MILAN — William Nylander was absent from practice Tuesday on the eve of Sweden’s Olympic men’s opener with host Italy, raising a bit of concern about the Toronto Maple Leafs star who had battled a groin injury earlier this season.

“It’s a maintenance thing,” head coach Sam Hallam said after practice. “He’s done two full ice practices with us and felt, after yesterday, a bit sore, so we’ll just give him an extra day. And then we’ll see for tomorrow if he’s ready to go. It’s going to be a pretty late decision.”

Nylander did return for the Leafs and played three games before the Olympic break. But as Hallam said, Nylander felt sore after practice Monday.

“Not overly concerned at all,” said Hallam. “He’s been looking really sharp and good on the ice for two days. We felt that we’d give him today. It’s a short tournament, but we’re still in the beginning of it and (have) bigger games coming up, so let’s keep our priorities in focus there.”

Sweden has full health otherwise, which includes veteran leaders Victor Hedman and Gabriel Landeskog. Both are ready to go, Hallam said.

Sweden goalie question

Hallam wouldn’t yet confirm his Game 1 starter in goal.

Jacob Markstrom has the pedigree, Filip Gustavsson has the best form going in the NHL this season, while Jesper Wallstedt is the kid breaking through.

“That question’s been up there pretty much all year, and I’ve said nevertheless which three goalies we’re going to pick to this group and to the Olympic squad, I’m confident playing either one of them,” Hallam said. “That’s still the feeling, but of course we have made our decision. We’re not going to announce that until tomorrow.”

Based on practice Tuesday, it seemed like Markstrom was in the starter’s net. But again, Hallam wouldn’t tip his hand.

“It’s a big decision. I mean, do you go on form? Do you go on how many games and what you have under your belt? It’s different,” Hallam said. “But I feel confident in all three. They look good, and hopefully we make the right decision there.”

The Swedes have rival Finland on Friday in their second game. So that’s the other layer to it — which goalie does Sweden want for what should be an easy opener with Italy compared to the always tough matchup with Finland?

Gustavsson probably deserves to be the starter overall in the tournament based on form, but the career body of work argument for Markstrom will be at play.

Relieved Andersson

There’s a world in which Rasmus Andersson could have been here on the Olympic stage, still wondering about his NHL future.

But thankfully for him, his expected trade happened before the Olympics last month, which allows him to be here in Milan without that weighing on him.

Relieved?

“Yeah, but it’s kind of boring for you guys, eh? You don’t have to write about me anymore (smiles),” Andersson said with a chuckle.

And for full transparency, Andersson was speaking directly to me, because I am guilty as charged for the many Andersson trade updates we did on TSN’s Insider Trading since last June.

Still, in all seriousness, it was nice to have the trade from Calgary to Vegas go down before the Olympic competition begins.

“Obviously I’m super excited about joining Vegas,” said Andersson. “The skill on that team is through the roof. I’ve said it from the start, I think they’re a real contender. That’s where I wanted to go. But at the same time, everyone knows how grateful I was about the Calgary Flames and everything they did for me. Yeah, it’s been a whirlwind the last 10 to 12 days or whatever, it’s tough, my family is still in Calgary and obviously I don’t get to see them for a little while. I’m fortunate enough that my wife is flying in here in a couple of days. It sucks that I can’t see my kids for about six weeks. That part is tough. But I’m trying to have the full focus here on Team Sweden and I’ll kind of deal with all the other stuff when I get back.”

Lessons from 4 Nations

Adrian Kempe didn’t sugarcoat it. Adjusting to the pace of best-on-best last February at 4 Nations was a real thing. And it was a great lesson in what awaits Sweden on the Olympic stage with all the top NHL players here.

“That first 10 minutes against Canada is one of the fastest 10 minutes I’ve ever played in my career,” Kempe said Tuesday about the 4 Nations opener last February. “It was fun but also a little bit of a ‘wow’ moment where you kind of feel that best on best tournament. After those first 10 minutes, I think we played 15 minutes really solid. I think we responded to that really well. So I think we’re a little bit prepared for what’s gonna come now. Obviously a couple different opponents throughout the tournament but as the tournament goes on, we’re gonna play really good teams. It’s a good experience to have, I think, that we played in the 4 Nations last year.”

Sweden lost in overtime to Canada in that opener and beat the U.S. in the finale of the round robin, a game that didn’t hold any meaning for Team USA.

But still, from a Swedish perspective, while they didn’t make the 4 Nations final, they came away from it confident that they can compete with the co-favorites from the U.S. and Canada for gold in Milan.

“We definitely learned that we can play with any team,” Jesper Bratt said Tuesday. “It doesn’t matter who the team is that we’re playing against. Even if it’s Canada in overtime or U.S. or Finland or whichever team it is, we can play with any team. We can win any game, and I think that’s just the confidence level on this team that we know from past experience, we’re just going to grow and we’re going to get even better than we were last year. It’s just a lot of excitement in the group.”