2026 IIHF World Championship

[Per]

Getting closer.

Looks like Canada is going to send a pretty good team this year. Guess the 4 Nations tournament and the revival of real Olympic Hockey has increased the interest for international play.

We'll see which way Sweden goes. We usually have almost exclusively NHL players, but in the recent Czech Hockey Games where Sweden, Finland Switzerland and Czechia took part, Sweeden had like six pliers from the squad that won gold at the World Juniors this January, and we beat all three opponents. Stenberg, Frondell, Björck - all looked good. I would definitely be in favour of spicing it up a bit with having a handful of juniors on the team! Really good for their development.

[Per]

Sweden and Canada square off on the very first day, May 15th!
16.20 CET which I assume is like 7.20 am in Vancouver. Get ready for some breakfast hockey!

Group A is the USA, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia, Austria, Hungary and the UK.

Group B is Canada, Sweden, Czechia, Denmark, Slovakia, Norway, Slovenia and Italy.

Some of those teams are just filler, but it's about spreading the gospel. Fewer countries would guarantee a higher quality in the games that are played, but this is the equivalent of the NHL putting teams in southern USA. Expanding the market.

Our group is not that bad though. The Danes and Norwegians like hockey, they're just not that good at it. Slovakia does have the tradition, and every now and then they manage to get it together, but I guess most of the talent just ended up in Czechia when Czechoslovakia split. Slovenia is an itsy bitsy country but they did produce Kopitar (even if he spent most of his junior years in Sweden) and Italy can usually muster a bunch of Canadians with double citizenship.

But Austria, Hungary and the UK in group A?
At least I guess they provide some insurance that Latvia will not risk getting demoted.
I like Latvia! They are a tiny country with no real league, but they're feisty and they always come to play hockey.
Heck! Their J18 team eliminated the USA in the quarter final of the recent U18 World Championship! Ka-boom!

Official website for the tournament: https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2026/wm

[Per]

The lower divisions have already played. Ukraine and Kazakstan have qualified to be in next year's tournament.
It's the first time since 2007 that Ukraine has reached the top tier.

Sadly, neither of these teams tend to play entertaining hockey, but it is what it is.

Outside of the traditional top six I think it's just Switzerland, Germany, Slovakia and Latvia that can add some excitement.
But hey, that's still improvement. It used to be that no one outside of the top six had anything to offer.
The hockey family is growing, albeit slowly. And countries like Denmark and Norway clearly show ambition.
They just don't have enough players that are good enough. But lots of their juniors play in Sweden, so eventually they may get closer.

[Per]

Sweden's preliminary troop:

Goalies:
Arvid Söderblom, Chicago Blackhawks
Magnus Hellberg, Djurgården
Love Härenstam, Södertälje

Defenders:
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Toronto Maple leaves
Mattias Ekholm, Edmonton Oilers
Albert Johansson, Detroit Red Wings
Erik Brännström, Lausanne
Jacob Larsson, Rapperswil
Tim Heed, Ambri-Piotta
Robert Hägg, Brynäs
Joel Persson, Växjö

Forwards:
Lucas Raymond, Detroit Red Wings
Oskar Sundqvist, St. Louis Blues
Simon Holmström, New York Islanders
Emil Heineman, New York Islanders
Linus Karlsson, Vancouver Canucks
Anton Frondell, Chicago Blackhawks
Jack Berglund, Philadelphia Flyers
Ivar Stenberg, Frölunda
Viggo Björck, Djurgården
Jakob Silfverberg, Brynäs
André Petersson, Langnau
Jacob de la Rose, Fribourg
Rasmus Asplund, Davos
Isac Hedqvist, Luleå

They will only register two goalies, six d-men and twelve forwards for the first game so that five slots are held open for late arrivals from the NHL.
At present there are only eleven NHL players on the roster.

An interesting thing to note is that five players from the squad that won gold at the World Juniors this January are on the roster; Ivar Stenberg, Anton Frondell, Viggo Björck, Jack Berglund and Love Härenstam.

[Cornuck]

Any reports why EP40 isn't there?

[JelloPuddingPop]

Any reports why EP40 isn't there?

Because he isn't very good?

Also crazy that Raty made the Finish roster - but Ohgren was cut from Team Sweden. I had those two players going in opposite directions.

[Cornuck]

Any reports why EP40 isn't there?

Because he isn't very good?

Also crazy that Raty made the Finish roster - but Ohgren was cut from Team Sweden. I had those two players going in opposite directions.

Every team needs a 3c/4c - and all hatred asides, he should be able to make that roster. Just wondering if it was his choice, the or the team's choice?
He seemed almost happy in the Olympics at times. Figured he would want to play without the pressure.