Wennberg aiming to help propel Sharks to playoffs, Sweden to Olympic gold

WASHINGTON -- Alexander Wennberg ended 2025 with some good news and began 2026 with even more.

Wennberg was informed by Team Sweden coach Sam Hallam on New Year’s Eve that he’d been selected to play in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. The 31-year-old center was still enjoying the afterglow of that phone call when he signed a three-year, $18 million contract with the San Jose Sharks on Jan. 4, extending his tenure on one of the NHL’s up-and-coming teams.

“It was a hell of a week, actually,” Wennberg said. “It was amazing having those two happen back-to-back. It’s something you’ve been fighting for. Obviously, the Olympics have always been a dream of mine, but also this whole season you’ve kind of been waiting for that day when they release it (the roster) if you are making the team or not. So that was amazing.

“Then, I’ve wanted to re-sign even during the summer and then waiting for it and getting rewarded with a contract. So, yeah, it’s something this whole season you’ve been fighting for and it’s really nice to accomplish it.”

Wennberg has played a key role in the Sharks (27-24-4) being a surprise Stanley Cup Playoff contender, putting up 37 points (10 goals, 27 assists) in 55 games this season. He’s already surpassed his total of 35 points (10 goals, 25 assists) in 77 games last season, his first with San Jose, and could reach 50 points for the first time since he had an NHL career-high 59 (13 goals, 46 assists) in 80 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2016-17.

He will put that aside for the next two weeks, though, and turn his focus to Milano Cortina, where Sweden plays its Olympic opener against host Italy on Wednesday (3:10 p.m. ET; USA, CBC, Gem). The Stockholm native has played for Sweden three times at the IIHF World Championship (2016, 2019, 2025), winning a bronze medal last year, and won the silver medal in each of his two appearances in the IIHF World Junior Championship (2013, 2014).

This will be Wennberg's first Olympics.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “I remember watching in ’06 when Sweden won that gold and this is something that everyone is looking at. Imagine being on a team representing the best of the best. So it’s something you always looked to, and with COVID and with all the years the NHL did not go, I didn’t know if I’d have the chance to go.”

Wennberg wasn’t picked to play for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off last season, but he was on standby during the tournament as a potential injury replacement. So he figured he would be the bubble to make the Olympic team when this season began.

“There are so many good players,” he said. “I knew it was me and a few other guys. Obviously, I wanted to have a good start to the season and with the role I’m playing, it’s being a bottom-six guy, whatever they choose, PK, power play, face-off, whatever they need. So they just said, ‘Keep doing that and we’ll see in January.’”

Hallam and team Sweden’s management, headed by general manager Jose Boumedienne, liked what they saw and thought Wennberg’s intelligence and versatility will be valuable at the Olympics.

“When he started this year, the way he has played this year both offensively and defensively, we just feel he’s a player we can put into pretty much every role out there,” Hallam said. “He can play on the power play, on the PK. He can play fourth line. He can play top six. He can also play on the wing.

“And he's a mature, smart person you want to have around you in the room, too.”

That’s been a big part of the Wennberg’s value to the Sharks as well. In his 12th NHL season after being selected by the Blue Jackets with the No. 14 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, he has 407 points (111 goals, 296 assists) in 844 NHL games with the Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Seattle Kraken, New York Rangers and Sharks and 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in 58 playoff games.

But Wennberg's value goes beyond statistics; he has been a steadying presence centering San Jose’s second line behind Macklin Celebrini and perhaps produced more than anticipated when he was initially signed to a two-year, $10 million contract as an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2024.

“He’s been rock solid for us,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “He plays a 200-foot game. I think his game has improved too over the years here, and this year he’s taken a nice step. He made the Olympic team for Sweden. He’s transporting pucks more than he has, holding onto pucks more, creating a little bit more offense to his game. Instead of being almost like a shutdown center, he’s kind of evolved more.

“In that 2C (role), you’ve got to drive a little offense, and he’s done a good job of that.”

In addition, Wennberg has provided valuable experience and a veteran example for a Sharks team with a talented young core up front, including Celebrini, 19, Will Smith, 20, Sam Dickinson, 19, Michael Misa, 18, William Eklund, 23, Collin Graf, 23, and Yaroslav Askarov, 23.

Warsofsky said Wennberg’s presence has been “critical” for San Jose centers Celebrini, Smith (before he was moved to wing) and Misa.

Warsofsky uses video clips of Wennberg as a teaching tool for Misa, the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft who is learning how play center in the NHL on the fly during his rookie season.

“He’s obviously a really complete player and he’s been around for a long time,” Misa said of Wennberg. “So just for me to be able to learn stuff off his game and ask him for advice on face-offs and stuff as a centerman, it’s been good. It’s more the defensive side of it, the responsibility, but he’s given me a lot of great pointers so far.”

Wennberg knew the Sharks were rebuilding when he signed with them in 2024 and there would be some growing pains; there were more last season, when San Jose finished 20-50-12 and last in the NHL with 52 points.

That didn’t scare Wennberg off, though. He was thrilled when negotiations for a contract extension began last offseason, even before the Sharks made a big jump in the standings this season.

“The first year, I saw the potential right there,” Wennberg said. “The rebuild is always tough. It’s a question of when you’re going to take that next step and I felt like last year we had a lot of good players, a lot of good moments. There were a lot of games we ended up losing not because we were the worst team. It was just that we would find a way to lose those games. So in the summer, I was excited to come back for more years as well.

“Now, we take another step, which is just confirming that we’re doing something right.”

The Sharks still have work to do to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2019; they are five points behind the Anaheim Ducks for the second wild card from the Western Conference with 27 games remaining.

But Wennberg is looking forward to seeing what comes next -- after he returns from trying to help Sweden win a gold medal at the Olympics.

“I love everything about it: the team, the community, the organization, the teammates,” he said. “It felt like home right there, so no matter what the step is, I feel like I was committed to this and wanted to be a part of it as well. To me, it’s fun. Even though I feel like I’m here to help the young kids, it also seems like my hockey is going in the right direction as well.

“So that’s why I feel like the fit has been really good.”

NHL Senior Writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report