Lancer wrote: ↑Mon Jun 16, 2025 10:23 am
Preliminary Olympic Team lists were released today, and both Hronek and Pettersson weren't on those lists. Not to say they won't eventually end up on their national squads, but their absences were noted.
While Hronek's spot on the team, barring any injuries, looks solid I think Sweden's national team is waiting and seeing which Petey will show up. I wouldn't be surprised if Pettersson has lost some shine with Sweden's hockey leadership. Half the Vancouver fan base has given up on him; the NHL media environment has gleefully reported on his fall from grace and has labelled him a distressed asset; but what what is the perception of him among Swedish hockey fans?
I wonder what insight Per could offer on this matter?
They've only named six players so far:
Gabriel Landeskog
Rasmus Dahlin
Victor Hedman
Adrian Kempe
Lucas Raymond
William Nylander
Landeskog is a bit of a gamble, considering that he has missed nearly two seasons of hockey.
I'm pretty sure they will name more players when we get closer to the Olympics, as it would be rather daring to play a tournament with no goalies.
I think that they have to name six players this early is for marketing reasons.
I would be very surprised if Pettersson doesn't make the cut.
Assuming they go with 13 forwards, 8 d-men and 3 goalies, I have a hard time picturing him outside that squad.
Tracey Myers at nhl.com picked these 14 forwards for the Swedish team:
Jesper Bratt, New Jersey Devils
Leo Carlsson, Anaheim Ducks
William Eklund, San Jose Sharks
Joel Eriksson Ek, Minnesota Wild
Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators
William Karlsson, Vegas Golden Knights
Adrian Kempe, Los Angeles Kings
Elias Lindholm, Boston Bruins
William Nylander, Toronto Maple leaves
Gustav Nyquist, Nashville Predators
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
Lucas Raymond, Detroit Red Wings
Fabian Zetterlund, San Jose Sharks
Mika Zibanejad, New York Rangers
https://www.nhl.com/news/projected-swed ... 6-olympics
Sure, he failed to predict that they'd gamble on Landeskog, so not all of his 14 suggestions will make the cut.
The Hockey Writers predict these 14:
Adrian Kempe
Elias Pettersson
William Nylander
Jesper Bratt
Mika Zibanejad
Lucas Raymond
Gabriel Landeskog
Leo Carlsson
Filip Forsberg
William Eklund
Joel Eriksson Ek
Rickard Rakell
Fabian Zetterlund
William Karlsson
https://thehockeywriters.com/sweden-pro ... pics-2026/
So, yeah, they do go for the Landeskog gamble, but ditch Lindholm and Nyquist and instead add Rakell.
Either way, both preliminary squads I found online include Pettersson.
I'd be very surprised if he doesn't make the cut. We know what he can do.
Assuming most of the problem is in his head, playing with other team mates may break the spell even if he hasn't fixed it already by the time the Olympic tournament rolls around. And I hope he will be back to normal already when reporting for duty in Vancouver this fall.