Visit to Stockholm cancer center 'means a lot' to Penguins, Predators

STOCKHOLM -- Iceburgh kicked its feet up on a shelf and sat back as it took over the video game controller, the Florida Panthers battling the Edmonton Oilers in EA Sports’ NHL 25, a pediatric cancer patient in the other chair. Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson grabbed a ping pong paddle and found a challenger; Penguins forward Rickard Rakell gave out fist bumps and signed hockey cards in silver sharpie.

Karlsson, Rakell and Iceburgh spent Thursday afternoon at the cancer center at Karolinska University Hospital -- as Gnash and Nashville Predators forwards Filip Forsberg and Ryan O'Reilly had the day before -- commemorating Hockey Fights Cancer Month, talking and playing with cancer patients while in Stockholm for the 2025 NHL Global Series Sweden presented by Fastenal.

It was an especially poignant moment for the Sweden-born players, including Karlsson, who don’t often have the chance to make such visits in their native country.

“To be able to do this in Sweden -- I haven’t done this in, I think, my 17-year career -- for me is really cool,” the 35-year-old defenseman said. “Obviously Sweden means a lot for us. We’re still prominent people here, even though we don’t spend as much time here anymore. So it’s fun to see how engaged and how well known we still are in this community, in this country, even though we don’t see it on a daily basis anymore.

“For us to just show up as ourselves and give them a few moments of smiles and some other thoughts is ... it’s hard to put words on how much it means for us.”

Forsberg felt it too.

“I think just being able to do it, and in Sweden and speaking Swedish, it's a little special too,” Forsberg told the Predators website. “I was trying to keep [O’Reilly] filled in on what's being said but just being able to talk in Swedish and talk to kids while wearing the Preds logo is something that's great. And hopefully we've made a couple new Predators fans today.”

The Penguins and Predators are spending the week in Stockholm, where Rakell is from, playing games at Avicii Arena on Friday (2 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, SN-PIT, NHLN, SN) and Sunday (9 a.m. ET; FDSNSO, SN-PIT, NHLN, SN).

And it was with passes to that Sunday game that the Pittsburgh players surprised one family with during their visit, handing out four tickets to a teenage goalie with cancer and her family, four hockey fans that would not have otherwise been able to attend.

“It means a lot to us,” Rakell said of the whole experience. “Anytime that we have a chance to come in and be ourselves and just spend some time with these kids and their families, to put a smile on their face, obviously they’re going through some really tough times, things that we can’t even imagine what they’re going through. So if we can brighten up a small part of their day, it means a lot to us as well.”

Even if they get challenged while they’re there.

Karlsson was directed over to a girl sitting at an art table in the hospital’s play space, a large tub of Perler beads in front of her. In Swedish, he let her know they were a favorite in his house, too.

“I said, ‘I’m trying at home, I’ll try here too, but I can’t guarantee that they’ll be well made,” Karlsson said. “For us, we can relate to kids that age because we have kids that age. But for them to see that we are just normal people as well, and not just someone on TV that their parents talk about or they watch every once in a while. As a child, I’m sure that I grew up thinking that a lot of people that I watched on TV weren’t even real, just to show them that, I think is for them a little bit of a cool experience too.”

While Karlsson and Rakell got to know the patients, handing out stuffed purple Hockey Fights Cancer bears, foam pucks and signed stuffed versions of Iceburgh, there were signs of the Predators' visit the day before. Tacked up on a wall were two laminated pieces of spin art, one signed by Forsberg, one by O’Reilly. Karlsson and Rakell added their own versions, Rakell’s a swirl of black and yellow.

“It’s always special anytime you go to places like this and see the kids, see their excitement to see us, and it’s the least we can do,” O’Reilly told the Predators website. “I think, especially those families, those kids going through a lot, seeing their kind of mindset, you can help them get away from that and just get a chance to chat and give and bring them some presents, is always fun. It's just nice to see the reaction and get a chance to chat with them.”

But it wasn’t just spin art and ping pong. O’Reilly brought his guitar to the hospital, putting on an impromptu concert for the kids in their playroom during Nashville's visit.

“Anytime we get an opportunity to do these visits, it’s very rewarding, very humbling,” Forsberg said. “You realize that what we do is nothing compared to what they're dealing with, but it's also a very important part of their lives. In some cases, just by kind of showing up, like 'Factor’ said and putting smiles on their faces, we can kind of change their day. That’s a really powerful thing, and something that I'm really happy that we can and get the chance to do.”