Is Jacob Markstrom the right choice for Sweden’s qualifying game?

Team Sweden has made its choice between the pipes for its men’s ice hockey playoff matchup against Team Latvia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, and it’s not the goalie who started their first two games of the tournament.

Instead of Filip Gustavsson, who allowed a handful of iffy goals in his games against Italy and Finland, it’ll be Jacob Markstrom going up against the Latvians on Tuesday. Markstrom stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced in Sweden’s 5-3 win over Team Slovakia on Saturday.

The 36-year-old workhorse has struggled with consistency with the New Jersey Devils this season, going 15-13-1 with an .882 save percentage in 30 appearances, but his showing against the Slovaks was apparently enough to convince his coaches to defer to him in the knockout stage.

On Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, Uffe Bodin joined Carter Hutton and Tyler Yaremchuk to discuss whether the Swedes made the right call in tapping Markstrom against Latvia, or whether they should’ve pivoted to one of the two Minnesota Wild netminders on their roster.

Carter Hutton: Now, for Jacob Markstrom, getting the net, do you believe this is the right, experienced guy for this job, to be put in this situation? Do you think they’re trying to protect them? Because I know [Filip Gustavsson] has been really good this year but his first periods have been horrible in this tournament. He had two on four in the first game and two on six in the second game, which is kind of devastating to a lineup. Do you think that’s been a factor for this team?

Uffe Bodin: For sure. It was his job to lose, and he lost it, basically. Me and my colleague, we have our own show that we run during the Olympics, and we said when we recorded ahead of this game, it actually would’ve been nicer or more exciting to put in Jesper Wallstedt, because I don’t think Jacob Markstrom did a lot to help his own stock in the last game. But you know this, Carter, since you have a lot of experience, if you change goalies three times, I don’t think that would be good for team morale, so I understand why they go with Markstrom. He’s, as you mentioned, the experienced guy, he’s been around a long time, he’s very likeable. A leader in his own way. So, I’m not surprised, but I wonder, when we look back at this … can’t help but think that maybe Jesper Wallstedt would’ve been the guy to go with, actually.

Watch the full episode here: