Photo: Bildbyrån
In two straight Olympics, the NHL has waived participation.
It makes back star Erik Karlsson feel a bitterness.
“Hopefully it never happens again for the sake of the young people,” says the Pittsburgh player for the NHL’s Olympic comeback.
For several of the younger players in Tre Kronor, Four Nations is a real height. The veterans do not say.
But after the NHL has been over the Olympic Games since 2014, it is precisely the number one for players like the 34-year-old slopes Erik KarlssonThe Victor Hedman and Mattias Ekholm and 30-year-old forward Filip Forsberg.
The fact that tournaments such as Four Nations and the World Cup are included in the purchase is a bonus. The four were the only ones from today’s team when the World Cup in Toronto was played in 2016.
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“The Olympics it’s about”
Erik Karlsson, in turn, is the only one of those who played the Olympics, in Sochi 2014 where Sweden took silver. Since then, the NHL has not been involved, but is making a comeback in Milan next year. And everyone in the hockey world cheers.
– I’ve been lucky enough to play an Olympics and it’s one of my biggest highlights in my career. It is for what we really play all. This tournament is great fun and we want to compete in the best way, but that’s the Olympics it’s all about, says Karlsson.
When Erik Karlsson participated in Sochi, he got to play with close friend and former teammate Daniel Alfredsson – Assistant coach in Tre Kronor during Four Nations – who then made his fifth Olympics.
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Erik Karlsson bitter
Erik Karlsson says he feels bitterness that the NHL has chosen the last two Olympic tournaments.
– I was young when I played in Sochi and thought I would have many opportunities to play the Olympics after that, but now we have missed the last two and this is the last chance. I am very excited about that and a little bitter about having missed two chances, he says.
Mattias Ekholm, Edmontonbacken feels the same:
– I turn 35 in May so it has been incredibly fun to compete with the best. Above all, I think what has been a shame for our generation is that both me and (Victor) Hedman have not been given the opportunity to play the Olympics.
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