Reigning gold medalist Finland chose 24 NHL players for its men’s hockey Olympic roster on Friday, while Sweden is bringing in some new goaltenders for the Milan Cortina Games.
Two-time Stanley Cup champion Aleksander Barkov is not on the Finnish team after undergoing surgery to repair torn ligaments in his right knee suffered during Florida Panthers training camp. Montreal‘s Oliver Kapanen was among those picked to fill that void after not participating in the 4 Nations Face-Off early last year.
Finland’s only player who is active in Europe is defenseman Mikko Lehtonen, who was part of the gold-medal-winning team at the Beijing Games in 2022. Lehtonen has skated in eight games this season for Zurich.
Much like the U.S. and Canada, the vast majority of Finland’s 4 Nations team is back for the Olympics, including all three goaltenders: Kevin Lankinen, Juuse Saros and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Urho Vaakanainen of the New York Rangers is the only one not returning and the only Finnish defenseman in the NHL not chosen.
Dallas and Florida are well-represented, even without Barkov. The Stars have four players, Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Esa Lindell and Mikko Rantanen, while the Panthers have three: Niko Mikkola, Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell.
Sweden, meanwhile, picked Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild and Jacob Markstrom of the New Jersey Devils as its Olympic goaltenders.
Coach Sam Hallam made a handful of changes from the 4 Nations Face-Off, where Sweden did not lose any of its games in regulation. Gone are goalies Linus Ullmark and Samuel Ersson, defenseman Mattias Ekholm and forward Viktor Arvidsson.
Among the new faces are Gabriel Landeskog, Philip Broberg, Pontus Holmberg and Alex Wennberg. Landeskog, who returned to hockey last spring after missing two full seasons because of a chronic knee injury, is one of just a few players on any team who participated in the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
Victor Hedman, a notable snub 12 years ago, is on injured reserve after undergoing elbow surgery, though the Tampa Bay Lightning expect their captain to return before the Olympic break begins in February. Hedman was among the first six players Sweden named to its roster in June.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
