February 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\nConsidering how long Nylander has been bothered by the injury, how concerned is Hallam?<\/p>\n
\u201cNot overly concerned at all,\u201d the coach said. \u201cHe\u2019s been looking really sharp and good on the ice for two days. Felt we [could] give him off today. It\u2019s a short tournament, but we\u2019re still in the beginning of it and bigger games coming up so let\u2019s keep our priorities and focus there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sweden will also play Slovakia and Finland in the preliminary round. Every team is guaranteed to advance to the next stage of the tournament. <\/p>\n
Nylander is projected to play on Sweden\u2019s top line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Adrian Kempe. With 52 points in 40 games, Nylander leads all Swedish Olympians in points per game this season. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I haven\u2019t heard or haven\u2019t talked to him this morning, so it\u2019s hard for me to say,\u201d said Kempe when asked if he was worried about Nylander\u2019s status. \u201cWe all hope that he\u2019s going to play because he\u2019s a big key to our team and big-time player, so hopefully he\u2019ll be alright.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nylander is rooming with Leafs teammate Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the Olympic Village.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing good,\u201d said Ekman-Larsson, who has been skating on Sweden\u2019s fourth pair at practice. \u201cYeah, I don\u2019t want to get into it too much, but I think he\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s he like as a roommate? <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s sleeping a lot, so it\u2019s nice and quiet,\u201d Ekman-Larsson said with a grin. \u201cHopefully I don\u2019t keep him up at night with my snoring. It\u2019s been good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reporters have not seen Nylander on the ice since Sweden\u2019s first practice on Sunday. The team made the decision to close Monday\u2019s workout to the media, which created a stir and some media criticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou killed me for that so I\u2019m going to keep it open here,\u201d Hallam said with a smile when asked about the decision by TSN. \u201cI\u2019ve never had the opportunity to do it and sometimes nice to just have that calmness around it. The players are used to always having a lot of people around it so just closing down the rink, for us, just having that feeling … There\u2019s no mysteries. We\u2019re not going to invent something new out there, you know it, but just keeping it a bit calm is nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are no closed practices in the NHL, but the IOC allows closed training sessions at the Olympics. <\/p>\n
Team Canada also closed its practice on Monday<\/a> with coach Jon Cooper saying he wanted to limit distractions at the small practice rink in Milan.<\/p>\nCzechia and Denmark are scheduled to hold closed practices on Tuesday.<\/p>\n