Sweden selected Rickard Rakell of the Pittsburgh Penguins to its roster for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, replacing injured Vegas Golden Knights forward William Karlsson.
Swedish national team coach Sam Hallam announced the roster update Tuesday. His team also recently added Philadelphia’s Samuel Ersson to fill in for injured New Jersey goaltender Jacob Markstrom.
Rakell, 31, leads his NHL club with 23 goals and ranks second with 45 points in 53 games this season. Karlsson is listed as week to week with a lower-body injury.
“‘Raks’ has just, quietly, had a really strong season,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who will also be behind the bench for the U.S., told reporters in Pittsburgh. “He’s playing the game the right way. He’s playing on both sides of the puck. He has a hardness to his game. He’s stiff on the puck. He’s physical, he’s willing to block shots. He’s playing defense. The offensive side, everybody sees. But he’s committed to a lot of the subtleties that, on our mind, adds to winning. So, we couldn’t be happier for him. We think he’s so deserving.”
Sweden's top international rival, Finland, recently made two replacements on its blue line after Dallas' Miro Heiskanen was injured and Toronto's Jani Hakanpää ruled out. Heiskanen underwent knee surgery and is now considered month to month, Stars coach Peter DeBoer said.
Buffalo's Henri Jokiharju and the New York Rangers' Urho Vaakanainen took their places.
The United States has a couple of situations to watch with Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes and Columbus’ Zach Werenski banged up and missing game action.
“He's not playing tonight,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said in Buffalo of Werenski. “We’ll continue to evaluate same as we do with everybody that’s hurt or injured. We’ll evaluate it and move forward.”
Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said after his team's overtime loss Monday night that Hughes “wanted to gut it out but not the smartest play to play him.” Tocchet said Hughes was also out Tuesday night against Colorado.
Canada must still select a replacement for Alex Pietrangelo after the two-time Stanley Cup champion and 2014 Olympic gold medalist withdrew to tend to an ailment and prepare for the rest of the season with Vegas. Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings, also a two-time Cup winner and part of Canada's Sochi team 11 years ago, is considered among the candidates to take Pietrangelo's spot, though the 35-year-old has only been back playing for a week since returning from a broken left ankle.
Practices for the NHL-run tournament begin Monday, with game action next Wednesday, Feb. 12, Thursday, Feb. 13 and Saturday Feb. 15 in Montreal before play shifts to Boston for the end of round-robin and the championship. 4 Nations is taking the place of All-Star Weekend and is being done as a slimmed-down version of a World Cup of Hockey a year before the 2026 Milan Olympics.
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AP Hockey Writer John M. Wawrow in Buffalo and the Canadian Press contributed.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press