Sweden is not a hockey power anymore

[Snauen]

if SHL is so good why are we shit in eht every year. why are we struggling in wjc, olympics and wc?

You for real? Who had (until just recently) the longest (like 10 yrs undefeated) winning streak record at the wjc group stage? Sweden have the strongest hockey system in the world . The best defenders etc. Who cares if they been on the wrong side of the coin flips that are the int. tournament playoffs lately. That will swing. Go to bed now.

 

[SotasicA]

well. wjc is not going well. neither was last best on best, 2016 world cup where we got kicked out by a gimmic team "team europe". 2017 and 2018 we had almost best on best team aswell, but in world championship, we where struggling both tournaments. And in 2019 WC with many NHLers we had no chance. you also have to take a look at the players sweden have in nhl, in no way are they better than the players canada, usa, russia, finland, czechia, germany, swizerland, slovakia, belarus and denmark have.

I agree Elias Pettersson indeed sucks ass now and is completely overhyped. And Klingberg is over the hill.

But the last best-on-best was actually a success. "Losing to Team Europe" was essentially just losing to a stacked powerhouse combination team that ended up almost winning the entire tournament. Sweden made the semis, did they not? That was a good performance in a best-on-best.

 

[SoundAndFury]

You for real?

That is the real question.

 

[Lambo]

so the argument is that sweden is still good becuse we where good in the 90s. and becuse we have many nhlers. and becuse we won 2017 and 2018.

it makes zero sense. 90s is past. so is 2017 and 2018 which by the way we where lucky and struggled as hell. and the only reason we have many nhlers is becuse of our past generations that where legit good, so the current generation gets overated just becuse they are from sweden. we dont have any players which is on the level of lidström, zetterberg, sedins, sundin, forsberg etc any more.

also SHL is not even a good league. 2018 og and 2022 og is showing this. and the fact that our players from shl always suck in wc and last place year after year in eht. doing crap in wjc too. nobody cares about the gimmic tournament called champions league. SHL is not even top 5 in europe.

swedens decline in hockey reminds so much of handball...we where top 3 in world in handball beetween 1988 - 2002. then we turned into shit and still are. "sweden have sports culture and will recover" does not work as an argument, we have not become good again in handball so i doubt we will recover in ice hockey. we are only good in bandy and floorball right now.

Well you're exaggerating a lot. You are in fact a proud fan of Swedish ice hockey. You notice that when Sweden is successful. If the SHL is successful in the CHL, you already show off a lot. But if Sweden is not so successful, you tend to go to the other extreme and suddenly Sweden is 3rd tier and really bad. So what's this all about?

 

[RBbandit]

Sweden is still hockey power, as a Czech person I feel your pain but it seems just too pessimistic. You guys still have a very good development program and a lot of drafted players. Right now Finland is better at developing kids but Sweden is nowhere near CZ/SK/GER/SWI.

 

[THE JAM]

What Eye of Ra tries to do is constant jinxing/anti-jinxing and he will probably continue to do that until swedes win something.

Getting pretty desperate with that after another unsuccessful tourney for his guys

 

[howkie]

Historically the powers are:

Canada
USSR
Finland
OAR
Czechoslovakia
ROC
USA
CIS
Czech Republic
Russia
Slovakia
Czechia

Sweden might battle it out with Germany after that but at any point in history I take those teams, at the very least, over Sweden.

When was Finland this superpower? Im just churios, cuz I cant remember this? Their first gold was like 1995 and then some Junior-gold during the 2010´th, but just

 

[Svedu]

You for real? Who had (until just recently) the longest (like 10 yrs undefeated) winning streak record at the wjc group stage? Sweden have the strongest hockey system in the world . The best defenders etc. Who cares if they been on the wrong side of the coin flips that are the int. tournament playoffs lately. That will swing. Go to bed now.

You are quite funny. You just need to state that you have the best hockey system? But when you haven't won a gold in the WJC´s these eight last years? When you lose it's just because of coin flips? Olympics, the same excuse. Still you are eager to write about Swedens more or less meaningless streak that ended in three silver medals and one bronze these last eight years? It hasn't even been any specific country like Canada or Russia who's dominated because even Finland have won three gold at the WJC´s under this period. Then it must be coin flips because Finland can't win because of the simple reason that they were the best?
Do you think Foppa, Wikegård, Renberg and other experts agree with your thoughts? I believe I´ve heard both Renberg and Wikegård call your group stage streak as meaningless? Why then? Perhaps because at the end of the day the history books won't give you diplomas for good streaks resulting in s*it?
What about 2019? How come many of your stars from the NHL and "The best hockey system" couldn't manage to beat a team Finland without players from the NHL or KHL? Oh, let me guess, "Coin flips"... Let me have another guess? You have the best system when you win and when you lose it's some accidental coin flip that let's the opponents win? Realistic? Are these latest tournaments meaningless just because you think and say so? Why do even bother to follow hockey then, what's the point?
But yeah, that group stage record at the WJC´s is something that means you are the best in the world? Makes sense...

 

[Bruce Granville]

Sweden is fine. It‘s just their national team that has some issues.
No need to worry.

 

[Eye of Ra]

When was Finland this superpower? Im just churios, cuz I cant remember this? Their first gold was like 1995 and then some Junior-gold during the 2010´th, but just

finland started to become a power in early 90s. before that they where good but not on the level of canada, czechia, russia, sweden and usa.

 

[THE JAM]

finland started to become a power in early 90s. before that they where good but not on the level of canada, czechia, russia, sweden and usa.

Canada Cup 1976: FIN-SWE 8-6

 

[Eye of Ra]

Canada Cup 1976: FIN-SWE 8-6

One game does not tell the whole truth. Sweden did better overall than Finland in the 70s and 80s in WC, Olympics and Canada Cup. I think Finland only had 3 medals total in this time while Sweden had 10+ medals and many more NHLers.

