Sweden has 100+ players in the NHL, about another 50 in the AHL, so why not field 17 guys from NA and eight from Europe? Give older Euro players a chance and wait and hope that this time it will be different? The match against the USA absolutely and completely confirmed it. An excellent skating team will always beat the Euro players head on, the tempo play and aggressive attacking will then make Pudas and Tömmernes unable to react. I have no criticisms against these two defenders, it's just that their decision-making speed limits them significantly.
If Hallam doesn't want to see players from the NL and SHL falling behind players from the NHL/AHL/NCAA, Sweden won't be better. The qualitative difference between the NHL and the European leagues is getting bigger and bigger. But the number of places on the roster of teams in the NHL is limited, so the AHL has significantly higher quality. And exactly this style of play will dominate in the future, because teams that play fast, skating hockey dominate the game. The cautious and more defensively oriented hockey played by, for example, Finland will collapse over time. Simply because other teams are able to adapt and find a weakness in this style.
It's seriously strange how the people in charge in Sweden can still believe that a pool of Euro players will be competitive against NA players. Hockey still has some development and the game does not dominate at a slower pace. Now it's the third tournament in a row with Europlayers where no success has come..how many more tournaments will it take? Yeah, I know the Skoda Cup doesn't matter that much, but I just want to see a change of mindset in Swedish hockey. Getting even closer to the overseas style of play, because especially Canada and also the USA show that even with their F team they can compete with European countries.
As I wrote at the beginning, Sweden has never had as many players in NA as they have now, they must take advantage of that. Sure, I understand that it's not always possible to bring in someone like Dahlin, EP or Nylander, but looking around for Everberg, Rasmussen or Sörensen is silly. If Sweden does not start to use this numerical advantage, it will be doomed to an embarrassment with Latvia, Germany or Slovakia.