Ekholm omission from Olympic roster ‘tough’ decision for Sweden, coach says

It was one of the most difficult phone calls Team Sweden coach Sam Hallam has ever had to make.

When Sweden revealed its roster for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Friday, 18 of the players going to Italy were on the team that competed in the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.

In the biggest surprise of them all, veteran Edmonton Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm was not among the returnees.

“It’s disappointing,” said Ekholm, 35. “It was probably my last shot. It’s something that’s right up there with the Stanley Cup, the Olympics, so it’s obviously a huge disappointment.

“There’s nothing I can do about it now.”

Ekholm had an assist in three games at 4 Nations, a tournament in which Sweden (1-0-2-0) did not lose a game in regulation yet still failed to qualify for the title contest. He has 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) in 41 games for the Oilers this season.

Now, in an interesting twist, defenseman Philip Broberg, his former Oilers teammate who signed a two-year, $9.16 million contract ($4.58 million average annual value) with the St. Louis Blues on Aug. 20, 2024, after Edmonton did not match an offer sheet, finds himself on the Olympic team while Ekholm doesn’t.

It made for an awkward conversation for Hallam, to be sure.

“Of course it’s tough,” Hallam said by phone from Sweden on Friday. “I called him up just before Christmas. It’s a call, you know, the players, they all know they’re going to get a call. They hope for one message. They get it all or they get nothing. And he got nothing. But it’s part of our job.

“As management we make decisions. We make good decisions and we make bad decisions. But we made the decision based on what we think is best for the team.

“There are some really good players that should be on the Olympic roster. But our D-core is so good.”

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It is, Hallam points out, probably the strength of the team, a group led by future Hall of Famers Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Erik Karlsson of the Pittsburgh Penguins, two-time Stanley Cup winner Gustav Forsling of the Florida Panthers and Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, who selected him No. 1 in the 2018 NHL Draft.

In the 24-year-old Broberg, Team Sweden is adding a mobile puck-carrier who is efficient at both ends of the ice and is 11 years younger than Ekholm. The left-handed shooting defenseman, who has 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in 42 games for the Blues this season, has been far better than can be judged by his statistics, Hallam said.

“Seeing Broberg the way he’s playing with the Blues right now, the minutes he’s been playing and playing against top competition, he’s been great night after night,” Hallam said.

Players joining Broberg on the roster who did not participate at 4 Nations include defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Toronto Maple Leafs, forwards Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche, Pontus Holmberg of the Lightning and Alexander Wennberg of the San Jose Sharks, and goalie Jesper Wallstedt of the Minnesota Wild.

Hedman had shoulder surgery last month but is expected to be ready for the Olympics. In fact, Team Sweden management would not be surprised if the Lightning captain is back for the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series against the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Feb. 1.

Players who competed at 4 Nations who did not make Team Sweden this time around include Ekholm, forwards Viktor Arvidsson of the Bruins and Gustav Nyquist of the Winnipeg Jets, and goalie Linus Ullmark of the Ottawa Senators.

Ullmark took a leave of absence from the Senators for personal reasons this week, but Hallam said the decision to leave the veteran goalie off the team already had been made by that time.

In steps Wallstedt, the 23-year-old rookie who entered Friday with an 11-2-3 record and an NHL-leading .928 save percentage, and ranked fourth in goals-against average at 2.21 (minimum 10 games).

“We had him as the third goalie at the World Championships a couple of years ago,” Hallam said. “For us, in the situation, he’s always been a top guy in his junior career too. We’ve just been waiting for him to take that next step and he’s done that this year.

“We’ve known how good he is. We’re thrilled that he’s now getting to show everyone else that.”

In the end, Hallam said the Team Sweden brass is confident in what could be accomplished in Italy.

“We felt after 4 Nations that we could take another step,” he said. “We feel we have the team that can potentially do that.

“When you look at it, the U.S. and Canada have the deepest teams. We feel we’re right there in the next group of teams with Finland and Czechia. And in a short tournament like this, anything can happen in one game.

“We feel we have the potential to beat anyone.”