 

[Eye of Ra]

That supposed to be a winning argument? I lolled.

I didn't want to include the in their right mind in my 'no one can really think...' but I guess I should have.

well you said nobody agreed with me. i can give you another name that thinks sweden is not top 10: svedu

people like you are stuck in the past.

 

[ORRFForever]

When will people wake up.

Kicked out in 2018 og by germany.

Kicked out by team finland f in wc qf 2019

could not even make it to qf in wc 2021, lost to belarus and denmark (twice).

destroyed by slovakia with 4-0 today.

wjc? dominated by slovakia. even lost to them in hlinka cup. got kicked by switzerland in qf. And in u18 wjc sweden where not better than belarus and latvia. canada crushed sweden with 11-0. not even italy and uk lose with those numbers.

worst team in eht year after year.

when was the last time sweden actually where better than opponent? even games against latvia, germany, slovakia, switzerland, czechia swedens gets outshoot.

nhlers...overated. becuse of good past generations they got the chance in nhl. there is nothing special with swedish nhl fowards. the d is horrible, good offensive skills sure but no good play in their own zone. Even with almost best on best team sweden struggled like hell in wc 2018 and wc 2017 , some luck we had there. could ended in qf.

If anyone think Sweden is top-10 in the world then you are extremely delusional and are living in the past.

Please stop.

 

[Tuoppi]

But does Sweden excist?

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Sweden is the top team if NHL players play. This was still a bit better than the usual World Championship competition.

 

[Svedu]

well you said nobody agreed with me. i can give you another name that thinks sweden is not top 10: svedu

people like you are stuck in the past.

Well, Sweden is fifth by me and it's close. Finland is better right now and that's all that matters for now.
I´m sending love to everyone! Even trolling AB13.

 

[BullLund]

They kind of suffer from the fact that there's a huge drop-off in quality between their NHL guys, and the rest. Not to mention the issues with coaching.

Finland has a bunch of guys who are good, but not quite good enough to break into a NHL roster. Guys like that are ideal to have around for the tournaments with no NHL players. Most of the Swedes who are good are locked up in the NHL, and it leaves them with a depleted roster for these "non-NHL" tournaments.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Historically the powers are:

Canada
USSR
Finland
OAR
Czechoslovakia
ROC
USA
CIS
Czech Republic
Russia
Slovakia
Czechia

Sweden might battle it out with Germany after that but at any point in history I take those teams, at the very least, over Sweden.

And this list doesn’t even include the powerhouse teams from the Soviet Union and CSSR.

 

[Lartsaman]

Canada Cup 1976: FIN-SWE 8-6

Didn´t even know about this victory. Cool.

 

[chauron]

No need to be alarmed, Sweden is still great. Solid team play will get them far always, they also have the top players but foremost have the mentality that ice hockey is a team sport after all.

Coaching could be improved thought but not a dissappointment.

 

[garbageteam]

That was a 2nd tier tournament.


Second tier tournament.


2nd tier tournament.


This is a legit point... oh no, wait... it's just another 2nd tier tournament.

Dumb take. Doesn’t invalidate results because certain players weren’t all there, especially if the sample size of players who were there is utterly tiny. There have been so few games, never mind tournaments, in international ice hockey history that would qualify as not a second tier tournament it’s not even worth discussing in isolation anymore. The last time it was legitimate was 2014, if there is nothing to discuss after that then it’s pointless, It’s not as if players who aren’t employed in the NHL are utterly worthless to compare.

By the way the 2016 WCH… third tier toilet tournament.

 

[Snauen]

You are quite funny. You just need to state that you have the best hockey system? But when you haven't won a gold in the WJC´s these eight last years? When you lose it's just because of coin flips? Olympics, the same excuse. Still you are eager to write about Swedens more or less meaningless streak that ended in three silver medals and one bronze these last eight years? It hasn't even been any specific country like Canada or Russia who's dominated because even Finland have won three gold at the WJC´s under this period. Then it must be coin flips because Finland can't win because of the simple reason that they were the best?
Do you think Foppa, Wikegård, Renberg and other experts agree with your thoughts? I believe I´ve heard both Renberg and Wikegård call your group stage streak as meaningless? Why then? Perhaps because at the end of the day the history books won't give you diplomas for good streaks resulting in s*it?
What about 2019? How come many of your stars from the NHL and "The best hockey system" couldn't manage to beat a team Finland without players from the NHL or KHL? Oh, let me guess, "Coin flips"... Let me have another guess? You have the best system when you win and when you lose it's some accidental coin flip that let's the opponents win? Realistic? Are these latest tournaments meaningless just because you think and say so? Why do even bother to follow hockey then, what's the point?
But yeah, that group stage record at the WJC´s is something that means you are the best in the world? Makes sense...

Uh. The thread is about the STATE of Swedish hockey, right? Like I said the system is the best in the world. Look how we dominate the CHL with SHL teams for example, aint that funny? Im sure that when we have a better coach (Sam Hallam) on the mens international level we will be winning more of the coin flips again, you are correct about that. Congrats to the olympic gold Finland!

 

[SotasicA]

By the way the 2016 WCH… third tier toilet tournament.

Top tier, best players in the world, none missing.

 

[jonlin]

If you're just going by a mixture of straight up NHL best players and up and coming youngsters the list is like this

Canada
Russia
USA
Finland
Sweden

So they are still a top 5 hockey power

Russia is 4th at best. They have high-end forwards, but lack D even more-so than Finland. Also 2-way players are missing.

Canada
USA
Finland
Sweden/Russia


Czech