Team Sweden has a tough challenge for Olympic gold as their key players battle injuries. Can they medal without them?
The start of the Olympics is less than a month away. But for some injury-ravaged countries, they cannot start soon enough.
On Wednesday, Team USA announced that Jackson LaCombe would be replacing injured defenseman Seth Jones on its roster. Meanwhile, Canada is on pins and needles, wondering whether Brayden Point, who was placed on injured reserve last week, will be healthy enough when the tournament begins.
However, there's another country that could be in even worse shape.
Sweden might not be as much of a gold medal favorite as Canada or the U.S. But they have the potential to be on the podium — that is, as long as they don't suffer any more injuries.
As it stands, the Swedes have five players who are currently injured: Toronto Maple Leafs star right winger William Nylander, Anaheim Ducks youngster Leo Carlsson, center Joel Eriksson Ek and defensemen Jonas Brodin of the Minnesota Wild and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Of those players, Brodin will be out for the Olympics, and Carlsson is expected to be out, according to The Athletic's Michael Russo and Pierre LeBrun.
But if all of those players miss out on the Olympics, it would be a devastating blow to Sweden's chances of earning a medal of any color. Even losing one or two of those talented players could make it extremely difficult for the Swedes to advance out of their grouping, much less end up as a medal threat.
"I know all the treatment guys around every team here in the NHL is so good," Gustavsson told The Hockey News' Michael Traikos on Tuesday. "Hopefully, they can get them back in shape and go there. If it happens they can't be there, Sweden's got a lot of good players in the NHL. We're going to be strong."
We partly agree with Gustavsson.
Sweden does have great depth. And they have a lot of good players, such as wingers Marcus Johansson and Viktor Arvidsson, center Mikael Backlund and defensemen Simon Edvinsson and Mattias Ekholm, who were not initially chosen to represent the country.
In fact, Arvidsson has four goals and eight points in nine games following his Olympic snub — tied for third-most among Swedish skaters. So, even with some key personnel, a podium finish isn't necessarily out of the question.
But in this writer's opinion, the Swedes are facing a Mission: Impossible situation if one-fifth of their preferred lineup is wearing civilian clothes when the Olympics begin.
Indeed, if Nylander doesn't play in the Games, Team Sweden would be without its best forward. And if Eriksson Ek doesn't play, the Swedes would be without their best two-way center. Meanwhile, if Hedman doesn't play, Sweden would be without their top defenseman and likely leader.
That's a lot of top talent to be unavailable. And while some Swedish veterans and youngsters could step up and try to fill the void created by the injury bug, it's difficult for us to envision a talent-depleted Team Sweden beating the odds and earning gold.
Of course, there's always a remote chance the Swedes can pull off a massive upset and beat the gold-medal favorites, Canada and the United States, particularly if Gustavsson plays the way he has been with the Wild this season. But without so many Olympic shoo-ins, that's exactly what it will be for Sweden – a gigantic upset of historical proportions.
As much depth as the Swedes might have, they simply cannot compare to the depth of the Americans or Canadians. They need everyone to be healthy. Anything less, and it's going to be next-to-impossible for them to finish at the top of the Olympic podium.
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