{"id":387841,"date":"2026-01-03T04:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T04:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/387841\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T04:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T04:23:11","slug":"sharks-alexander-wennberg-makes-swedens-olympic-team-william-eklund-out-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/387841\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks’ Alexander Wennberg makes Sweden’s Olympic team; William Eklund out"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 San Jose Sharks center Alexander Wennberg<\/a> knew that this year was likely going to represent his last best chance<\/a> to play for his country in the Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n

Following a solid first half of the season, Wennberg got the news he was hoping for earlier this week as he was one of 25 players<\/a> selected to play for Sweden at the upcoming Games in Milano Cortina, Italy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Wennberg, 31, was informed by Sweden\u2019s coach, Sam Hallam, about his inclusion on the roster on Wednesday, with the team being made public on Friday. Wennberg became the second Sharks player to be officially named to an Olympic roster after fellow center Macklin Celebrini was selected to Canada\u2019s team<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m kind of still in the shock moment a little bit because obviously this is something I\u2019ve been working for my entire life,\u201d Wennberg said. \u201cIt almost feels a little bit surreal, that it\u2019s not really happening. I\u2019m trying to still soak it in and enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wennberg, now in his 12th NHL season and his second with the Sharks, is tied for third on the team with 26 points in 40 games. He played his best in December with 13 points in 14 games, helping the Sharks go 8-6-0 during the month and enter January in a wild card spot in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

Entrenched as the Sharks\u2019 second-line center since the start of the season, Wennberg is on pace to have his best year statistically since 2016-17 when he had 59 points in 80 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Wennberg had 35 points in 77 games with the Sharks last season.<\/p>\n

Wennberg didn\u2019t have the opportunity to play in the Olympics earlier in his career as the league chose not to send its players to the Games in 2018 or 2022. The NHL has committed to allowing its players to compete in the 2030 Winter Olympics in France, but Wennberg will be 35 and likely past his prime by then.<\/p>\n

So when it came to being an Olympian, it was now or never for Wennberg, a steady, reliable forward who can play up-and-down the lineup and either on the wing or at center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis felt like my last opportunity to have a chance to actually make the team,\u201d Wennberg said. \u201cIt\u2019s really special. Obviously, the career goes up and down. There\u2019s some moments are not so great, and this is obviously a peak. It\u2019s just an exciting journey to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Wennberg was elated, Sharks winger and fellow Stockholm native William Eklund was disappointed not to be one of the 14 forwards selected.<\/p>\n

While it was not immediately clear why Eklund, 23, was passed over for a spot in what was his first real chance to play in the Olympics, experience could have been a factor. The 5-foot-10, 185-pound Eklund is just in his third full NHL season, and Swedish officials might have opted for a heavier and more veteran roster to better compete with fellow gold medal favorites Canada and the United States.<\/p>\n

Eklund grew up playing center but has so far shown in the NHL that he\u2019s better suited on the wing, which may have limited his chances of making Sweden\u2019s deep team.<\/p>\n

Eklund, who has 26 points in 36 games, wasn\u2019t divulging many details of his conversations with Swedish management, other than saying, \u201cI feel like they liked what they saw from me, they liked how I played this year. But anything more I\u2019m going to keep private.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eklund was only three years old the last time Sweden won Olympic gold, but Wennberg remembers it well. Legendary defenseman Nicklas Lidstr\u00f6m\u2019s goal early in the third period proved to be the game-winner as Sweden beat Finland 3-2 win in the 2006 Olympic Gold Medal game in Torino, Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust those moments. I still remember them like it was yesterday,\u201d Wennberg said. \u201cSo obviously, I want to take my jersey and maybe create new memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wennberg, Colorado\u2019s Gabriel Landeskog and Tampa Bay\u2019s Pontus Holmberg were three forwards named to the Swedish Olympic team on Friday who were not on the country\u2019s roster for last February\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off.<\/p>\n

Viktor Arvidsson of the Boston Bruins and ex-Shark Gustav Nyquist of the Winnipeg Jets were on Sweden\u2019s 4 Nations team but did not make the Olympic roster.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson, who played with the Sharks for five seasons from 2018 to 2023, was one of eight blueliners named to Sweden\u2019s team. Karlsson won his third Norris Trophy in his final year with the Sharks in 2022-23 after he had 101 points in 82 games.<\/p>\n

The other 11 forwards on Sweden\u2019s roster are Jesper Bratt (New Jersey), Leo Carlsson (Anaheim), Joel Eriksson Ek (Minnesota), Filip Forsberg (Nashville), Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles), Elias Lindholm (Boston), William Nylander, (Toronto), Elias Pettersson (Vancouver), Rickard Rakell (Pittsburgh), Lucas Raymond (Detroit) and Mika Zibanejad (New York Rangers).<\/p>\n

The seven other defensemen are\u00a0Rasmus Andersson (Calgary), Philip Broberg (St. Louis), Jonas Brodin (Minnesota), Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Toronto), Gustav Forsling (Florida), and Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay).<\/p>\n

The goalies are Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt of Minnesota and Jacob Markstrom (New Jersey).<\/p>\n

Other Sharks players expected to be named to Olympic rosters in the coming days are winger Pavol Regenda (Slovakia) and forward Philipp Kurashev (Switzerland).<\/p>\n

Sweden plays Italy on Feb. 11 to open the Pool Play portion of the Olympic tournament, followed by games against rival Finland on Feb. 13 and Slovakia on Feb. 14.<\/p>\n

Celebrini, the Sharks\u2019 leading scorer with 62 points, was named to Canada\u2019s star-studded team<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 San Jose Sharks center Alexander Wennberg knew that this year was likely going to represent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[2617,27663,5,4,27664,519,168,5306,5305,2618,1780,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-387841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-central-coast","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-northern-california","13":"tag-san-jose","14":"tag-san-jose-sharks","15":"tag-sanjose","16":"tag-sanjosesharks","17":"tag-santa-clara-county","18":"tag-sharks","19":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115829263828944841","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}