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Winter Olympics 2018: Men’s hockey power rankings

By Derek Grochowski

This picture taken on February 14, 2017 shows South Korea's ice hockey team player US-born Mike Testwuide (L) during a practice session at a rink in Goyang, northwest of Seoul.South Korea sit 23rd in the world ice hockey rankings and have never qualified for the Winter Olympics' blue riband event. But as the host nation of Pyeongchang 2018 they have an automatic berth and are scrambling to build a competitive roster to avoid embarrassment. / AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je / TO GO WITH AFP STORY Oly-2018-ihockey-KOR-CAN-SKorea-social BY HWANG Sung-Hee (Photo credit should read JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images)
This picture taken on February 14, 2017 shows South Korea's ice hockey team player US-born Mike Testwuide (L) during a practice session at a rink in Goyang, northwest of Seoul.South Korea sit 23rd in the world ice hockey rankings and have never qualified for the Winter Olympics' blue riband event. But as the host nation of Pyeongchang 2018 they have an automatic berth and are scrambling to build a competitive roster to avoid embarrassment. / AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je / TO GO WITH AFP STORY Oly-2018-ihockey-KOR-CAN-SKorea-social BY HWANG Sung-Hee (Photo credit should read JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) /
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BUFFALO, NY – DECEMBER 28: Rasmus Dahlin
BUFFALO, NY – DECEMBER 28: Rasmus Dahlin /

2. Sweden

Sweden hasn’t won gold since 2006, they came home with no medal in 2010 and a silver in 2014. This year Sweden will be in a position to bring another gold medal back to their country. Sweden will obviously miss their star goalie Henrik Lundqvist this year as well as other current NHL players. There is still a strong mix of NHL experience players on the roster In net specifically. The biggest storyline will come from their blue line with the first Olympic appearance of a future first round draft pick.

Rasmus Dahlin is projected to be the first overall pick at this year’s NHL entry draft. This defenseman is one of the best skaters in the entire tournament. For a defenseman his puck handling and vision is at an elite level. He has even earned some comparisons to fellow Swedes Erik Karlsson and Nick Lidstrom.

There are other important players to watch as well. Both goalies Jhonas Enroth could be playing their way back to the NHL and if Sweden ends up in a shootout forward Linus Omark is a YouTube sensation with the moves he can pull off. Sweden opens their tournament against Norway February 15th and play a must watch game February 18th against their rival Finland.

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