Sweden’s Olympic fate may be decided by their mismanagement of players

Feb 13, 2026, 15:58 ESTUpdated: Feb 13, 2026, 16:02 EST

head coach Sam Hallam of Sweden in action against Finland in men's ice hockey Group B play during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Credit: Marton Monus-Imagn Images

Sweden‘s start to the 2026 Winter Olympics hasn’t been ideal.

Yes, Sweden got the win over Italy to start the tournament on Wednesday. But Italy was the easy win of the tournament. They’re in the tournament as a host nation, throwing together a collection of imports to ice the most competitive roster they could, but still the worst in the tournament.

And yet Sweden couldn’t even make it an easy win. They certainly outshot the Italians, ultimately throwing 60 shots on net to Italy’s 22, but the Swedes never really ran away with the game. Italy surprised with the first goal, and while Sweden responded with two straight in the first, Italy managed to tie the game after. It wasn’t until with just over four minutes left in the game when the Swedes had their first two-goal advantage in a game which ideally would have been a rout. Sweden escaped with the win, but there appeared to be some finishing problems early on.

Sweden’s finishing issues continued against Finland on Friday. Despite the fact the Swedes outshot their Nordic rivals 35-24, they scored just one goal in a 4-1 loss. Through two games, they had just five goals scored on a goaltender on 94 shots, a 5.32% shooting percentage.

Sweden’s issue isn’t even about creating chances off of those shots. According to Dimitri Filipovic, they’ve had 69 scoring chances, 47 slot shots and 27 inner slot shots, so they’re certainly creating off of their opportunities, they just can’t bury them.

While luck and the goaltending of Sweden’s opponents plays a massive factor in the Swedes’ performance across these two games, it does also look like there’s a disconnect offensively at points, especially from their forwards. Up to this point, William Nylander and Mika Zibanejad are the only forwards in their top nine with a goal, and in Sweden’s loss to Finland, only Nylander, Lucas Raymond, Adrian Kempe and Rickard Rakell had at least four chance contributions in the game. Nylander also had an incredible 12 chance contributions against France, while Kempe and Jesper Bratt had nine. Basically, the top line has generated a lot for Sweden, while the middle six has struggled.

But there is another forward who hasn’t had a bad tournament as far as creating chances: Filip Forsberg. In the loss to Finland, he had one individual scoring chance, and had two chance assists. The problem is Forsberg is barely playing.

There was plenty of headlines made about Forsberg’s role as the 13th forward for Sweden, especially with players like Alex Wennberg and Pontus Holmberg playing above him. While some viewed it as a compliment to his versatility, it could also be viewed as the opposite: Sweden didn’t see him as a fit in their top nine, and they wanted their fourth line to be a checking line.

The lack of trust has shown in Forsberg’s ice time thus far. In the opening win over France, he skated one shift for 1:07 of ice time. Against Finland, he got a bump in ice time with 13 shifts and 9:31 of ice time, although he was riding pine in the first period with only 1:38 of ice time.

It’s very weird treatment of one of the better Swedish players right now. He’s fourth among active Swedes in scoring, and he’s third in points-per-game. It’s not like he’s only been good in the past, as he’s fifth in points and tied for seventh in points-per-game among Swedes this season. With that kind of scoring, he should probably be a consistent option in the top nine, maybe even the top six.

It’s also not like there’s any ulterior motive to this move from Sweden. They aren’t known for making drastic decisions on their roster based on national team politics (outside of fringe roster spots or Mattias Ekholm missing out on this year’s tournament after being vocal about his usage at the 4 Nations Face-Off), and even then, there doesn’t seem to be a reason why Forsberg would be in the doghouse. He’s even participated in the World Championships the few times his Nashville Predators didn’t make the playoffs, including last year.

To start the tournament, Forsberg wasn’t even a regular on the power play, despite the fact he is tied for third in power play points among Swedes in the past three years. A large part of his bump in ice time in the third period was power play minutes, as he was finally placed on the second unit, but it felt like a massive waste not putting him on one of the two units to begin with. If Sweden is going to have him in their lineup as the 13th forward, he should at least have been used as a power play specialist.

In defense of Sweden, they do have a plethora of talent on the wings, so it’s difficult to find a consistent spot for Forsberg. Bratt, Kempe, Nylander and Raymond are also clear-cut top-six forwards, and Zibanejad and Rakell are also quality wingers who make up the third line. Perhaps an argument could be made for Rakell or Elias Lindholm to be moved down to the fourth line since they fit the “checking line” mold a bit better (with Zibanejad moved to center in Lindholm’s instance), but the lack of center options also limits Sweden’s flexibility there.

Speaking of a lack of center options, Sweden’s struggles to develop elite level centers to give them a center depth to challenge Canada or the United States is another issue of player mismanagement, although it stems from a much bigger-picture issue. Sweden, like many European teams, struggle to develop centers because their players need to play in the top European leagues to develop. But when they make the top leagues, they’re moved to the wing because coaches don’t trust them as centers. Then, they’re drafted as wingers and used as such in the NHL.

Look across most European Olympic teams, and the number of high-end centers can be named in short order. Leon Draisaitl. Aleksander Barkov. Sebastian Aho. Roope Hintz. Tim Stutzle. Nico Hischier. Elias Pettersson (when he’s on his game). Leo Carlsson is becoming one this season. Perhaps Dalibor Dvorsky, Anton Frondell and Konsta Helenius can blossom into a high-end center as well, but when those are Europe’s only major options in the last three drafts, it doesn’t bode well for any European team, never mind Sweden.

Forsberg also isn’t the only puzzling roster decision for Sweden in this tournament, as Oliver Ekman-Larsson has also had some questionable usage thus far. Ekman-Larsson is in the midst of his best season in years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and yet he played zero minutes against France, and only 7:36 in Finland. Like Forsberg, OEL saw a later adjustment in the game, as he only had 1:02 of ice time in the first against Finland

At the very least, Sweden’s late but eventual adjustment to give Forsberg and Ekman-Larsson minutes indicates they recognize something is off with the team, and changes needed to be made. But it feels like head coach Sam Hallam should have been more proactive about his decisions and used the extra forward and defense spot to his advantage.

Now, Sweden find themselves in a hole. They sit in second in Group B, with their lone game coming against a Slovakia team who is 2-0 thus far. Sweden needs a regulation win by at least two goals to pass Slovakia, while also making sure they have a better goal differential than Finland to win the group.

One could make the case an extra game in the playoffs could help them solve their issues while playing a lower-end team, but it still feels like a let down compared to where Sweden was supposed to stand in the tournament, especially given Finland’s injuries. They’ll need to be more proactive and reactive with their roster going forward, otherwise their Olympic visit will continue to unfold the way it has.

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