have been ruled out because of positive COVID results, meaning Theodor Lennstrom and Philip Holm will replace them on the roster.
Jan 21: With just three weeks until the 2022 Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament gets underway, rosters are being finalized by all the participating countries. Sweden is the latest to reveal who will represent their country in Beijing next month, announcing a roster filled with names that are familiar to NHL fans. While the best league in the world won’t be going to the international event, there’s still plenty of NHL experience that will hit the ice.
The full roster:
G Magnus Hellberg
G Lars Johansson
G Adam Reideborn
D Lukas Bengtsson
D Erik Gustafsson
D Emil Djuse
D Oscar Fantenberg
D Christian Folin
D Linus Hultstrom
D Jonathan Pudas
D Henri Tommernes
F Daniel Brodin
F Mathias Brome
F Jacob de La Rose
F Dennis Everberg
F Max Friberg
F Pontus Holmberg
F Linus Johansson
F Carl Klingberg
F Marcus Kruger
F Anton Lander
F Joakim Nordstrom
F Fredrik Olofsson
F Gustav Rydahl
F Lucas Wallmark
Like the Finns, Sweden has gone with a veteran lineup filled with NHL and international experience, passing on many of the country’s top young prospects. One interesting name though is Holmberg, a 22-year-old forward that actually signed his entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs last summer. He’s playing in Sweden this season on loan and has 28 points in 33 games. He is the youngest player on the roster by several years and basically represents the only prospect included. Selected in the sixth round in 2018, it would be quite a find for the Maple Leafs if he can continue his high level of play in North America next season.
Mathias Brome Signs In Switzerland
The Detroit Red Wings won’t be bringing back Mathias Brome next season, as the free agent forward has signed a two-year contract with HC Davos in Switzerland. While they could technically retain his restricted free agent rights by extending a qualifying offer this offseason, Brome will become an unrestricted free agent by the time this new contract in the NL expires.
Brome, 26, played 26 games for the Red Wings this season, his first (and perhaps only) season in North America. The Swedish forward was a star for Orebro HK in 2019-20, scoring 17 goals and 43 points in 52 games, but failed to bring any of that production to the NHL. In Detroit, he scored just a single goal and registered two points, ending up bouncing back and forth between the active roster and taxi squad for most of the year.
The fact that he is going back to Europe shouldn’t come as much of a surprise after that performance, but he is still a player to keep an eye on down the road. He’ll still be young enough in 2023 that an NHL team could potentially take another chance on him, should Brome want to return at that point. The Red Wings, who don’t have a single player on a one-way deal past the 2022-23 season, could afford to take chances on European free agents in the hopes that one would stick as an NHL regular.
Central Notes: Jones, Brome, Panthers
The 2019 offseason was a tough one for Columbus who saw several of their top veterans head elsewhere in Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, and Sergei Bobrovsky (among others as well). Defenseman Seth Jones is a year away from being able to do the same but GM Jarmo Kekalainen told Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch that they won’t be allowing Jones to walk away for nothing, citing that he doesn’t see the team being in the same situation next season as they were back in 2019 when they pushed their chips to the table and had a star player who many expected to go to New York as Panarin eventually did. For now, the focus will remain on working on a long-term extension for the 26-year-old who averaged more than 25 minutes a game for the third straight season.
Elsewhere in the Central:
- Earlier this month, Red Wings winger Mathias Brome told Svenskafans’ Andreas Lundskog that he was open to returning overseas but wasn’t going to limit himself to going back to his native Sweden. It appears he’s zeroing in on the Swiss NLA as Aftonbladet’s Tomas Ros and Hans Abrahamsson report that Brome is expected to join Davos. It was a disappointing first season in North America for the 26-year-old who managed just a goal and an assist in 26 games with Detroit this season despite logging a respectable 13:39 per night. Brome is set to become a restricted free agent this summer but as he’s a year away from UFA eligibility based on his age, there’s a good chance he’ll be non-tendered if a deal overseas is finalized.
- Despite missing two of the last three games due to an upper-body injury, Florida center Sam Bennett is available for the series opener against Tampa Bay, notes Jameson Olive of the Panthers’ team site. The 24-year-old made an immediate impact after being acquired from Calgary at the trade deadline, picking up six goals and nine assists in just ten games, beating his output with the Flames despite playing in 28 games more with Calgary. Meanwhile, Olive also relayed (Twitter link) that winger Patric Hornqvist is ready to return after missing the final seven games of the regular season with an upper-body injury of his own.
Injury Updates: Ryan, De La Rose, Stecher, Beecher
Calgary center Derek Ryan has resumed skating as he works his way back from a thumb injury, reports Postmedia’s Daniel Austin. The veteran has missed the last dozen games due to the issue and was placed on LTIR. Since he has missed the required 10 games and 24 days, he’s eligible to be activated as soon as he’s cleared to return, as long as the Flames can get back into cap compliance. Ryan cleared waivers at the beginning of the season and was likely headed back for the waiver wire again had he not been injured in his tenth game; he had been getting shuffled to and from the taxi squad, being demoted on non-game days to bank cap space. Another placement there will likely be what ultimately signifies his readiness to return.
More injury news from around the league:
- The Blues have placed center Jacob de la Rose on injured reserve, notes Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He suffered a lower-body injury early in yesterday’s wild game against San Jose. While de la Rose cleared waivers to start the season, he had been a regular on the fourth line for the past three weeks, averaging just under 10 minutes per name, a total that’s slightly skewed by his early exit on Saturday. He’s the sixth Blue on either regular IR or LTIR with Vladimir Tarasenko being the closest to returning.
- The Red Wings have placed defenseman Troy Stecher on injured reserve, CapFriendly reports. The 26-year-old has missed the last five games due to a lower-body injury and his placement is retroactive to February 19th. Accordingly, he’s eligible to be activated at any time. Detroit used the roster spot to recall winger Mathias Brome from the taxi squad in advance of their game tonight against Chicago.
- Bruins prospect John Beecher has undergone shoulder surgery which puts his college season to an end, relays Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now. It was a bit of a tough year for the 2019 first-rounder as a bout with COVID-19 put an end to his World Junior hopes and between that and this, the center was limited to just 16 games with the Wolverines this season, notching four goals and four assists. Boston will now have to decide if he’s better off returning for his junior year or turning pro.
Red Wings Recall Five From Loans
With their training camp starting on Thursday, the Red Wings announced (Twitter link) that they have brought back several players from their respective international loans. Forwards Mathias Brome, Michael Rasmussen, and Filip Zadina, as well as defensemen Filip Hronek and Gustav Lindstrom, are all on their way back to Detroit to participate in camp.
Brome signed with Detroit back in April as an undrafted free agent, inking a one-year, entry-level deal worth $925K plus another $212.5K in performance bonuses. The 26-year-old had 17 goals and 26 in 52 games with SHL Orebro last season and was loaned back there to start this year. While he had just four goals in 23 games, he’s tied for fifth in the league in assists with 16. Brome is expected to push for a roster spot with the Red Wings in camp.
Rasmussen spent the majority of 2018-19 with Detroit as he was too young to be assigned to the minors but he was eligible to play with AHL Grand Rapids last season and he spent the entire year there, picking up seven goals and 15 assists in 35 games. He was on loan to Graz in Austria and was relatively productive offensively with five goals and 11 assists in 18 contests along with collecting 42 penalty minutes. He remains waiver-exempt but with the AHL still more than a month away from starting, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him break camp with Detroit, even if it’s in a taxi squad role.
As for Zadina, he split last year between the Red Wings and Griffins and put up similar numbers at both levels (8-7-15 in 28 NHL games, 9-7-16 in 21 AHL contests). He produced at a slightly better rate with Ocelari Trinec in the Czech Extraliga, notching eight goals and six helpers in 17 games prior to today’s recall. He should be given a long look to break camp with Detroit but if he doesn’t make it, he’s a candidate to at least start on the taxi squad as well.
There is no such uncertainty with Hronek’s situation. He has already established himself as Detroit’s top defenseman which made it a bit intriguing that the Red Wings opted to loan him out in the first place given the potential for injury. He was dominant with Hradec Kralove of the Czech Extraliga, putting up 10 goals and 13 assists in 22 games, getting his contract year off to a good start.
Lindstrom made his NHL debut last season, getting into 16 games with Detroit where he had one assist while putting up five helpers in 45 AHL contests as well. He logged more than 16 minutes a night in ice time with the Red Wings but with the additions of Marc Staal, Troy Stecher, and Jon Merrill, he may have to wait for injuries to hit to get his next NHL opportunity, making him another taxi squad candidate to start as well. Lindstrom had 11 assists in 20 games with Almtuna of the Allsvenskan in Sweden.