Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond 2025/26

[Per]

The Finland Hockey Games tournament is being held next week.
Participants are Finland, Sweden, Czechia and Switzerland.

For the Finns, Czechs and Swiss this is good practice ahead of the Olympics. Sure, the Finns have 32 skaters in the NHL, but there is still a decent chance for Finnish SM-Liiga players to prove themselves in this tournament and make a case for Olympic participation. The Czechs only have 13 players in the NHL these days and the Swiss 10, so for them it's a real try-out. Their Olympic teams will be mainly non-NHL.

Now, normally this tournament doesn't mean much for Sweden. It's not like the players we send to this tournament will be on the Olympic team.
We have 69 skaters and 9 goalies in the NHL, and the chance of any SHL player making the cut is almost negligible. So this is more a chance for those that are too old for the WJC and have not yet made it to the NHL to gain some international experience. And they may have a shot at making the cut for the World Championships held in April or May, when many NHLers won't be available .

This time it's different. Sam Hallam, who is Sweden's head coach, has decided to have Nicklas Bäckström play this tournament.
This is a real bona fide NHL superstar who scored 1033 points in 1105 games over 18 seasons. He has won the Stanley Cup, the Gagarin Cup (KHL playoffs, during the lockout), two world championships and has an Olympic silver medal.

Due to injuries he only played 39 games in 2022/23, 8 games in 2023/24 and none at all in 2024/25. But after returning to Sweden he strapped on his skates again and is playing for his old team Brynäs in the SHL, on a line with Jakob Silfverberg, who has also returned home after a long NHL career. With 13 points in 17 games he looks good but doesn't really stand out, yet Sam Hallam likes what he has seen and wants to try him against international competition and give him a good look. Hockey is not just scoring points, but also positioning and making those around you better. Bäckström's strength were always his hockey sense and his playmaking abilities. Pairing someone with his expertise and experience with some lethal scorers could be a winning move. And yeah, he's averaging 19:29 of ice time, so his conditioning seems just fine.

We'll see what happens.

[donlever]

Thanks Per.

Interesting intel on Backstrom.

As you intimate his experience alone will have an impact to the Swedish entry.

Ovie would be pretty happy about Backstrom playing 19 minutes a night beside him.

[Per]

So on Monday it was announced Bäckström won't join the team for the Finland Hockey Games tournament.

He needs to rest, but maintains it is a minor issue that shouldn't affect the season.