St. Louis Blues center Oskar Sundqvist will be joining Team Sweden for the upcoming 2026 World Championship [https://x.com/Trekronorse/status/2050216606463144003?s=20]. The 32-year-old has never represented Sweden at the World Championships during his career, but has played for Sweden at the World Junior Championship, winning a silver medal. The 2025-26 season was another difficult one for Sundqvist. His production was about what it had been over the past couple of seasons, but his overall play suffered, and he found himself a healthy scratch quite frequently. He finished the campaign with five goals and 17 points. Sundqvist enters the 2026 off-season as an unrestricted free agent, and it comes with plenty of uncertainty. His two-year, $1.5-million contract is finished, and there is no word on whether the Blues want to bring back the once reliable fourth-line center. But the World Championships can change things for Sundqvist. A positive tournament where he contributes offensively and brings structure and leadership to Sweden could help convince NHL teams that he is still a capable NHL player worthy of a role on an NHL club. A strong performance can also help increase the potential salary he can earn. Sundqvist is the third Blues player to commit to the World Championship, joining Robert Thomas, who will represent Canada [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/blues-robert-thomas-expected-to-join-team-canada-for-world-championship], and Pius Suter, who will represent Switzerland. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/6ef9fb61-9734-470d-ac43-e9adc6baa99a.jpeg] For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
