- Daily Faceoff released early Team Sweden roster projections for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey
- Its two writers landed on opposite sides of Elias Pettersson
- Read below for both full projections, forwards through goaltending
Elias Pettersson is either a Team Sweden lock or he is nowhere near the roster, depending on which Daily Faceoff writer you ask.
Matt Larkin and Uffe Bodin published their early Team Sweden projections for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey on Friday, and the two split hard on the Vancouver Canucks center. Larkin slotted Pettersson into his 13 forwards next to William Nylander, Filip Forsberg and Leo Carlsson. Bodin left him off entirely and called him his toughest cut of the exercise.
Bodin spelled out why he could not find room:
“In the best of worlds, Elias Pettersson will figure things out over the next couple of seasons and be an obvious choice for this roster. But as it stands right now, I have a really hard time finding a spot for him here. His play on the ice will need to convince me that he belongs.”
Canucks reporter Jeff Paterson caught the split right away:
The gap between the two writers tracks with Pettersson’s season. He finished with 51 points (15 goals, 36 assists) in 74 games and a minus-30 rating, nowhere near what an $11.6 million cap hit is supposed to return.
Both lists agree on who Sweden runs through now. Larkin called Carlsson the country’s alpha, a label that would have gone to Nylander or Victor Hedman a couple of years ago. Anaheim matched a five-year offer sheet at $18 million a season to keep him, and he sits atop both projected lineups.
Here is how the two rosters stack up:
| Group | Matt Larkin | Uffe Bodin |
|---|---|---|
| Forwards | Adrian Kempe, Leo Carlsson, William Nylander, Filip Forsberg, Joel Eriksson Ek, Lucas Raymond, Ivar Stenberg, Anton Frondell, Jesper Bratt, William Eklund, Elias Pettersson, Gabriel Landeskog, Mika Zibanejad | Ivar Stenberg, Leo Carlsson, Lucas Raymond, Adrian Kempe, Joel Eriksson Ek, William Nylander, Jesper Bratt, Mika Zibanejad, Filip Forsberg, Simon Holmstrom, Elias Lindholm, Gabriel Landeskog, William Eklund |
| Defensemen | Gustav Forsling, Rasmus Dahlin, Simon Edvinsson, Jonas Brodin, Philip Broberg, Erik Karlsson, Victor Hedman | Rasmus Dahlin, Simon Edvinsson, Gustav Forsling, Erik Karlsson, Philip Broberg, Tom Willander, Rasmus Andersson |
| Goalies | Jesper Wallstedt, Filip Gustavsson, Linus Ullmark | Jesper Wallstedt, Filip Gustavsson, Linus Ullmark |
Ivar Stenberg made both forward groups, and he earned it in January. The winger closed out Sweden’s 4-2 win over Czechia in the World Junior final with an empty-netter in the last eight seconds, ending a gold medal drought dating to 2012.
Watch Sweden finish the job:
Jesper Wallstedt was the one spot neither writer argued over. The Minnesota Wild goalie takes the crease on both lists ahead of Filip Gustavsson and Linus Ullmark, the same order that showed up in the projected Sweden roster for the 2027 All-Star Game.
Sweden left the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Milan Olympics without a medal, and the World Cup runs in February 2028 out of Calgary, Edmonton and Prague. Pettersson has 19 months to talk Bodin into a spot.
