While the upcoming NHL Global Global Series in Stockholm will give many Swedish players the opportunity to play at home, it is also a chance for the Wild, Senators, Leafs and Red Wings to make an early push.
For the many Swedish natives who are participating, this week's NHL Global Series games in Stockholm have been circled for months. It's a rare opportunity for them to hit the ice for their homeland in front of friends and family — many of whom may not be able to make it to North America to take in the NHL experience.
For the league, the Global Series is an ongoing program designed to increase the prominence of the NHL brand outside North America.
Back in September, the goal in visiting Australia for the first time was to get kids and families interested in the game in a sports-mad country where fans are passionate about physical, high-contact competitions.
According to David Proper, the NHL's senior executive vice president of media and international strategy, the objectives are a little different when visiting a country like Sweden, where hockey already enjoys a high profile.
"Sweden has more to do with what I'll call polishing the brand, getting people excited about what's going on and willing to participate on more levels," said Proper. "Whether it's attend games — not just ours, but the domestic leagues and so forth — or watch more hockey or buy more hockey content or products or things of that nature, you're targeting a demo that's differently structured, has a different hockey ethos, and you're trying to build that."
The NHL has visited Stockholm many times before. This year is special because four teams have made the trek across the Atlantic. Each will suit up for two games at Avicii Arena, previously known as the Stockholm Globe, which seats just under 14,000 fans for hockey.
The league is also mounting its largest Global Fan Tour in league history at the Kungstradgarden in Central Stockholm. Running from Nov. 15-19, the event will include family-friendly interactive games and activities, a viewing party screen and an outdoor ice rink. The event will feature a massive heated tent, but this week's weather forecast is quite fan-friendly, with daily temperatures around freezing and some sunny periods expected on Friday and Saturday.
For North American fans, the games deliver some early start times from Thursday through Saturday. Here's the schedule:
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While many of the NHL's international tours take place during the pre-season, the stakes will be higher this week. Up to four points are available for each team, and the event will include some crucial Atlantic Division matchups.
Here's where the competitors stand:
Minnesota Wild (5-8-2, 12 pts.)
Can the Wild use this trip as a bonding experience and a reset? Dean Evason's group hasn't gotten off to the start they'd hoped for, especially on the defensive end. Through their first 15 games, the Wild have given up 4.2 goals per game and are a rock-bottom 63.5 percent on the penalty kill after surrendering five goals while shorthanded in their 8-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on Sunday.
There are some bright spots: solid starts by rookies Marco Rossi and Brock Faber, a team-leading eight goals by two-way pivot Joel Eriksson Ek and another steady point-a-game start from Mats Zuccarello. And even though they're on a three-game losing streak, Minnesota sits just three points out of a Western Conference wild-card spot as of Tuesday. A couple of wins in Stockholm would help them keep pace with the pack.
Eriksson Ek hails from Karlstad, Sweden, about 200 miles west of Stockholm. So does Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin. Marcus Johansson's hometown of Landskrona lies 350 miles to the south and Filip Gustavsson's Skelleftea is nearly 500 miles northward.
Zuccarello is treated as an honorary Swede by his fellow Scandinavians. His hometown of Oslo, Norway, lies barely 50 miles from the Swedish border.
And star goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt, who turns 21 on Tuesday, is joining the Wild as their third goalie. He hails from Vasteras, just over an hour outside Stockholm.
Ottawa Senators (6-7-0, 12 pts.)
After everything they've been through in the early going this season, the Senators must be itching to leave everything behind and head out for a European adventure.
The Sens are scoring — third in the league at 3.85 goals per game and already with seven players at double digits in points. Ottawa put together a pair of solid wins over Toronto and Calgary last week, but are still looking to find more consistency as new owner Michael Andlauer and interim GM Steve Staios work to quiet the noise around the team and provide a calmer working environment.
An overseas trip might be just the ticket for some team bonding over good food and shared experiences. And like the Wild, the Sens aren't out of the race yet. They sit 15th in the jammed-up Eastern Conference standings, but are also just four points out of a wild-card berth.
After missing five games with a concussion, Erik Brannstrom got back into the lineup against Calgary. He's the lone Swedish skater on Ottawa's regular roster. His hometown of Eksjo is located about 200 miles southwest of Stockholm.
Goalie Anton Forsberg hails from Harnosand, a coastal town nearly 300 miles to the north.
On Sunday, the Sens also made two Scandinavian recalls from AHL Belleville. Defenceman Jacob Larsson comes from Ljungby, which lies in the southernmost part of the country, not far from the border with Denmark. And the hometown of 22-year-old goalie Mads Sogaard is Aalborg, in the northern part of Denmark, about 400 miles from Stockholm via a ferry ride to Gothenburg.
Toronto Maple Leafs (8-5-2, 18 pts.)
William Nylander was born in Alberta during his father Michael's five-season stint with the late 90s Calgary Flames. But Michael was born in Stockholm and William is a Swede through and through. He has an MVP award from his country's gold-medal performance at the 2017 IIHF World Championship to prove it.
There may be no countryman flying into Stockholm this week with a higher profile. Nylander sits sixth in NHL scoring with 22 points, and he has at least one point in every game so far this season.
As the Leafs have wrestled with consistency and defensive structure, they're sitting in a wild-card spot as of Tuesday. But they've won three of their last four, including an impressive shutdown of the high-scoring Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. That game marked only the fourth time this season that Toronto has given up two goals or fewer.
The Leafs' lineup has a strong Swedish presence from top to bottom. Unfortunately, that includes the injured list, where Kristianstad's Timothy Liljegren resides as he misses this trip.
Calle Jarnkrok, from Gavle, heads to Stockholm on a roll, having just seen a five-game point streak snapped against the Canucks. On Saturday, Gothenburg-born controversy-magnet John Klingberg was a quiet plus-1 against Vancouver after missing Friday's win over Calgary with an undisclosed issue.
Depth defenseman William Lagesson, who was signed to a two-way deal as an unrestricted free agent this summer, rounds out the Leafs' Swedish contingent. He also hails from Gothenburg, and has dressed in eight straight games since being recalled from the AHL Marlies on Oct. 27.
Detroit Red Wings (8-5-2, 18 pts.)
The Detroit Red Wings are the highest-ranking of the four Global Series teams heading into the games in Stockholm — holding down third place in the Atlantic over Toronto because they hold the regulation-wins tiebreaker by a margin of 7-4.
Just as the Sens had Swedish hall of famer Daniel Alfredsson on their roster and the Leafs boasted stars like Mats Sundin and Borje Salming, the Red Wings have long been synonymous with Swedish hockey greats like Nicklas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg and others.
These days, just one Swede wears the winged wheel: 21-year-old Gothenburg native Lucas Raymond, who sits third in team scoring with 11 points.
While the Red Wings are off to a solid start, it's worth noting that they also came out of the gate strongly last year. In their first 15 games under new coach Derek Lalonde, they were 7-5-3, just one point behind this season's pace. They faded as the season went on, and while they finished 12th in the Eastern Conference, their 80 points were the most since their 25-year playoff streak was snapped in 2017. However, they still have more ground to conquer before they can get back into the playoff mix.
With the margin between playoff and non-playoff teams in the Atlantic already looking like it will be razor-thin, and with both of Detroit's games in Stockholm being against their division rivals, these two four-pointers could go a long way toward determining the Red Wings' chances when the final numbers are tabulated in April.