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Swedish and Finnish Olympic rosters released: Koivu and Granlund in, Brodin out

Tough blow for the young defenseman, Koivu expected to be named captain if healthy

By Emilie
Martin Rose

As the Olympics draw near, many countries are releasing their rosters to the public. Team USA released their rosters after last week's winter classic (you can see the men's and women's team rosters for USA on our site). Later today, Team Canada will release their roster. This big news this morning however, was the release of the Swedish and Finnish team rosters.

No surprise to Wild fans, Kaptain Mikko Koivu and young up and comer Mikael Granlund were both named to the Finnish Olympic roster. Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom was named to Finland's Pre-Olympic roster, but was not named to the final roster.

Koivu is rumored to be one of the front runners for the captain of the Finnish team, alongside his big brother Saku Koivu. Saku, who was a lock for the Finnish team, withdrew his name from roster earlier this week. According to Puck Daddy, Saku has not been feeling 100% since he sustained a concession in October and wanted to "be replaced by a better-prepared player".

Swedin's Olympic roster released caused a lot of outrage from Wild fans. Jonas Brodin, who had a phenomenal rookie year, was left off the roster. Brodin most likely will be one of the first approached if a defense player goes down with injury, but being left off the Olympic roster definitely stings for the kid.

In Sweden's defense, it appears they are trying to mix skill with experience. If you look at the released roster, there aren't very many names that you can say Brodin deserved a spot over. Keep in mind that he is only 20 years old. Most likely he'll make at least 2 Olympic rosters in the future.

Team Sweden Olympic roster

Forwards:

  • Daniel Alfredsson (Detroit)
  • Nicklas Backstrom (Washington)
  • Patrik Berglund (St. Louis)
  • Jimmie Ericsson (Skelleftea AIK)
  • Loui Eriksson (Boston)
  • Johan Franzen (Detroit)
  • Carl Hagelin (NYR)
  • Marcus Kruger (Chicago)
  • Gabriel Landeskog (Colorado)
  • Daniel Sedin (Vancouver)
  • Henrik Sedin (Vancouver)
  • Jakob Silfverberg (Anaheim)
  • Alexander Steen (St. Louis)
  • Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit)

Defense:

  • Alexander Edler (Vancouver)
  • Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Phoenix)
  • Jonathan Ericsson (Detroit)
  • Niklas Hjalmarsson (Chicago)
  • Erik Karlsson (Ottawa)
  • Niklas Kronwall (Detroit)
  • Johnny Oduya (Chicago)
  • Nenrik Tallinder (Buffalo)

Goltenders:

  • Jhonas Enroth (Buffalo)
  • Jonas Gustavsson (Detroit)
  • Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)

Team Finland

Forwards:

  • Juhamatti Aaltonen (Karpat, SM-liiga)
  • Aleksander Barkov (Florida)
  • Valtteri Filppula (Tampa Bay)
  • Mikael Granlund (Minnesota)
  • Jussi Jokinen (Pittsburgh)
  • Olli Jokinen (Winnipeg)
  • Mikko Koivu (Minnesota)
  • Leo Komarov (Toronto)
  • Petri Kontiola (Anaheim)
  • Lauri Korpikoski (Phoenix)
  • Jori Lehtera (St. Louis)
  • Antti Pihlstrom (Nashville)
  • Tuomo Ruutu (Carolina)
  • Teemu Selanne (Anaheim)

Defense:

  • Lasse Kukkonen (Philadelphia)
  • Juuso Hietanen
  • Sami Lepisto (Chicago)
  • Olli Maatta (Pittsburgh)
  • Sami Salo (Tampa Bay)
  • Kimmo Timonen (Philadelphia)
  • Ossi Vaananen (Vancouver)
  • Sami Vatanen (Anaheim)

Goaltenders:

  • Kari Lehtonen (Dallas)
  • Antti Niemi (San Jose)
  • Tuukka Rask (Boston)

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