With just under 2 years to go until the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, ProSportsBlogging.com will run a 6-part feature that will identify the hockey players that will likely represent their respective countries at the Olympic Games. The 6 hockey super powers to be covered include Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and USA. 

Today’s featured country: Sweden
2010 Result: Lost to Slovakia in Quarterfinals
Projected returning players: 11 (8F, 2D, 1G)

TEAM SWEDEN’S PROJECTED 2014 OLYMPIC ROSTER

D. Sedin – H. Sedin – L. Eriksson
H. Zetterberg – N. Backstrom – J. Franzen
G. Landeskog – M. Johansson – D. Alfredsson
A. Steen – P. Berglund – P. Hornqvist

FORWARDS: The forward group representing Sweden will be a nice mix of veterans and younger guys. This will be a tough team to play against, as they boast a ton of speed, good 2-way players and they all have high hockey IQ. One question mark is if Alfredsson will retire in the next year.

N. Lidstrom – N. Kronwall
A. Edler – E. Karlsson
V. Hedman – A. Larsson

DEFENSE: Some of the league’s best defensemen are products of Sweden, and the end result is the phenomenal group listed above. To really get a sense of how good the Swedish D are; consider that Enstrom, Hjalmarsson, Ekman-Larsson and Murray did not make their way onto this roster.

H. Lundqvist
J. Enroth / A. Lindback

GOALIES: Sweden has arguably the best goaltender in the world in Henrik Lundqvist. The backup position will be wide open; youngsters Enroth and Lindback are the front-runners, but don’t rule out top prospects like Jacob Markstrom (Florida) or Robin Lehner (Ottawa).

Other Road to 2014 Posts:
Russia ^[1]
Czech Republic ^[2]
Finland ^[3]

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