Team Sweden figures to be pretty darn good in this tournament and its defense group is a big part of the reason why. With guys like Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Victor Hedman and Erik Karlsson leading the way, Sweden is all set defensively.
Much like the forward group, all of Sweden’s defenders are NHL players and even the bottom pairing will be a force to be reckoned with. Karlsson and Ekman-Larsson will likely play together on the top pairing, with Hedman on the second pairing with Anton Stralman.
From there, Sweden can’t really go wrong. Like I said in the forwards post, this team figures to be one of Canada’s biggest obstacles in the upcoming tournament.