A few days after teammate Patric Hornqvist made the decision to play for his country for the 2019 IIHF World Championships, Penguins’ defenseman Marcus Pettersson also elected to join Team Sweden’s roster for this year’s tournament.
After being swapped with controversial forward Daniel Sprong in a one-for-one trade with the Anaheim Ducks back in the beginning of December, Pettersson played in 57 total games for the Penguins and racked up a conservative 19 points (two goals, 17 assists). When his statistics for both Anaheim and Pittsburgh are combined, Pettersson started in 84 NHL games (thanks to scheduling) and collected 25 points (two goals, 23 assists).