San Jose Sharks winger William Eklund will be among the 13 forwards chosen for Sweden’s entry into the 4 Nations Face-Off, according to a published report Monday in that country.
Eklund has been asked to join Sweden’s national team and has accepted the offer, per Expressen, a Swedish national newspaper.
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Could Sharks forward crack Sweden’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster?
The 4 Nations Face-Off, which takes place in February, features teams from the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden.
The official 23-player rosters for Sweden and Finland will be unveiled on Wednesday at 11 a.m. (PST) on ESPN and the NHL Network. Rosters for the American and Canadian teams will be announced on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. (PST) on TNT.
Each country’s roster — which includes three goalies, seven defensemen, and 13 forwards — had to be submitted by Monday. This would be Eklund’s first time playing on Sweden’s men’s national team.
A Stockholm native, the 22-year-old Eklund confirmed to Bay Area News Group recently that he had discussions with Team Sweden coach Sam Hallam, who has been behind the bench for Tre Kronor for the last two World Championships.
After Sunday’s NHL games, Eklund was fourth among all Swedish-born forwards with 22 points, trailing only New Jersey’s Jesper Bratt (31), Los Angeles’ Adrian Kempe (25), and Detroit’s Lucas Raymond (24).
Going into the Sharks’ game against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, Eklund had 13 points in his last 11 games. Eklund has also improved his 200-foot game and evolved into one of the Sharks’ most relied-upon penalty-killing forwards.
Eklund, drafted seventh overall by the Sharks in 2021, is playing on San Jose’s top line with Macklin Celebrini and Fabian Zetterlund. But his ability to kill penalties and match up against skilled lines was considered to be Eklund’s best hope of being one of Sweden’s 13 forwards for the event, which will see games held in Boston and Montreal.
Sweden plays Canada on Feb. 12 and Finland on Feb. 15 at Bell Centre in Montreal. It finishes the round-robin portion of the tournament by facing the United States on Feb. 17 at TD Garden in Boston. The two top teams will play each other in the final on Feb. 20 in Boston.
Expressen’s report didn’t indicate which other players are on the Swedish roster. Zetterlund, with nine goals and 19 points in 27 games this season, was also thought to be in the mix for a roster spot.
Players already named to Sweden’s roster are defensemen Gustav Forsling of Florida, Victor Hedman of Tampa Bay, and ex-Shark Erik Karlsson of Pittsburgh. The forwards already named were Nashville’s Filip Forsberg, Toronto’s William Nylander, and Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers.
Sharks center Mikael Granlund is projected to be one of Finland’s 13 forwards. He is a veteran of international hockey tournaments and has spoken before about how much it means to him to represent his country.
