Sweden, the land of some of the most exciting and dynamic NHL players to ever lace them up.
The Scandinavian country is no stranger to competing at the top level of hockey and is usually regarded as one of the superpowers in international play. From the Sedin twins and Mats Sundin, to current superstars Erik Karlsson and Elias Pettersson, it’s no wonder that Team Sweden is as successful as they are during international competitions.
For the Edmonton Oilers, there is a decent list of Swedes who have come through the door and played games in Edmonton. The ‘80s had the likes of Willy Lindstrom and Kent Nilsson don the orange and blue and just recently, it seems like the Edmonton blue-line has had a direct line to the country.
But, how do they all stack up? If you were to stack all the Swedish Oilers into one roster, all while in the prime of their careers, would they be a force to be reckoned with?
Let’s find out!
Forwards:
Magnus Paajarvi – Kent Nilsson – Robert Nilsson
Linus Omark – Anton Lander – Willy Lindstrom
Joakim Nygard – Mats Lindgren – Fredrik Bremberg
Pontus Aberg – Mattias Janmark – Peter Eriksson
While Sweden does have a good history of producing high-end offensive talent, it doesn’t appear that the Oilers benefit all that much from it. Kent Nilsson is the absolute stand-out in this forward group. He was a force to be reckoned with while playing for the Calgary Flames in the ‘80s. The Oilers, unfortunately, got him a bit past his prime and he only played a total of 23 games with the club.
It’s a good start but one that falls off fairly quick. The best we can surround him with are a few remnants from Edmonton’s first rebuild of the decade of darkeness in Magnus Paajarvi and funnily enough, Kent’s son Robert Nilsson.
Lines two through four are then various arrangements of players who couldn’t really stick in the NHL for all that long. Willy Lindstrom was a decent player in his time, and probably the best remaining forward after Kent, but a second line role is pushing it. Mattias Janmark has spent some time in the NHL but at his peak he was a serviceable depth forward.
Not too impressive of a forward group.
Defense:
Mattias Ekholm – Adam Larsson
Oscar Klefbom – Frederik Olausson
Dick Tarnstrom – Daniel Tjarnqvist
This is a lot better looking than the forwards.
The Oilers have had quite a few really good Swedish defenders play for the team recently. Mattias Ekholm and Adam Larsson is as fierce a shutdown top pair as you could hope for. The second pairing brings an element of offensive punch with both Oscar Klefbom and Frederik Olausson being decent PP options.
As we get to the third pairing of Dick Tarnstrom and Daniel Tjarnqvist, we get a few fairly decent depth defenders who should be able to carry the load with limited minutes. Tarnstrom hit 50 points in his absolute peak so he could easily spot a role in the top four in case of injury.
This is easily the strong point of the roster.
Goaltenders:
Tommy Salo
Anders Nilsson
Goaltending is another strong suit for the Swedish Oilers.
Tommy Salo is among the franchise leaders in all of wins, games played, total saves, and goals against average. Considering he accomplished all of that while behind some not-so-great teams speaks volumes to his ability as an NHL goaltender. Certainly, a great option for the team’s starter.
If things go sideways, Anders Nilsson is a pretty decent back-up option. He spent his entire NHL career as a backup goaltender and put up some respectable numbers. His 59–74–15 record is uglier than it should be considering he has a career .907 save percentage.
You could do better in the backup position, but this is not a bad pair.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
