According to sources in Switzerland and Sweden, current Swedish national team head coach Sam Hallam will join Genève-Servette of Switzerland’s National League in 2026, when his contract with the Swedish Ice Hockey Association expires.
Klaus Zaugg of Swiss website Watson mentioned the possibility in mid February, while Hallam was coaching in the 4 Nations Face-Off, when noting the Swiss club’s deep pockets. This season’s Genève-Servette roster includes goaltenders Robert Mayer and Antti Raanta, defensemen Tim Berni and Sami Vatanen and forwards Tanner Richard, Markus Granlund, Sakari Manninen, Teemu Hartikainen, Josh Jooris, Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Dmytro Timashov. They will lose some of those players this off-season but National League MVP goaltender Stéphane Charlin has already signed to join the club next season with more to surely come.
Genève-Servette’s current head coach is former French national team player Yorick Treille, and the club has announced that Treille will continue in that position next season.
“How can it be that an organization that can afford any coach outside of the NHL is relying on a ‘cheap solution’ for the most important sports leadership position?,” Zaugg pondered.
Zaugg did not rule out the possibility that Hallam could escape from his current contract a year early, but that would cause him to miss the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. As it stands, Hallam’s last obligation to the Swedish Ice Hockey Association under the terms of his current contract would be the 2026 World Championship in Switzerland.
On Friday, Swedish media outlet SportBladet confirmed that Hallam has agreed to become Genève-Servette’s head coach beginning in the 2026-27 season, according to HockeyNews.se.
Reached for comment, Hallam reportedly replied via text message, “I am very happy and motivated with my job I have now and I am just focusing on that. I have no comments about the future.”
Hallam, 45, has coached the Swedish national team since 2023. Under his stewardship, Sweden won the bronze medal at last year’s World Championship in Czechia and finished third at this year’s 4 Nations Face-Off – losing in overtime to both Canada and Finland before beating the USA in regulation time. This May, the Swedes will play on home ice in Sweden at the Worlds with Hallam at the helm.
Previously, Hallam coached the Växjö Lakers from 2012 to 2023, guiding the team to three SHL titles and winning two Swedish coach-of-the-year awards.
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